ivtARCH i, 1894.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
601 
THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE: 
AUSTRALIA AND CEYLON. 
The following is an extract from an Australian 
journal for which we are indebted to a local 
correspondent. We are much pleased to find 
Major-General Justice taking so practical an interest 
in ihe important matter of getting a supply of 
meat from Australia. Every merchant and tea 
planter in the island ought to feel a special concern 
in the starting and promotion of such a trade; 
for assuredly our tea exports to the Southern 
Colonies would increase by leaps and bounds if we 
were able to take an appreciable (luantity of frozen 
meat and other produce from Melbourne, Sydney 
and Adelaide. ^Meantime we give the South 
Australian extract as follows ; — 
The QovernmeDt have received the following des- 
patch from the Major-General commanding the 
troops in Ceylon :—" Heid-quartere, Ceylon, Colombo, 
October 16th 1893.— Sir,— As I am most desirous to 
supply the troops under my command with refrigera- 
ted instead of the very inferior class of meat afforded 
by this colony, I have the honour to request you that 
you will give me assistance to this end by furnish- 
ing me with the names of such firms in the trade 
as might be willing to undertake the supply. jThe 
quantities required would be 1,300 lb. daily for 
Colombo and Kandy. Certain initial expenses would 
be necessary, such as the erection of a refrigerat- 
ing store and the appointment of a local agent to 
superintend the receipt and issue of the meat, and 
it would be necessary also that any firm tendering 
should deposit the value of one month's supply at 
the time of tendering to remain at interest in the 
Bank named by the War Department as security £or 
the due fulfilment of the contract if accepted, If I 
can obtain any advantageous tender I would recom- 
mend that it should be accepted by the War Depart- 
ment for three years. The only local otter received 
is at too high a price, viz,, at 5|d. per lb., the local 
price of country beef being only ^i per lb. The 
commencement of the supply of refrigerated meat 
to the troops might prove the thin end of the wedge 
as regards the supply of the entire European popul- 
ation of Colombo, as the local meat, though cheap 
is verv bad, and a considerable trade might result 
to the' successful tenderer." 
The Chief Secretary's Department will be glad to 
assist any South Australian exporters who desire 
to take advantage of the opportunity offered, and will 
obtain such further information as may be desired 
or assist by the transmission of any tender for the 
supply. 
CEYLON PLANTING NEWS. 
(Ao/ts /rum IFa/irfeccc.) 
Feb. 3. 
Cocoa.— i?rices for this product are by no means 
encouraging. Messrs. Wilson, Smithett & Co. in their 
Circular of i2th January pronounce the sales of West 
Indian cocoa to be satisfactory, consider uiii the 
quantity offered. I wonder if the West Indian 
planters had the same opinion as that eminent. 
Firm of Brokers. The output of Guayaquil cocoa 
has, I fear, a great deal to do with the want of orders 
for Coylon cocoa from Americ* :— 
Guavaciuil has exported 101,4r)0 quintals in 1893 
against 331,870 „ 1892 
210,000 „ 1891 
The cocoa import into England in 1893 is 14,702 tons 
Do 1892 13,727 „ 
One thousand tons or 20,000 cwt. cocoa increase 
means two-tliirds of the Ceylon export in 1893. Tha 
consumption in J'>ugland, alas ! in 1893 is only 40 
tons over that of 1H'.)2. 
Under this heading, I may note the discussion of 
Coi OA SrKAi.i.Mi in tho Legislativo Council, hiir E. 
Noel Walker wants relief for tho viUago headmen who 
Jmva Iga^ their voramitiioua £oi- recgvery of paddy 
tax, at the expense of the cacao planter. If he likes 
to call it by another name, I will call it " Black- 
mail." I remember a Government Agent of Kandy, 
the late Sir J. F. Dickson, having nearly an apoplectic 
fit, when he heard that a well-known planter in 
Nilambe had stopped coffee stealing on his estate 
by paying blackmail to the village headmen. Sir John 
raved and rightly so when; he thought of the terrible 
censure such blackmailing practically conveyed on the 
Government's not safeguarding the tax-payera' pro- 
perty. Sir E. Noel Walker has no qualms of this 
sort. However, Sir E, Noel Walker and all Govern, 
ment servants had better beware lest their weakness 
in the protection of agriculturists, European and 
native, lead to their dismissal and being replaced by 
officials who have a higher sense of their responsibi- 
lities than recommending " blackmailing." Fancy 
the English or Scotch farmers having to provide from 
£20 to £30 a year to private watchers to protect their 
farmyards ! 
« 
CONCERNING COFFEE. 
Mooha coffee is a term in commerce which is a 
sucvival of a condition of things that do iocger exists. 
The port of Moka has dwindled to a mere village, and 
the tine quality of coffee from Yemen aud the 
opposite c^a.t uf Abyssinia never sees it. The greater 
facilities aud bettor organisation and security of 
Aden have absorbed the traffic. The Porta has, seem- 
ingly, just awakened to this fact, aud has requested 
— which means, in this case, commanded — the Yemen 
merchants to send their merchandise through Moka 
instead of Aden, The chief products of the Sana's 
district are coffee and cereals. Conaignmeuti have 
already arrived at Moka, including twentynine loads 
of coffee. The traders of Southern Arabia have no 
love for Turkish rule and its ways, and if they find 
that they are subjtct to loss, delay, and extortion by 
shipping their goodj through Moka, they will not 
hesitate to returu to tho Bnlish port, so thit unless 
they are f<tirly treated, the heroic measure devised 
at Stamboul is likely to prove futile. — Echo, Jan. 16. 
KUBBER IN CEYLON. 
Mr. Ferguson in his recent important wsrk on 
" Ceylon in 1893," gives some interesting facts as 
to the rubbar industry in the island : — 
" W"here every prospect pleases, 
Aud only man is vile." 
The Cauoutchouo, or India rubber trees of 
commerce, from South America and Eastern Africa, 
are of recent introduction, but their cultivation 
and growth in the planting districts of Ceylon have 
so far not given very satisfactory results. The 
growth of some of the trees has been excellent, 
indeed wonderful, equaling in certain oases forty- 
eight feet in height, aud forty-live inches in oir- 
oumferenoe iu five years, and when more is known 
about the mode of harvesting the rubber, the 
industry may prove profitable. 
There is a great demand for rubber in arts and 
manufactures in the United States as in Europe 
and encouragement therefore to give attention to 
the product; but Dr. Tnnen [Trimeii — Ed. T.A.'[ 
does not think well of rubber or guttapercha for 
pricate ouUivatiuu in Cejlon. Tno Government 
nave been pluming rubber through their Foreati 
Department. — I'ujjer AJakcrs" Circular. 
TEA .M.\NU11ING IN ASSAM. 
We mauurowilh cit le manure aid bbeal soil which 
is Liilliiiig bill v.!getiblo raoald an 1 is dug out of mo 
I huil and the gftril*;:i nvxt i>ut8 ou a litt'o pouMac, but 
1 have seen n > m muriug to spiuk of, ai the suil la so 
nob it hardly, exutpt ou very o d s;ardt<u.i, requires i». 
Xou Bee labour n not wb»t it ii it\ vad eaot^ 
