Oct, a, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
263 
pan) ing extracts * from my ofBoial diary give details 
ot tDy inspections and my notes thereon. I personally 
Tioited and ioi^pected the colonists and their lands 
in t?(.ry monih in 1892, except March, July, and 
October. The total expindituret to date has been 
K2,576'20. But from thia must be deducted ihe muuey 
paid lor the pa idy, which will be sold and refunded 
to Government (>»boat K600,) and the value of some 
yingelly (Oivn ou the lands cleared (partly sown and 
ftbindonel) at Balaluwewa. The tools procured will 
also be told and the proceeds crelited to Government. 
When the account is daally made np ihe expenditure 
will proDably be about Rl,800, and of this the ad- 
V4L.cdS to the ten families who remain will be bere- 
afttr recovered. 
The Sinhalese settlement (of Etawirawewa vil- 
lajjers) below the Yoda-ela proved a failure. 
Tuese people cleared a considerable extent of 
laud, oni put up houses. When, however, they 
htard that lands adjoining theirs had been sold to 
Mr. SilvB, they at once abandoned the place and went 
back to live in their own wretched village, where they 
have barely enough for subsistence. It is difficult for 
suy but those who live among these people to uuder- 
ataud their peculiarities. Here, penple practically 
scaiving were given ample laud and sure water, and 
ail tho elemeots of agricultural prosperity ; yet they 
sbaudoned the land from some prejudice regarding 
their future neighbcurg. Id the eame way, one would 
cuppose that natives of Jaffi a — such as ihe men who 
came here, who have no laud of their own, and 
cultivate almost as the slaves of landowners, and who, 
after working from morning to night, can only expect 
one full meal a day — would be satisfied with their 
prospects of independence and property. The land 
cleared by ihem is a valuable cue, and being eg im- 
proved will readily sell at a price considerably above 
tbe nijSct. There has been no expenditure by Govern- 
ment on account ot these Sinhalese villagers. 
The restoration of Maha Illippaliawa, to which I 
referred lu my former report, is proceeding; and I 
have arranged that when sufficient work has been dune 
on the embaLkment of the tank by tha settlers, a 
sluice for irdjjation should be supplied to them. The 
proposal cf some capitalists from Jaffna to take up 
land under Kalawewa came to nothing, as they obtained 
land on easier terms than I was atjle to offer them, 
at Kanakarayaokulam, in the Vavaniya District. 
In my Ad uinistration Eeport I have referred to 
the sale of 1,200 acres adjomiug the land on which 
tbe Tamil families have settled, to Mr. Silv8, a 
Sinhali so gentleman of the Negombo District, who 
is a solvent purchaser, and Las command of a full 
labour supply for opening up the land. — K. W. Ievbbb, 
Government Agent. Anuradhapura Kachcheri, April 7, 
1893. 
♦ 
TEA AND COFFEE IN AMERICA. 
The blockade and bombardmont of the commercial 
capital of Brazil means, at the very least, a great 
disturSiacce of trade. Tne important coffee trade of 
Kio is certain to be very seriously interfered with. For 
a time there will be no exports, and jet the markets 
in theUaited Statis and Europe are by no means 
hdavily stocked. Indeed, the year la93, judging 
by the beat statiatios available, was in any case 
to be a year o< abort supply, following a season 
of good crops and tbe prospect a few months 
ago was of coffee generally being in keen demand 
towarda the end of thia year. The consumption 
ou tbe Continent of Europe for the four years 
1889-92 averaged a total of 410,717 tone ; but 1892 
itaelf showed that 422,801 tons were called for. 
This, apart from about 12,000 tons required for the 
United Kingdom (against 15,000 tons consumed 
Borne years ago). Then the United States used up as 
its average annual supply from 1889 to 1892, as much 
• Appendix B, t Appendix C. 
as 240,667 tons ; but for last year required 255 000 
out of an import of 260,876 tons. This makes a 
consumption of between 8 and 9 lb. of cofiee per 
hend of population in tbe United States. 
How d fferent the conaumption of tea in America t 
Of our preEeot staple there is m the U. States, scarcely 
IJ lb, per head used, against about 6 lb. for the 
United Kingdom and between 7 and 8 lb. in 
Australasia, la 1892, America got over 83 mil 
lion lb. of tei of which not more than one per 
cent or about 800,000 lb. could have been Oeylon 
Tea. There is therefore immense room for an 
increased consumption of our staple product even 
in the present American consumption. But still 
more, is there room — as we want epaoially to point 
out today — for taking advantage of the critical period 
which may now possibly be overtaking the American 
coSee trade. Brazil supplies about 55 per cent of the 
entire coffee supply of Europe and America and 
between Rio and New York the trade in coffee 
is very large. As already stated, this year's 
coffee supply from Brazil, as well as from Java, 
India and the East generally, was expectKi 
to be short ; and although Mexico and Central 
America are rapidly coming to the front as coffee 
growers, it was not anticipated that they could 
fully make up the deficit. With cofi-e getting 
dearer and scarcer after this fashion, we may 
fairly expect many in America to be ready to 
give attention to tea when they find it cheap 
and abundant, and especially if the refreshing 
beneficial character of the beverage properly infused 
from pure Ceylon and India teas, is rightly brought 
before them. Not for a long time therefore, has 
there bean so favourable a season throughout the 
United States for getting at the mass of con- 
sumers (of coffee, tea and ooooa) with our good 
teas. But if in addition to scarce and Jeac ouffse 
under ordinary oircumstanoeB, there is added for 
a certain period (even for a few weekf) an en- 
tire Buepension of the coft'ee import trade 
from Brazil, what can the people of America do 
ia self-defence, but turn to and drink tea '? The bom. 
bardment and blockaiie of Bio and the consequent 
disturbance and stoppage of business, may therefore, 
quite possibly, have very important consequences 
in creating and stimulating a special demand for 
Ceylon and Indian teas. We hope our Gbioago 
Commissioner will be on the alert to read " the 
signs of the times," Ifoace our American cousins 
were got, even for a few weeks, in view of a 
coffee famine, to try our pure refreshing teas, it is 
quite likely that many of them would continue 
to buy tea and come gradually to substitute it 
altogether for coffee. Elsewhere will be found an 
extract from the American Grocer showing that 
two montks ago there were complaiLt; about 
coffee becoming dear and scarce, and also that 
the consumption in the United States was by no 
means keeping up to the old ratio. When 
on the top of this, there comes the present 
outbreak at Bio, we may depend on the 
New York coffee importers having diflScuhy in 
supplying their customers and on many of the 
grocers turning their attention to the substitute 
in which a good, large and profitalle business 
can be done, namely the new Ceylon Teas — so 
freely advertised of late in the Eastern States by 
the defunct Company — and which, along with 
Indian Teas, have been made so special a feature 
at the World's Columbian Exposition. Here then 
ia a grand opportunity in our opinion for pushing 
the sale of our teas, and we trust Ceylon planters 
will very emphatically support their Ohairman in 
the proposal he is about to make for the estab- 
lishment of Chicago, and perhaps New York, Tea 
Ageooiai through (h« madium of Mr. aiiolintoo. 
