Feb. I, 1894,] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
521 
and flavonr.Bod its supply being spread pretty equally 
over the whole year, the market is DOt so apt to chani;o 
from one fxtrenie to another or suddenly rise and fall 
as that for China and India less which hiife more 
well-defined intervals for a glut of supplies or periods I 
of ooncpsrative scarcity than are experienced for Ceylon 
when arrivals of the latter are evenly distributed 
tbro^6r^oal the season. 
Bonded Goods. — Acooriling lo the monthly parti- 
calars supplied by the B Bill of Eutry relating ; 
to the quantities of bonded soo is remaining in the 
Customs and Excise warehouses of the Uai'ei King- 
dom, the stock of tea at the end of ISiovembcr 
was 100,080,9S8 lb., agninst 92,967,191 lb. a year 
ago and 100,685,155 1b. in 1891, that of cocoa, 
12,347,411 lb againtt 10,248,220 lb and 11,625,889 lb. 
coffee 200,443 owt. oga nat 122,613 cwt. and 104,247 
cwt. respectively, the bonded stock of curra' ta being 
433,978 owt. agoiust 519.780 cwt. and 522,042 cwt. 
and of raisins 125,765 cwt. a? compared witli 224,707 
cwt. and 169 695 cwt. 
Tea and Coffee Pkospects tn Uganda. — In Lis 
psper read before the Koyal Colonial Institute on 
Tuesday night. Captain W. H. Williams ssid, referring 
to the cultivation of ci'ffee and t'ei : — "Coffee now 
grows almost wild in Uganda, and on the islniids it 
is generally eaten by the natives as a sort of sweet- 
meat, if one may so call an article whioii is merely 
plunged in warm water and dried. Properly roasted 
and ground it makes moat exoelLnt coflFep, and there 
is little doubt that the chmate and altitude of Uganda 
are utitable for the gn wth of coft«e of a superior 
description. Te» also, though here I am speculating 
should grow, as the rainfall is gocd.'' 
The ' OFFEE Chop of Guatemala. — AccorJing to a 
telegram from W-ishii g'on the coffee crop of Guate- 
mala will not be so abundant as was anticipated. 
There has bsen im extraordinary rainfall iu Guate- 
ma a fioce tbe early part of last April, and in some 
districts the coflfte berry shows signs i f shrivelling a3 
the result of exc ssive moisture and insufficient 
sunshine. It 'a estimated, however, that the crop 
will reach 55,000 000 lb., a si ght excess over last 
year's prodaotion. The want of sufficient labour has 
interfered materially with the development of the 
ooSee industry in Guatemala. A trial of Japanese 
labourers is about to be made. The Gilbert Inlanders, 
imported last year, have not proved a tuocesi, — II. and 
C. Mail, Dec. 15. 
CO-OPEEATION IN THE TEA INDUSTRY.— We UUdei- 
statid that a meeting of the general committee of 
the Indian Tea Districts Association, held this 
week, tho question of closer co-operation between 
the Association in Calcutta aud that in London 
was again the subject of discussion. A prominent 
member of the general committee of the Associa- 
tion in London was requested, on the occasi n of 
his furthcoming visit to India to broach the subject 
with the leaders of the industry in Calcutta, with 
a view to arriving at a scheme which might tend to 
considerably strengthen the position of the industry. 
A proposal, it may be mentioned, was made some 
time ago to the Calcutta Association for liuiting the 
two association together, and providing resources 
for the expenses of both out of one single fund, 
levied pro rata on all the tea properties, an amplifi- 
cation merelj' of tho system already in vogue for 
the raising of funds in Ii.dia for the purposes of 
the association having its headquarters there. The 
proposal is one which appears well worthy of full 
consideration, and wo welcome any such attempt to 
give greater strength to the efforts of those who work 
for tne common benefit of tea planters and tea 
proprietors. 
The Decay of the China Tea Tuade. — A Lanca- 
etaire correspondent, apropos of the decay of the 
Chinese tea trade, asks: — Doesthe immense diminu- 
tion in the China tea trade to Great Britain curtail 
our cloth exports to that market '!' It may not be 
generally known how great that diminution is. 
What China has lost the East Indies and Ceylon 
baye moro thau gained. It would hardly appeu; 
aval — ♦ « .- " 
that Ceylon requires a protective bonus of 3d per lb. 
Tea imports into Great Britain : — 
East Indies 
and Ceylon. 
JC 
China, 
lb. 
Millions. 
Millions. 
lSlillion.s. 
JJXiliiUUU. 
dft 1 
9 
D 1.^ 
164-5 
8'13 
53*9 
.TO/ 
1541 
7-63 
1883 
61" 
.3-88 
1J6 2 
7-64 
1884 
661 
3-93 
144-4 
6-40 
1885 
. . 68-6 
4-05 
139-8 
6-47 
1886 
... 81- 
4-66 
145-1 
6.42 
1887 
.. 97-8 
5-01 
119-7 
4 67 
1888 
. . 113- 
5-68 
105-4 
4-34 
1889 
.. 127-2 
6-17 
88-8 
3-62 
1890 
.. 146-3 
6-98 
73-6 
2-82 
1891 
... 172- 
8-1 
61-9 
241 
1892 
.. 178-1 
7-85 
56-9 
2 06 
In 1881 the total impo'ts of tea into Great Britain 
amounted to 210 mi lion", of pounds, and in 1892 
they amounted to 237 millions, being an increase 
of about 13 per cent. Iu 1881 China exported 189 
per cent more than last year. In 1892 Iijdia and 
China exported, say, 286 per cent more than in 1881. 
In value the East Indian tea exports) have 
increased by 4 millions sterling; those of 
China have dimini hed by more than six millions. 
China, therefore, has now six millions sterling less 
to pay for her imports, and to keep the balance of 
trade in her favour. Now, singularly, it happens 
that the declared yearly value of cloth and yarn 
exported to China from Great Britain during tbe years 
18 -7-1892 averaged £5,920,000, a trifle under the six 
millions which China has lost. The Chinese Gov- 
ernment might think it a just qtdd 'pro quo to shut 
out English cloth. Having lost such a huge slice of 
her tea trade, how can China find the means to pay 
year after year for an equivalent in imports ? May 
she not have been compelled to reduce her imports 
to some extent, to do without them, or to fall Dack 
upon home production '? 
Last Week's Tea Sales.— There has again been 
a large quantity of Indian Tea brought forward at 
public auction, aggregating upwards of 48,000 packages. 
On Monday, says the Produce JIarkets Rcvieic, about 
22,000 were catalogued, and a reasonable time elapsed 
prior to the sales for dealing satisfactorily with 
this quantity, but not so with a similar weight 
offered on Wednesday. Consequently, many of the 
Teas received but litt'e attention, as it was practi* 
cally impossible to taste and value upwards of 50O 
breaks in the limited time at disposal. The principal 
feature, however, is the comparative steadin. sa of 
the market, and, although prices were certainly 
irregular on Wednesday, and in some cases lower, 
the depreciation was in no case important, which 
to a great extent supports the opinion that valuea 
are more likely to harden than otherwise later on. 
The unprecedentedly low prices for some grades 
are producing an effect on the consumption. With 
a continuance of the heavy deliveries of the past. 
The Indian Currency.— A great portion of the 
silver imported into India before aud after the closing 
of the Mints came from Austria-Hungary in tbe form 
of Maria Theresa thalers. Of tbeae, according to the 
cfScial returns, five thousand one hundred and tea 
kilogrammes wint to India, via Trieste, in August, 
eleven thou' and seven hundred and fifty kilogrammes 
in September, and even greater quantities iu October 
and the first half of November. Tho Vienna corre 
spondent of the iS/a/iJ^az-rf says that the trade mnst hav 
bee 0 very profitable, for, chiifly on account of tba 
Triesto merchants, the Mints of Austria and Hungary 
turned out, durii g the first thiee-quattera of the 
current ye ir, three million Maria I'here sathalers, Iho 
same as iul892, as agrtioet only one hundre l and'iity- 
six thousand two hundred during the whole tf 1891. 
Last August alono about ^ix thousand kiloitramineti 
went to Turkey and one thousand kilogrammes to 
Egypt, nearly all tho restgoing to India. The Mioia- 
tera of Finance of Austria and Hungary have refused 
to allow more thjlers to be coined during the present 
fiuauoial year, on the ground thai tbo Miots cuuoct be 
further used for cqIds iawbiob Aaa!ri« baa ua IDWICI^ 
