October t, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
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CEYLON TEA AGENCIES IN BRITAIN. 
(From an Aberdeen Correspondent.) 
The Weekly Obmnur, received this week, contains 
a letter fn.ni Mr. W. T. Mackenzie, ami contiibu- 
tioua from other tliree pens, all on the subject of Cl ylon 
tea. I am clad to see the nuliject is labont to be 
m*t by the joint action of those interested. Mr. Mac- 
kenzie's letter is misleading, in particular his estim- 
ate*. They may havu n close relationship to his 
wishes, but are very wide of fact. Ninglo instances 
M a hunt for Ceylon ton among grocers' shops in 
London resulting in Hading only " inferior stuff at 
fa. per lb." really all'ords no basis for conjecture as 
to the demaud : nor (loci Mr. Mackenzie's statement 
'•I know of many people who would drink Ceylon 
tea if they knew where to get it." Resisting tbe 
temptation lo poke fun at Mr. Mackenzie, I will 
confine myself to letting the light of fact fall on his 
somewhat Utopian fancies. Taking his last query 
first I would say : of Ceylon-connected families in 
Scotland, very nearly all know where to get the 
tea. For nearly a year, I have been advertized in 
the Observer as introducing Ceylon produce in the 
North, for the past threes months by a very speci- 
fic advertisement in the Observer, by circular, copy of 
which was sent to every one in Scotland who gets 
the Weekly Obstrver, by numerous advertisements in 
local papers. The following is a copy of one at present 
running in two local papers : — 
. CEYLON TEA AND COFFEE AGENCY. 
Wur. Westland, Importer, 
53, ST. NICHOLAS STREET, AltEHDEEN. 
THE BEST of all Holiday Presents. Finest Ceylon Tea, 
3s per lb.— -7 lb. parcels carriage paid to any railway station 
in Scotland. 
.Sir William Gregory writes :-" Every person of my 
acquaintance who lias tried it praises it, and I lind a pound 
of Ceylon Tea to be a most acceptable present to all ladies 
of my acquaintance who have received it. We drink no other 
Tea in my bouse, nor shall I do so as long a3 I can get a 
regular supply." 
Puke Ceylon Coffee, at Is lOd, Is 8d, and Is Gd per lb. 
Scottish Agent for Ceylon Observer. 
Restricting Mr. Mackenzie's query to Scotland, I can 
answer him that not above a dozen Ceylon-connected 
families have as yet given me their custom for tea 
or eoffee. In illustration of how unwilling folks are 
to break their connection with grocer?, 1 bad a Ceylon 
proprietor — one of the few who have got well out of 
coffee— tell me he liked Ceylon tea very well, but as 
his family got all their groceries from Mr. So and-so, 
he of course bad to patronize him for tea. That I have 
some Ceylon folks as regular customers I gratefully 
acknowledge, and their number being so few, those 
who have continued to support me are deserving of 
mention. They are Mr. J. Hope Mackenzie, of Tarradale 
House ; Mr. Charles Ritchie, bite of Chrystler's Farm ; 
Mrs. Walston Dykes (Hamilton); Miss Black (Buxburn); 
and Mrs. W. D. Gibbon : the last-mentioned lady 
having also kindly used her influence among her friends 
in my behalf. A certain well-known visitingagent nowin 
Aberdeen told me he brought a lot of tea and distributed 
it among his friends. He received abundant thanks 
and great, praise of the tea, but says he: — "My 
friends will drink it, like it, and praise it, .as long 
as they get it f"r nothing, but they won't buy it. 
Some of them have told me it is done, and I have 
told them where they can get more of the snme estate's 
tea, But not one of them has been for any." These 
are his w ords, not mine. It is obvious that special 
agencies for Ceylon produce alone will not do. The 
tea must find its way into the recognized channel — 
the grocers. At present grocers cannot get it. What 
is bought at the sales, I am informed by representat- 
ives of London tea houses, is resold as an Indian 
tea. Even supposing my efforts to create a demand 
in Aberdeen should result in affording mo a liviu-.', 
still the experience in a town of over KX),000 in- 
habitants has been so remarkably slow as not to 
warrant the adoption of similar agencies. Mr. Mac- 
kenzie concludes his letter by saying "a Ceylon tea 
retail agency once started is bound to succeed." 
Tin , has not been proved Uy the one I have kept 
open for ten months. Mad it not been for my 
connection with the Observer ond the kindness 
of Mr. John Ferguson — who in this matter, os in ? 
all others that cono-rn the interests of planters, 
has groitly interested himself — I would have 
retired from the cause. After opening with a Boorish 
of trumpets praising Ceylon tea, grocers who could 
