THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, 1895. 
I opened two boxes, and he passed the rest. I have 
travelled a good deal in Dutch Territory, and have 
come to the conclusion that English custom house 
officers might well take a lesson in manners from 
the Dutchmen. All the boxes received the official 
chalk, and the porter said " Pergi Maaa, Tuan?" 
Where are you going, sir? " Medan." In an instant 
the boxes were labelled and then " Misti Timbang 
Barang-Barang " must weigh the luggage. $3*75 for 
those few boxes! well, it must be paid. Holy Moses! 
but it was hot! I had three quarters of an hour to 
wait for the train, barely 8 a.m. and the men my 
close up to 90° f. Aha ! "Buffet." " Beer, boy, quick." 
There was no ice. The beer was tepid, — can nausea 
go further ? 
The run by train from 
BELAWAN TO MEDAN 
is a little over an hour. Now, I thought to my elf, 
I shall see something new ! Have you ever seen the 
mountains of the fen country of Lincolnshire, Cam- 
bridgeshire and Norfolk ? Have you ever traversed 
the rolling prairies of Holland ? Both of these are 
Alpine by comparison with what I saw during t hat 
dreary hour, not a single object of interest, not 
even a poplar or a willow. Only once was I equally 
disappointed, and that was at Macassar in the Celebes. 
I expected to see new and interesting types of Malay. 
The wharf was crowded with — Pigtails I Bathos. 
Medan at last : and the Medan Hotel compares 
favorably as regards food and attendance with anything 
to be found in Singapore. 
My idea of Medan was that it was a sort of 
prse-railway Gampola or Nawalapitiya. Not so. It 
is more like what Kandy was in the good old 
coffee days when Nilambe, Hewaheta, Hantane, on 
the one side, and all the northern districts on the 
other, concentrated on the mountain capital. There 
are two Hotels : a Club which gives fortnightly 
dances ; and the celebrated Deli Race-course, well- 
known to all sportsmen in the Far Bast. 
The town itself is like all Dutch Colonial towns. 
Business quarters, including the headquarters of the 
well-known Deli Maatschappy, with a long roll of 
prosperous tobacco lands, paying dividends to an ex- 
tent unknown in other countries. The Netherland 
Trading Co. and the Chartered Bank both have 
fine buildings, and practically divide the banking busi- 
ness of the East Coast of Sumatra. But it is 
not till you get into the Chinese quarters that 
you begin to realise what an enormous circulation 
of money there must be. The Deli Planter likes to 
live well. Of tinned provisions you can get anything 
from kippered herrings to Pate de foi gras* and of 
drinks from . key-brand beer to Heidsieck Monopole. 
The Deli plauter not only can get it ; but he does 
get it ; and thinks no more of a dozen of " the Boy " 
than he does of a sherry and bitters. And all this 
comes out of those melancholy swamps that I have 
already described. 
There is also, of course, the grass-plain, or aloon- 
aloon, in the middle of the town, surrounded by 
ornamental trees, where the soldiers drill in the 
morning, and the civilians play lawn-tennis in the 
evening. 
Still, Mark Tapley did not come to the rescue ; 
and my depression of spirits was not relieved until 
my friend promised to show me something more 
pleasing the next day in the shape of 
LIBERIAN COFFEE. 
But of this, more in my next. 
TEA SWEEPINGS. 
You were recently told by me of Mr. Christie's 
endeavours to obtain concerted action be- 
tween the Indian Tea Association body 
and your Ceylon Association. It would seem 
as if this is ! not to be obtained, and that 
* A Singapore bon-vivant the other day said 
"Hang it. all! you fellows here get better tins than 
we do in Singapore ! " and so it is. 
the last mentioned will have to proceed alone, 
should it proceed at all. It has been told me 
that the Committee of your own Association is 
soon to be summoned to meet and discui-s this 
subject. When it doe6 so it will of course have 
under its review the very able ex|K>sition of the ease 
made by Mr. Christy in bis letter mentioned to 
you in a former communication by me. It ha* 
not been possible to learn on what grounds tin; 
Indian Association has refrained from action, or 
as to whether this has been only deferred till 
what may be thought to be some more conve- 
nient opportunity. — Loirdon Gar. 
THE TREATMENT OF TEA SWEEPINGS: 
IMPORTANT ACTION BY H.M. CUSTOMS. 
All who have at heart the best interests of the 
Indian tea industry will be glad to hear of the 
success that has attended the efforts made bv the 
Indian Tea Association i London i to put a stop to 
an abuse that was calculated to do injury to the 
hitherto untarnished reputation of Indian tea. 
The sweepings of the London warehouses at the 
docks and wharves, consisting not only of spilt tea. 
but dirt and rubbish of many kinds arising from the 
large traffic continually passing and repassing in the 
warehouses, amount to some 400 tons per annum. 
Instead of being destroyed, as was formerly the 
case, this rubbish is now sold to manufacturing che- 
mists inLondonoron the Continent, under a guarantee 
that it shall be denatured for the purpose of being 
manufactured into caffeine ; in the case of that ship- 
ped to the Continent nnder special certificate. It 
has, however, become evident that it is unsafe to 
allow such stuff to leave the country, as it finds its 
way back again as Assam Pekoe Dust or Broken 
Pekoe to the detriment of honest tea. 
As a result of representations made by the Indian 
Tea Association and the trade, the following stringent 
order has just been issued, under which it is no longer 
possible to export damaged tea : 
[COPY.] 
Secretary, Customs. 
No. 23,750, 1894, 
Loudon, Port Order 11, 1895. 
Treatment of Tea (Sweepings, Damage, &c.) in- 
Bonded Warehouses. 
(1.) The Board having had before them various 
representations on the subject of the treatment of 
sweepings of tea in bonded warehouses within the 
port of London, which under existing practice or 
regulation, find their way into receptacles in the 
warehouses known as " damage holes," have, after 
consultation with their solicitor, decided, with 
reference to the provisions of " The Sale of Food 
and Drugs Act, 1875," not to allow in future tea 
from these " damage holes " to be exported. The 
contents of "damage holes" must therefore (with 
reservation of permission to dispose of it in the 
manner provided by Customs London Port Order 33, 
1833) be, in all cases, destroyed (vide par. 76 of 
General Order 127, 1892). 
(2.) With respect, however, to any loose tea such 
as may occasionally result from the leakage from 
packages or from other similar causes, and which 
from being comparatively clean and sound would 
not ordinarily find its way into " damage holes," 
the Board do not issue any restrictive order. 
Thus, if in these circumstances it is desired to 
enter any tea of this description for home use, it 
must, before admission, be closely inspected, and, 
if necessary, analysed, in accordance with the 
standing regulations (Ganeral Order 127, 1892) 
under the " Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875." 
and dealt with accordingly. And the Board look to 
all officers concerned to take care that this direction 
as to inspection is fully observed. 
It must, however, be understood that if any loose 
tea, claimed to be the result of leakages from pack- 
ages, &c, finds its way into the " damage holes," 
it can only be treated as tea which is of a com- 
