7i4 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [February r, 1882. 
intending engineer, leaving R22,000 to credit, as it 
appeared that the completion of the bindings would 
not take place for 18 months. The undrawn balance 
of R 22, 000, has not, however lapsed, but will be avail- 
able as required ; and in addition thereto, Govern- 
ment have now promised to provide tho balance re- 
quisite for the completion of the buildings, viz., R8,889, 
in the P. W. Provincial Budget for 1882-3, at 
the same time directing "that every effort should be 
made to push on the work," eo as to bring it to an 
early close. When all the details of the pi m shall 
have been carried out, the structure in progress will 
amply provide, we should think, for all the needs of 
the establishment that is to operate in it. Since "the 
drying shed for the purpose of heating the barks with 
hot sir, wiU consist of 10 rooms, each 14 x 14 feet,, 
and 14 high, except the end rooms near the furnace 
and chimney flue, which will be somewhat larger and 
surrounded by a 10-feet verandah, required for pack- 
ing bark." "Each of these rooms will contain 2,744 
cubic feet of partly dry bark ; hence the 10 rooms have 
a total storage capacity of 274.400 cubic feet, -or suf- 
ficient for 23,600,000 lb. 'of bark of all kinds, [there 
being ten varieties at Naduvatam], and space will be 
provided for 2,000,000 lb. [of dried bark." So that there 
is no risk of supply falling short of demand, when once 
stocks shall have accumulated to anything like the extent 
of the accommodation that has been provided for them. — 
Madras Atlj,etusum. 
THE BRAZIL" COFFEE "ENTERPRISE :— EXPORT 
DUTIES AND SLAVERY. 
We call the attention of our readers . to the follow- 
ing extracts from the Rio News on the condition and 
. prospects of the planting industry in the great South 
American Empire.^ When to the imperial duty of 13 
per cent, nominally, hut in reality nearer 15 per cent, 
a/e added the provincial, municipal, church and other 
dues, the total impost on Brazilian coflee must be equal 
to 20 per cent on its value. As Brazil is deeply in 
debt (chiefly for railway), and few sources of taxation 
other than coffee are avilable, it is not likely that the 
duties on the staple export will be abolished or even 
reduced. But that in the face of such enormous burd- 
ens the production and export of coffee should have 
increased so largely, shews that the Brazilian planters must 
possess greater advantages than we had been in the 
habit of allowing in the shape of abundance of cheap land 
and cheap, that is to say slave, labour. The former 
advantage will long remain in favour of Brazil, but, if 
the emancipation policy is more honestly carried out 
in the future than it has been in the past, the labour 
di 'Acuity will put Brazil more on a level of fair com- 
pe'i'iioii with other countries than is the case at pre- 
sent. 'As regards the heavy export tax on coffee, too, 
the planters are not likely to demand its abolition or 
reduction, so long as they receive more than equivalent 
advantages in the shape of large and rapidly supplied 
railway facilities, such as have been so promptly and 
admirably conceded during the past ten j^ears. We quite 
feel that export duties are objectionable if they can 
be avoided. But we equally feel that they are justifiable 
when a great object has to be gained. Had the policy 
we recommended been adopted, and the 23 per cent 
export duty in Ceylon continued to be levied, but applied 
exclusively to railway construction, not only the line to 
Haputalo but many others would now be in operation. 
Even bettor would it have been had the Ceylon plant- 
ing community fourteen years ago stipulated for all the 
Surplus profit on the main line being funded for Rail- 
way and Komi Extension. In 1807, the Government of 
Sir Hercules Robinson would have been quite content 
if they had been guaranteed the interest and sinking 
fund contribution for the debt on the Kandy line ; for 
no one then anticipated that our railway was to be 
such a splendid financial success. Had the surplus since 
realized, of £150,000 per annum on an average, been 
separately funded, we should long ago have had a com- 
plete system of railway communication which would pay 
the Government well in saving outlay on roads and in 
fostering agricultural and planting progress. Brazil on 
the other hand has got her railways with marvellous 
rapidity, and now other means of cheapening production 
engage attention. We read : — 
We are glad to note that the gentlemen in charge 
of the coming exhibition of Brazilian coffee in this 
city have so far adopted our suggestions as to secure 
samples of the foreign product for a comparative ex- 
hibit. Incomplete as ibis competitive exhibit must 
necessarily be, owing to the brief time in which to 
secure sample* and to their purchase in the market 
rather than their acquirement from bona fide exhibitors 
or producers, as will be the case with the Brazdian 
product, itwill etillbe an incalculable improvement upon 
the original project of limiting the exhibit to Bra- 
zilian coffee alone. As we have before stated, there 
can be no real value in a domestic exhibit unless it 
can be used to improve and cheapen production ; 
and one of the valuable means to this end is a com- 
parison with the foreign product. 
In connection witb this comparison of products, 
which should be made on equal terms and between 
similar grades, there should also be a thorough and 
honest comparison of methods of production and 
preparation. The chief value of thiB comparison will 
lie in the material aid which it * will give to the 
planters themselves. For them it is, not enoug to 
see the two products side by side and to note the 
comparative s zes and appearance of the berries. Th6y 
will need know also the conditions under which the 
foreign products are produced :• the climate, altitude, 
soil, cultivation, quality and kind of labor, prepar- 
ation for market, and average cost of production. If 
the planter can learn all these facts, while holding 
the product itself in his hand, he will then be able 
to determine the relative standing of his own product, 
• and to decide just where his chief efforts must be 
directed in order to overcome compel ition. From the 
haste with which the exhibition of the 10th instant 
has been organized, and from the crude conception of 
the subject at the outset, it is probable that all this 
valuable information will not be forthcoming l his year, 
but still there will be much value in what has been 
accomplished, and more in the better appreciation of 
the real value of the cnterprize. And then, when 
next year's exhibition takes place, we shall hope to 
see such a mass of information about the methods 
and costs of foreign production as will fully meet the 
needs of the Brazilian planter. 
Another question which should claim the attention 
of coffee planters and merchants is that of the purely 
artificial costs of production, the first of which is 
that of export taxes. Beginning with the municipality 
thii product is taxed at every step until it is shipped 
and cleared Tor a foreign port. The church taxes it, 
the municipality taxes it, the province taxes it 
and then the general Government taxes it. Add to 
that the excessive transportation charges, and the many 
charges and commissions which it encounters in the port 
of shipment, and it will be seen that an enoiraous 
percentage of the proceeds are swallowed in the purely 
artificial costs of placing the producton the market. 
We have again and again urged the reduction 
of some of these charges and the total abol- 
ition of the others, and in this we have been cordi- 
ally supported by many of the most influential 
journals of the empire. Thus far, however, no steps 
have been token to lighten the burdens which are 
imposed upon this industry : on the contrary, new 
taxes ar? being levied constantly, and the revenues of 
the country are becoming more and more dependent 
