100 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Aug. i, 1894. 
to you ooLvay bo wroDg on impression of what 
haa passed on this subject between the Brokers' 
Association and my Tea Committee, that I am 
obliged to send by (he mail tomorrow an accurate 
statement of the facts. " The recent correspondence 
was opened by mc, not by the Brokers at all, in a 
letter dated lO^h October last. To this letter I 
received a reply dated 28th December, which was 
submitted to my Tea Committee on loth January, 
and a reply sent on 19. h January containing the 
proposal of wloioh it ia said th-it you never heard. 
In reply to that letter the Brokers made the pro 
poeal for increasing tho limits for small breaks- 
On that subjeot Mr. Price came and saw m", and 
on my saying that we were cot likely to have a 
meeting till May, he replied that as arty change 
would date from 1st July, the May meeting would 
be quite soon enough for us to consider the 
matter. Had ha wished it I was prepared to 
oall b meeting at once. I write, as you may wish 
to put yourself right bafore I write to Ceylon." 
mr. long's 
letter to myself contains the following observation in 
reply to my suggestion that he should offer them to 
me forthe purpose of communication to yourselves : — 
"The first error that I wish to draw your attention 
to is that you make me say — 'Aa for the proposal 
you tell me of the Tea Cuuimittee of the Association, 
of which I now hear for the first time, that small 
breaks should be sold ou Tuesday ' &c , &c This 
was the point raised in the letter seut to the Brokers' 
Association by Mr. Leake in January last, and on 
which the Brokers were invited to give their 
opinion, and it was as an amendment to this 
proposition that I moved that the small breaks 
be sold on Thursdays — this is a point which Mr. 
Leake mentions. I enclose you his letter, and 
with regard to his second point, I have nothing 
further to add except that I did ascertain after 
seeing you that a verbal message had been sent to 
Mr. Price saying that merchants did not care for 
the Thursday plan, however I may add no official 
reply was sent till the middle of May last. My 
remarks about the buyers not wishing for an alteration 
in the sale are a little misleading as report, d, 
inasmuch as I was referring to the present system 
of selling small breaks, which are now in the hands 
of a very few buyers, and who naturally did not 
wish for an alteration that would tend to throw open 
their Sa'es to better competition. With regard to 
the buyers generally, I believe they would hail with 
great satisfaction any change that would prevent 
such a large amount of tea being forced off on 
one day. So far the results of the arrangement that 
the quantity should be divided between the Tuesday 
and Thursday are as follows : — 
Tuesday May 22 . . 20,567 Thursday 24 . . 5,884 
„ „ 29 .. 18,972 „ 31 .. 5,089 
„ June 8 .. 19,880 „ 7 .. 1,150 
„ „ 12 .. 15,656 „ 14 .. 2,400 
Thanking you in anticipation for your kind atten- 
tion to these alterations. — Believe me, yours faithfully 
(signed) Francis S. Long." 
I would suggest that, if possible, you should allow 
the above reference to this subject to be given 
in full in the next issue. 
The information given above by Mr. Long as 
to the result to date of the arrangement e greed 
to by the importers to attempt to equalize 
their offerings between Tuesdays' and Thursdays' 
Eales, is interesting. The evidence the figures 
given efford ia not fully satisfactory. For two 
weeks, it is certain the Thursdays' entries showed 
improvement in the direotion sought; but in 
the subsequent two weeks there would seem to 
have been a relapse towards former low stan- 
dards of offering. Rome was noi built in a day. 
however, and there must be difficulty in forcing 
trade out of the course to which it has been long 
accustomed. 
Havirg read with a great deal of interest your 
editoiial remarks arid connected coi rtspondence 
relutite to the desirability of engaging the servicis 
of an 
ENTlMcLOGIRT 
to enquire into the insect pests that attack 
tea 
bushes and the 
C'COKCT 
tree, I took an oppoituoity occurring to me to 
enquire of Miec Oimerod if she «ould feel dis- 
posed to go out to Ceylon in that capacity. Mies 
Ormerod replied to me that it would be quite 
beyond her power to undertake the offioe. Iu the 
first place, she informed mc that consideration for 
her health must form a paremount obstaole ; and 
in the econd place she tells me she is eo ectopic! 
with the " really enormous " amouit of agri- 
cultural eotomologist work referred to her here, 
that she could not possibly spare the time that 
would be required to make the full and complete 
investigation needed. Finding that there was ro 
chance of obtaining the tervicee of Mise Ormerod, 
I proceeded to enquire of her if she knew anyoDe 
who wou'd be capable of taking up such erquiiy 
and would be likely to acoept an cflet to do eo 
should it bo m&de. Miss Orm/r.d replied that a 
very " trustworthy " person woula be needer 1 , and 
proceeded to remark that 
PBOFESSCB WALTER BLANl'FOHD 
would, in her opinion, fu fill all the re- 
quirements needed for the quest mentioned. 
She has obliged me with the Proirssor's address 
at 48. Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square, and has 
suggested my commuoioating with him upon this 
subject. She tells me that Professor Blandford 
"has a good knowledge of Entomology — a very 
perfect knowledge (so as to be a chief authcrity) 
of one depjrtment of beetles ; and while his learn- 
it g and taste is for careful scientific research, he 
also works in reference to agricultural ar d forist 
bearings of the subject." Miss Ormerod further 
informed me that this gentleman is on the Ccurcil 
of the Entomological Society, and is the Lecturer on 
Entomology at the Royal Ionian Engineering College 
at Cooper's Hill. She believes that Professor 
Blmdford formerly spent Eome time in the West 
Indies, and that he might like to have the oppor- 
tunity of studying the Entomology of Ceylon. 
Miss Ormerod conoluded by ob erviDg that she 
did not know if the Professor would wish to 
acoept the du'y if offered to him ; but that what- 
ever he might dtcie'e she wculJ feel thfct anything 
he undertook would be both ably end thoroughly, 
and honestly done. Miss Ormercd has kindly 
invited me to visit her sister and herself at St. 
Alban's, Hertfordshire, and aa soon as I am 
tolerably free of many other engagements now 
pressing upon me, and which will probably occupy 
all my time to fulfill until about the. 20th July, 
I hope to be able to avail myself of her invita- 
tion, and so to have the opportunity of more 
fully discussing the various entomological questions 
in which Ceylon is interested with her. 1 forgot 
to ask her if she sees the Tropical Agriculturist, 
but must do so on the next opportunity. She 
would doubtless obtain much spec : al information 
from that publication that woula indicate to her the 
line of enquiry needed in Ceylon. 
INDIAN TEA SUPPLY COMPANY. 
" A company for fostering a taste for tea among 
the masses '■ is something far beyond anything 
attempted yet in Ceylon : — 
The report of this concern for the year ended 31st 
March is issued. The company was subscribed to 
