S8a 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
March i, TI94 
snuff, and was a mass of tiny gold speoks, nitbout 
Koy ot the admixture of black partiolea observ- 
able in tbe first sample and iu that of previous 
publio notice. Messrs. A.adersoa bad kindl/ kept 
(be tea for me until it was possible for me to 
aall, au 1 then at onoe despatabed it to the brokers 
for sale. M?sgr8. Gow, Wilson & Stanton had 
declined to value either sample, feeling it to 
be impossible to assi(;n a price. Probably the tea 
will be bought as on former occasions of a similar 
kind offering, for the purpose of advertisement ; 
but wesu^p^et tbe day tor this has long gone by, 
at leaat so far as to encourage any expectation 
that prices of a rate known in the pa it cia now be 
realised for it. The veteran Mr. A. 0. White, tbe 
well-known " Knuaklea Brick " of the forties, is 
tbe owner of this tiny but choice break of Oeylon 
tea. It was grown on his Mount Vernon estate, and 
that garden will now possess the reputation of 
hiving sent home what the most experienced firm of 
brokers in London has declared to the finest tea 
they have ever seen imported from Ceylon. 
Messrs. Anderson have kiuily promised to let me 
know what prices ar:^ ob'.ained for the two small 
samples, information that will at onoe be passed 
on by me to yourselves. 
" MAZAWATTE TEA " AND THE CEYLON ASSOCIATrON 
IN LONDON. 
Daring the week I had conversation with a member 
of the Tea Committee of the O eylon Association in 
London, and my view wau expressed to him as 
regards the course taken by that Committee in 
refusing to permit Mr. L°ake to make tbe aSi lavit 
with respect to the title of " Maziwatte" as a trade 
mark. His reply to me was : — " You will know that 
when that trade mark was first adopted I objeited to 
it as strongly as anyone else, aod would ihiU have 
gone for a prosecution. Of course, it is a misleading 
came to have assumed. Bat in spite cf that I 
think the Committee did rightly to refuse ti ap- 
petr as active supporters of any steps taken 
against Messrs. Densbam's inlerests. By very 
extensive advertising of Maziwatte tea, wh'ch 
everyone believes to be a Ceylon tea, the? have 
well served Qoylon by making it a household word. 
Then they have at the same time worked up an 
enormous trad^, and are among the larg-ist pur- 
chasers cf C:tylon teas in this market. It would 
sonrcely aarve us, we think, to now break down 
this gigant'C business. No, 1 have never 
ray elf tisttd Maziwacte tea and probably never 
b'a ill. It may be that it would not suit my 
piUle. Bat you see, if the Oeylon Assoeia'ion 
were to actively offend Messrs. Densham, they 
might change their present tactics by abandoning 
Ceylon teas, and we might drive them altogether 
into the arms of Assam, Siam, Japan, and other 
tea-growing countries and districts. I tell you tbe 
condition of the home tea trade is such that we 
cannot be toD careful. We are forced now to sell 
all our teas under ourownnamea. Lipton, you know, 
is a grower as well as a buyer, and he is also a 
seller at the auctions, as well as a retailer all tbe 
w»rld ovtii-. He sen is to tbe auctions all such of 
his Ceylon teas as he does not care, for some 
reason or other, to retain himself. I don't say any- 
thing against tbe qualities of such teas, but what 
I do know ia that the dealers won't buy any tea 
that they suspect to be Lipton's, because he is his 
own retailer. If we dan't give our name with the 
lota they immediately think they may be some 
of Lipton's, and then unanimously refuse to 
make a bid. For this and the foregoing rea- 
sons given you, I am strongly disincline! to 
any ait3mpt to disturb tbe present cbanaels 
ttirough which Ceylon teas reach the publio. The 
fact seems to be that tbe Messi >. D->neham are much 
puiooaally likeJ, and w« suspect thai that fact ba« 
had as much weight in inducing tbe action ty 
the Committee as any onsidcr.itioa for the ex- 
isting Eouroes ot distribution lo tin pub'ic " 
The question ot 
SMALL BlilSAK) OF TEA 
is again engaging attention by b)th tbe brokers 
aad tbe dealers. Yo i will recollect that tbia 
matter was mooted some time biek, and it w&g 
then hoped that your planters would find it to 
be possible to avoid the sending home of eucb 
piroela. This hope has not, however, been realised. 
The brokers oomp'ain that they are as numerous 
as ever. Tbe detioiiion cf what coDBtituteu a 
small break ia ten whole or twenty half sbesls. 
It is the practice of tbe brokers when lu'.e com- 
ing under that definition appear in tbe lists, to 
omit putting them up to auction in their regular 
turn, and to postpane doing so until tbe whole 
of the larger breaks have been disposed of. Tbe 
result to this practice has been that when they 
are offered there remain but few bidders in tbe room, 
and the consequencti follows that bidding:! become 
slack and that such teas are sold below their real 
value. The brokers suggested tu the Gey loo Asso- 
ciation in London that to obviate this it would be as 
well only to include buob breaks in tbe lists of 
Thursday, a day when these las', are not so full 
as on Tuesdays. But tbe Tea Cummittee of that 
body object to this proposal, as it must still con 
tinue tha d liijulties following on a limited 
attendauee. They prefer, and have suggested, that 
they should still find a place in tbe Tuesday lists, 
and that they should be sold at tbe sams time as 
the larger breaks but in a separate room. Tbe two 
proposals mentioned are to be — or may by this 
time have been — submitted to the Tea Dealers' 
Association. As tbe last mentioned bo ly repre- 
sents tbe purchasing element, i^a decision upon the 
two propositions must be valuable and will probably 
decide tbe future course of practice. We expect 
to learn as to this very shortly. It has been 
mentioned to me by an expert that these email 
breaks are usually of tbe finer sorts of lea, this 
necessarily arriv ng from eacii estate in sma'ler 
quantity than tbe less valuable varieties. It must 
therefore be of much importance to secure the best 
competition for them, and this it seems certain 
is not to be go'; at the Thursday's sales. Although 
the al'.eratioo in procedure now proposed 
may do somewhat to improve the prices 
now obtained for these small breaks, it yet be- 
hoves your planters in their own interests to avoid 
shipping them as far as possible. The brokers 
have added to their proposition mentioned above 
the further one that the limitation of classification 
shall be extended ; but instead of the number of 
chests and half-chssts now determining the term, 
this shall be for the future 12 and 21 respectively. 
It this be done, tbe proportion of tea to be offered 
in a separate room will be increased so as to 
attract a larger attendance of bidders. This is a 
matter that will no doubt be decided when tbe 
m^tin question has been considered, but it is perhips 
open to doubt whether the acceptance of the pro- 
posal would have the result adticipated. The real 
panacea would be to abolish the small briakd as 
much as possible, not to add to ihem. Su long, 
however, as your planters find it to be imperative 
to make such small shipments, difficulty must 
always b 5 experienced in disposing them of, and your 
growers mast make up their minds to receive rela- 
tively unsatisfactory prices for them whatever be tbe 
effortd t j mest ihe uai?e mi e by the brokers and 
others on this side. 
