412 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURE I 
{ Dec. i, 1894. 
Aa regards the Board of Trade returns I will 
gee what can be done, but from the correspondence 
of which I enclose copy, you will see that the returns 
do not at present give the countries to which the 
Tea is exported from United Kingdom. To get the 
weights for any given country one must extract for 
oneself the quantity taken by each vessel from a 
document called ft Bill B" which gives particulars 
of the various cargoes. 
It is probable that from 1st January 1895 the re- 
quired information will be given in the published 
returns. For it was at the instance of our Associa- 
tion here that a few years ago the Ceylon Importers 
were first given as distinguished from those for India. 
I have today telegraphed to you through Mr. Julius, 
as follows :— ■ 
■'Elphinstone will be ready to leave alone on 3rd 
or 10th November for six or eight weeks, wire funds, 
please send instructions forthwith." 
In reference to Sir Graeme Elphinstone's proposed 
mission to America it might be well that he should visit 
Winnipeg and the Agent for the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany there. 
The orders for Tea emanate from that officer. 
I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
(Signed) Wm. Martin Leake, Esq. 
Ceylon Association in London. 
4, Mincing Lane, E.C., 11th July, 1894. 
H.M. Commissioners of Customs, London, 
Gentlemen,— I am instructed to ask on behalf of 
this Association, if it can be arranged that in future 
the returns of the tea exported from the United 
Kingdom shall show in every case both the country 
of origin of the tea (India, Ceylon, or China! and 
also the country to which the tea is exported. If 
the returns gave this information, it is considered 
that it would add greatly to their value. — I am, gentle- 
men, your obedient servant, 
(Signed) Wm, Martin Leake, Secretary. 
Customs House, London, 24th July, 1894. 
Sir,— .1 am directed by the Commissioners of Her 
Majesty's Customs to inform you, in reply to your 
letter dated the 11th inst., that the question of how 
far it may be practicable in the official returns of 
the exports of tea to show the original country 
whence imported and the countries to wbich exportea, 
Will be considered by the revising committee which 
deals with these matters once year, with reference 
to changes which it may be desirable to make as 
from the 1st January, 1895. — I am, sir, your obedient 
servant, (Signed) K. T. Buowse. 
The Secretary, the Ceylon Association, 4, Mincing 
Lane, E.C. 
THE NEW DIMBULA COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
REPORT FOR SEASON 1893-4. 
It is satisfactory to the Directors, in presenting 
their Ninth Annual Report, to be in a position to re- 
commend a further considerable reduction in amount 
due on account of the accumulative dividend on the 
"B " shares. 
The yield of tea for the past financial year, owing 
to a very favorable season, is largely in excess of the 
estimate, which has counteracted to some extent the 
effect of lower prices ruling in Minicing Lane. 
The total acreage planted with tea amounts to 
2,193 acres, of which 1,679 acres were in bearing 
during the past seasons, leaving 242 acres to come 
into bearing this present season and 272 acres in 
1896-95. This increased area for plucking will neces- 
sitate an extension of accommodation in the factory, 
and also additional motive power. 
The accounts now presented show a surplus of 
£14,760 15s lOd, after crediting the Tea Extension 
Account with £500, and writing £1,500 off the "Fac- 
tory and Machinery Account." The Directors propose 
a dividend at the usual rate of 8 per cent, per annum 
o.i the ',' A " shares, for the year ended 30th June 
last, one-half of which was paid in March ; the 
Directors also propose a further payment in reduction 
of the cumulative dividend on the " B " shares of 1& 
per cent., in addition to the 4 per cent, paid in 
March last. r 
The general management in Ceylon continues to 
give every satisfaction, and the Directors feel that 
great credit is due to the Resident Manager in 
Ceylon. 
INDIAN PATEN1 «. 
Calcutta, the 2.3th Oct. 1804. 
Whereas the inventors of the undermentioned in- 
ventions have respectively failed to pay within the 
time limited in that behalf the prescribed fees it is 
hereby notified tliut the exclusive privilege of making, 
selling and using the said inventions in British Lidia 
and of authorizing others to do so has ceased : — 
Apparatus for Withering Tea Leal.— No, 47 of ln90. 
— Mr. S. C. Davidson's invention for improveuients in 
appartus for withering tea leaf preparatory to it» being 
rolled in the process of its manufacture into tea. 
( Specification filed 12th July 1890;.— Indian Sagimeer, 
Nov. 3. 
PLANTING AND PRODUCE. 
NOT QUITE A LOST AUX. 
With tea at present prices most people would have 
thought that the game of playing off exhausted tea 
leaves was not worth the candle. But two worthies 
named White and Cahill were of a different opinion. 
We give particulars of the case ae heard before the 
magistrate elsewhere, as our readers will naturally 
take some interest in the proceedings. It was the 
idea of Mr. Cahill to invent a machine which should 
convert worthless tea leaves into a semblance of the 
non-infused article, while Mr. White was the capi- 
talist who provided the funds to work the oracle. 
For a while the success of the venture must have ex- 
ceeded the anticipations of the promoters, who, for 
the most trifling outlay, purchased tea leaves' by 
the hundredweight, and after the simple pro- 
cess of passing them through a heated pipe sold them 
again as the raw product. In this way some tons of 
the fabricated stutf were disposed of, and to some 
wholesale tea dealers, of all people in the world. But 
the Board of Customs got wind of the enterprise, 
and proceedings were taken which brought to light 
the unpleasant fact for Messrs. White and Cainll 
that they had rendered themselves liable to a fine of 
something over £36,000. This was ultimately re- 
duced to i't>8. The practice pursued by Messrs. White 
and Cahiil, it seems, is forbidden by a old statue of 
George III. The fact that they found a ready 
market for their peculiar wares, and managed to sell 
about 6,000 lb of it, shows that many tea drinkers 
know very little about tea, and that with some of 
them any rubbish will sell. 
India and the Antwerp Exhibition. — In a review 
of the British section of the Antwerp Exhibition the 
Times dismisses the Indian exhibits as follows : — '• The 
Indian exhibits are neither numerous nor remarkable 
Mention should, however, be made of the 'Meta Cha 
tea, shown by the Indian Planters' Co-operative Tea 
Supply Association, .Limited, which represents an im 
portant Indian Industry, and one of the collection of 
coffees, tobaccos, and woods sent by the Indian Go 
vernment." 
Puerh Tea.— According to the report of Mr. Warry 
Adviser on Chinese Affairs in India, the Yunnan Govern 
nient has recently devoted considerable attention to tire 
production of this type of tea, which is extensively grown 
the Shan country beyond the Mekong, seveial clays 
journey south-east of Ssumao. The impetus given to 
the cultivation of this variety has been largely due to 
improvements effected by the late Viceioy 1 sen. who 
established Government agencies for its purchase 
manufacture, and sale, and placed them in charge of 
skilled workmen specially imported fiom the tea 
gardens of Canton, Foochow, and Hankow. Mr. Warry 
points out that Puerh is a medicinal tea. It is, true 
he says, that it is widely spoken of as yo, or medicine 
but only in the sense in which all palatable and inno 
