Feb. 1, 1894.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
5^^ 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA AND 
AUSTEALASIA. 
We call attention to a very iatereating and Bug- 
gestive letter from Mr. Wm. Watson— formerly so 
well-known in Ceylon in conneotion with the 
Oriental Bank Corporation and now occupying an 
important position in the banking world of New 
Zealand. Mr. WatEon has taken a great deal of 
interest in the introduction of Ceylon tea into that 
Colony Bud iu the letter before us he gives us 
the results of his experience, rightly judging that 
it affords valuable lessons with reference to the 
important question now before Ceylon planters as 
to what is best to be done in America. Our corre- 
spondent shows that now the only part of New 
Zealand where " pure Ceylon tea" does not seem 
to be sold is in the province of Auckland . This 
it is satisfactory to remember, is just the part 
that is about to be exploited by Mr. A. Thom 
who is on his way to settle there and to whom 
the Tea Fund Committee have extended special 
aid. We trust Mr. Ihom will very speedily supply 
the want pointed out by Mr. Watson. As to 
present oonsumptioD, it is made dear to us by 
Mr. Watson that considerably more than one-half 
the' tea consumed in New Zealand is from India 
and Ceylon and he thinks that if the same course 
is followed in America, there ought very Eoon to 
be a demand for 45 million lb, of Oeylon and 
the same quantity of Indian tea in the United 
Slates and Canada. The latter dependency is 
already, we know, a fairly good customer for 
British-grown teas and there can be no doubt that 
following on the Ceyloa Court at the Chicago 
Exhibition, the efiorts made in New York, Chicago, 
St. Louis, Philadelphia, &c,, ought to lead to a 
large increase in the consumption of our teas. 
Mr. Lipton is committed to their wholesale dis- 
tribution and a number of British merchants are 
Bending in teas through their agents apart from 
what the Commissioner's Ohioago store may do. 
Meantime, we attach much importance to the 
eff 'Ct on California and the Pacific Coast States 
ot the Ceylon Tea Court of Messrs. Foster and 
Cookburn at the San Francisco Exhibition and we 
expect to see this followed by the establishment 
of reKular stores after the fashion described by 
Mt. Watson in New Zealand. 
Since writing the above, we have received an 
interesting letter from a well-known Ceylon planter 
dated " San Franoisoo, 16ih Nov." We leave 
" D. K." to tell bis own story of his experiences 
n the States, but it is very satisfactory to see 
that he speaks so highly of the venture of Messrs. 
Foster and Cookburn in California, as well as of 
the Ceylon Courts in the Chicago Exhibition. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
Dunedin, New Zaaland, Nov. 27, 1893. 
DEiE Sib,— I was much interested in reading in 
the Overland Ceijhn Observer of 26th October 
your London corresf oadeni's aocouots in his 
letters of 29th beptember and 6th October of his 
intarviews w ith Messrs. H K. Rutherford, J. L. 
Shand, W. M. L'^ake. J. Whittall, and J. Roberts. 
Perhaps, as one who had the experience of po- 
pulariziug Ceylon t-a in this Colony, I miy be 
allowed to say that I agree with the views ex- 
pressed by Mr, Rutherford and Mr. Ltako as 
agkinat the others, but I should be in favour of 
6(; 
establishing stores in the principal Northern Oitiea 
for the sale of " Pure Ceylon Tea" rather than 
attempting to work at first through established 
traders. That all tea traders in America would 
ultimately sell pure Ceylon tea I believe as firmly 
as I do that they would oppose it at first, and to 
shew my reasons for this belief I will recount, 
as briefly as possible, my experiences here. 1 
assume, of course, that the observations of the 
Americans who tasted the Ceylon teas at the 
Chicago Exhibition were correct, viz:— that the 
Ceyion tea was much superior to what could be 
procured in ordinary stores in America. 
When I came here in 1886 there was no pure 
Ceylon tea exhibited for sale in Otago, and very 
little, if any, sold by the pound in New Zealand. 
I got a few hundred pounds of it sent by a 
Colombo firm to a wholesale grocery firm in 
Dunedin, which took a year to work off. the whole- 
sale firm reporting that it was unsuitable to the 
trade. 
I next tried the family grocer ; he first tried the 
sample I gave him by chewing it, and finally 
decided it was too dear to make a profit out of, for, 
said he, " we get nothing on sugar, soap, candles, 
&c. and have to take it out of tes." By these and 
other experiences it was soon made plain that it 
was not to the interests of the trade to substitute 
strong Ceylon tea at lOd to Is C. F. I. for weak 
China tea which they purchased at 6d and sold at 
2s 3d, 2s 6d, and 2s 91 according to the customer. 
Persuasion was of no use ; force had to be applied 
and it was. 
In 1889 the Kiosk of the Planters' Association at 
the Dunedin Exhibition was, as a show, very 
suocesbfal. But we were not permitted to sell tea 
by the packet there, and had nothing else been 
done than what was done in the Kiosk. The prospects 
of introducing Ceylon tea into popular consumption 
would not have been eneouragmg — so a small local 
Company was formed, and a shop was opened in out 
principal street, where we Eold wholesale and retaU 
pure Oeylon tea. For a short time the opposition 
o£ tea dealers was very strong. Their advertise- 
ments (of which I sent you copies at the time) 
depicted Ceylon lea as injurious, and sickly to the 
taste, and even pictorial cartoons were resorted to in 
the hope ot bluffing us out of the market. 
But when they found we had come to stay, they 
swiftly changed their tactics, and our shop did not 
sell the qumtity some shareholders expected, 
because every shopkeeper took to selling pure 
Ceylon tea. 
Whit the Kiosk at the Exhibition began the 
shop carried to perfection in Otago. In Canter- 
bury and Wellington private stores were opened 
for the sale of pure C-ylon and Indian teas only, 
and like results followed. My business takes me 
over all New Zejland and the only pUce I get 
China tea todriok now is iu the Auckland province, 
where, bo far as I know, there is no shop for the 
sale of Oeylon and Indian teas only, although every 
respectable shop spllssome of these leas. 
It may be said that the oircumstenees in America 
are dift'erent from those in New Zealand. No 
doubt to some extent they are, but is there not 
in the vast population of the States, especially 
in the cooler climatjs, millions who would drink 
good tea ? It is by the working farmer and the 
artisan that the bulk of the stimulating and 
refreshing Oeylon and Indian teas are oonsumed 
in Anstralasiii, and these are the customers whom 
we should verj soon reach in the Statee. Then 
what about Canada with its population equalling 
that of all Australasia ? And what of the inoreas- 
ing s.;briety ot the English-speaking people whereby 
. consumption of tea per head is suie to inor»aae 2 
