492 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Ja». r, 1894. 
NOTES FROM OUR LONDON LETTER, 
LoKDON, Deo. 8. 
AN OBJECTIONABLE PBACIICE — PDITIKO LEAD IN TEA. 
Messrs. Tetley &. Co., of 31 Fenchurch Street, 
wholesale tea dealers, Lave addressed the Secretary 
of the Oeylon Association iu London making cona- 
plaint of a praotioe wbioh it would seem is not 
an uncommon one on the part of your tea planters. 
It is that of endeavour being made to equa- 
lize the tare of difierent packages by putting 
in pieces of lead among the tea to make 
up the weight deficient in the tare of parii- 
cular chests. This practice Messrs, Tetley assert 
to give rise to much incouveoience. Grocers into 
whose hands chests so weighted may ultimately 
come, form the impression that they have 
been detinuded of tea to the quantity repre- 
sented by the weight of the inserted lead. 
This of course is not the case. The full 
amount of tea is contained in the chests, the 
lead only balancing the inequality in the weight 
of the cheat and lining itEelt. But Messrs. Tetley 
write; — "It will save considerable friction and 
often loss of money to the wholesale dealer, if 
this could be avoided in tutuie." It must 
surely be objectionable to introduce lead among 
the tea? We often hear it contended that 
even the lead lining ia not a thoroughly 
wholesome method of packing ; but to intro- 
duce cut lead, must, it seems to me, considering 
that it is absolutely enveloped by the tea, 
be a piaotice distinctly injuiioue. It was thought 
that the complaint made by Messrs. Tetley must 
refer to only a few isolated cases, but enquiry 
made convince us that other iDstances ate not 
unknown. Thus Mr. Shand, we hear, has had 
several occasions of similar complaint under his 
notice wbioh have caused him to refer the sub- 
ject to Ceylon. Doubtless those among your 
planters who have hitherto pursued the course 
complained of will, when the dislike to it enter- 
tained here is made known to them, avoid a 
repetition of it, For it is not as if the amount 
of lead inserted is always trifling. It has been 
mentioned to me that in one of the instances 
brought to Mr. Shand's notice as much as 2 lb. 
of lead was found in a single chest. 
THE GBMMINa AND MINING COiirANY. 
I am sorry not to be able to send you with this 
a copy of the report of the Gemming and Min- 
ing Company of Ceylon, though it may reach me 
after I have been compelled to close this letter- 
From the copy seen by me it would seem that 
during the year reviewed by it tha Company merely 
Bucceeded in making their receipts and espendi- 
ture balance, but only by the sacrifice by the 
director of the fees they were entitled to for the 
year. This is not a very promissing result, and it 
would not surprise me to hear that the direc- 
tors may ere long consider it necessary to take 
eteps to bring their operation to a close. 
CEYLON MICA IN ADELAIDE. 
Mica. — At auction on the 9th inst. 231 cases mioa 
were offered, but ooly the large and medium sizes 
found bnjers, consisting of about 60 cases at very 
firm prices. Small sizes were not in demaad, and 
were all bought in. The bulk consisted of Calcutta, 
but a parcel of Ceylon amber of sizes varying from 
Boaall to medium was offered, and an offer of Is 6d 
per ib. recorded. A small lot of green blaok Ceylon 
of uneven surface was offered, but only 3d per lb- 
CEYLON TEA IN AUSTRALIA. 
Tea has shown ratber more aclirity, having been 
•esi»ted to tome extent by the cabled ioformation of 
the vittaal ctoRinf; of the Foochow market wi h a 
total export for the AuBtral'an colonies of only IZJ 
million lb. In vitw of tbe great increare in the 
imports of Ceylon and Indian teas, the qutntity 
named ehouM. however, be ample for requirements. 
-S. M. Herald. ^ 
DEUQ BEPOBT. 
(From the Chemist and Druggut.) 
LoodoD, Nov. 80. 
Cl.NCHONA.— Tuesday's ciucbona Anations were moderately 
extensive in quauliiy. Nine brokera offered bark, anJ 
thtir catalogues totalled up to — 
Ceylon cinchona 
East Indian cinchona 
Javaa ciuchoua 
African 
South American 
Ouprea bark ... 
•iw. ..J^•^^.^.K^,u^•3 ljuui. xuere WW) oui iiiiie oompetiuoo 
among the qumiae-makers, and no alteration can be 
reported in the unit value which remaiuB as nesrlT a« 
po.-6lble id per lb. 
Tlie following are the approximate quantitiu of t>aik 
purchased by the principal buyers :— 
Lb. 
Su.866 
61,643 
ii;m 
13,088 
6,600 
e0,684 
Pkgs. 
Pkea. 
■mi 
of which 258 were sold 
1,311 
do 
1,097 
du 
72 
do 
Ti 
do 
63 
do 
C3 
do 
305 
do 
Hi 
do 
sm 
do 
31 
do 
2,6UU 
1.63C 
of lark cflcred at 
aactioD 
ARentB for the Anerbacb factory 
Ageuta for the fans factory 
Messrs. Howards & Sons 
Ageuts lor the itrunswick factory 
Agents lor tbe American and Italian worki 
Mr. ThoB. Whiflen 
Ageuts lor the Frankfort o,M and Stuttgart work's 
Agents for the Maiinbeim and Amsterdam works 
bundry druggists .. 
Total quantity of bark sold 
Bought m or withdrawn 
366,703 
Total quantity of bark oSered .„ 
... 606,5^6 
The comparative amounts of bark purchased by Indi- 
vidual firms are to guide ta the quantity of quiniiie 
acquired by the buyers. 
CJiri-o.N CiNCHO.s A.— Original : Bed varieties, ordinary 
dull to fair bright quiUy branch and stem chips Id to 
■^i'X ; grey chips ;!d to i^d ; yellow ditto 3}d to 3id ; hy- 
brid ditto iia per lb. Kenewed : Ked stem and branch 
chip?, ordinary lo good bright jjd to 2id per lb. 
Java Ci.\chon a.— Seventy-two Lags were oSered, and all 
sold, fair yellow chips at iJ^d to Id, root at Jjd per lb. 
South American Uabk.— Of 518 bales Caprea, all of 
188ii-6a import, only 'ii bales of ordinary dusty quality 
sold at auction at IJi per lb., offers of from id to 
lid ,per lb. being refused for other lots. Since tbe auctions, 
however, quite loO bales more have been disposed of. 
Of b95 i-cwt. packages cultivated Bolivian Calis»y« quilta 
il4 bales sold at 4d to i^x per lb. fair quill, analysmg 
6-49 per cent su phate of quinme. 
Coca Leaves.— It is saw that the New York market 
has been cleared of the Cvmmon kinds of Truxillo coca, 
everything below id per lo. having been acquired by ma- 
nufacturers. Huanoco is firm at is 3d per lo. c.i.f. 
EOSEHAUGH TEA CO., LD. 
Further parlioulara have been brought by the mail 
of the coDstruction of this Company. The capital 
we understand is £52,000 divided into 390 ordinary 
and 130 preference shares of £100 each. Present 
issue £39,0U0 in ordinary and £13,000 in 5 per cent 
preference shares. The Company's office la at j30 
Fenchurch Street, and the London agents are Messrs, 
Nevett, Oswald & Co., while the Ceylon agents are 
Messrs. George Steuart & Co. The properties 
which have already been purchased by the Com- 
pany are :— Heatherley in Kalutara for £10,000, 
CuUoden in the same district for £20,000, Meerea- 
cotta in Maskeliya for £12,000 and Ssnquhar iq 
f UBsellftwa for £iO,000. 
