2 4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July r, 1881. 
and preservation of its unity and integrity, to draw 
closer the trade relations between its various com- 
ponent territories. " 
"That, considering the increasing importance of the 
Colonial Trade of Great Britain, and that her colonies 
are without direct representation in the Imperial Par- 
liament, and, considering, also, that Commercial Trea- 
ties with Foreign Countries, whereby Colonial interests 
are deeply affected are entered upon by the Mother 
Country without adequate consultation with tbe 
Colonies, this Conference is of opinion that in all 
matters of Imperial or International Treaties, where 
Colonial interests are directly or indirectly involved, 
an endeavour should be made to ascertain the views 
of the Colonies, and that proper weight be attached 
to their opinions. " 
" That it is desirable to form an Association, whose 
Head Office shall be in London, to be called the 
Britain and Colonial Union for the consideration and 
furtherance of Inter-Colonial Trade and Trade between 
the Colonies and Great Britain." 
" That it is desirable that the powers and 
numbers of the present Royal Commission for 
the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce 
abroad should be enlarged or that another Koyal 
Commission should be appointed with the view to 
taking evidence on the subject of the Trade and Com- 
mercial Tariffs existing and in force between Great 
Britain and Her Colonies and Dependencies ; and that 
this Conference do appoint a Deputation to wait upon 
the Right Honourable the Earl of Kimberley, Her 
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
and the Right Honourable the Marquis of Hartington, 
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, 
to urge the consideration of this matter upon Her 
Majesty's Government." 
" That, considering the vast and incraasing import- 
ance of the trade between Great Britain and her 
Colonies and Dependencies, and that no department 
of the Executive Government exists, which is specially 
charged with the consideration of the relations under 
which such trade is carried on, this Committee would 
record its opinion that it is highly desirable that those 
functions of the Executive Government of Great Britain 
which especially relate to Commerce and Agriculture 
should be administered by a distinct department, under 
a Principal Secretary of State, who should be a mem- 
ber of the Cabinet. " 
The association, under the title of the British and 
Inter-Colonial Trade Tariff Union, has consequently 
been founded, the members of the conference itself 
enrolling themselves as members. — Colonies and India. 
TEA FROM AN EX- DEALER'S POINT OF VIEW. 
(Home and Colonial Mail,) 
The following letter has much that is worth the 
consideration of both planter and retailer. We think 
that our friends, in India would do well to study the 
criticism of a not unfriendly outsider as to their 
work. Looking at the valuable admission the writer 
makes to teas of Indian growth "possessing every- 
thing necessary fur the production of a p-rfect mixture," 
our planter friends cannot question the bona fides of 
advice coming from such a quarter. We trust the retail 
frocer will also take the lesson to heart and use 
ndian teas more fearlessly in future : — 
"Sir, — As the output of our Indian tea gardens 
increases, so the quality seems to decrease in tbe 
same ratio. Managers who aim at a ' big crop ' seem 
to lose sight of the fact that hasty or imperfect 
manipulation reduces the price, and consequently the 
profit, very considerably. A few 'gardens' yet re- 
main whose managers or proprietors seem to possess 
sufficient forethought to counteract this evil, and these 
are amply repaid for their extra trouble. If quantity 
rather than quality is to be the leading feature of 
our planters, it will be equally a serious matter for 
them and for our own trade. As it is, a very large 
proportion of Indian tea sold on the London market 
by dealers is 'undesirable,' chiefly on account of the 
' washy ' and insipid character of the liquor. At pre- 
sent it is left to the few to know how to select and 
blend Indian tea— if not to sell alone— to aid the neeees- 
ary strength and quality to the China growths. 
" Then again as to 'brokens.' It is an indisputable 
fact that better value can be obtained in these then 
in leafy teas, and yet the average grocer, either from 
a lack of knowledge of their intrinsic value in a 
mixture or from prejudice, is slow to appreciate 
tin m. Of course, it can be urged on the other side 
that the ' British public ' have been trained for many 
years to use leafy teas, and that it would be unwise 
to go off at a tangent anil use brokens entirely. 
" To the Irish, and partcularly to the" Belfast 
dealers, must be assigned the' post of honour in 
educating their customers to use blended, broken 
Indian tea, and we must admit that nowhere can 
such value be obtained (not even in Loudon) by the 
public as in Belfast, for this sole reason. 
" By far too many English grocers adhere to the 
old and worn-out method of 'overdosing ' with scented, 
sometimes combining two or three kinds, which accounts 
forthe oft-repeated complaints of ' herbiness.' Every- 
thing necessary for the production of a ' perfect mix- 
ture ' can be obtained in Indian growths, but it re- 
quires very careful handling, and only by constant 
tasting and ' experimental blending ' can this result 
be obtained. 
" If grocers as a body would devote more time 
to this important branch of their business they would 
be able to get better profits, and at the same time 
give the public a much better article than at pre- 
sent, for no one who knows tea can travel through 
many towns ir. England- — whether staying at hotels 
or with friends — without coming to the conclusion that 
the decoction usually obtained as tea is scarcely worthy 
the name. — I am, &c, " Ex-Dealer. 
" London, April 20th." 
Farming.— I see the editor of the North British Agri- 
culturist, discoursing last week on farming failures and 
cbanagesof tenants in the Lotbians, gives some startling 
pat rticulars. He says :— " When we go beyond seven or 
eight miles of Edinburgh we find failures and changes 
of tenantry to an almost incredible extent." In a 
stretch of Lothian country to the west of Edinburgh, not 
quite twenty miles in extent where twenty-seven holdings 
are let to tenents, he is informed, " no fewer than twenty- 
three farmer out of the twenty-seven have become 
bankrupt during the past nineteen year, sixteen of 
them having been left penniless. Of those still in 
possession, nine have lost most of their capital, while 
the rest are new tenants " What a lamentable record 
•'and loss of tenants' capital. If we care to consider 
for a minute where go these played-out farmers, 
we cannot but realize that the rotten systems of land 
tenure are ruining the best blood of the nation. If 
we reflect on the intense love of country Scotchmen in 
geueral possess, and the effects of the association of a 
life-time with a particular part, we cannot but be 
moved at the thought of the future of these old farmers. 
Love of country ! Recal Walter Scott's return to 
Abbotsford from his visit to Italy. It was his love 
of country that kept his body together and survived 
the wreck of his grand intellect. The played-out 
farmer is unfitted for an active town life, neverthe- 
less to a town he drifts, and there buries himself 
from old acquaintances and mopes life away, subsist- 
ing on the scanty income of those members of his 
family who are able to work, and have not yet been 
drafted from his side by marriage. — Aberdeen Cor. 
