734 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
I"May i , 1895. 
TEA : PUBLIC SALE CONDITIONS. 
(To the Editor of the Home and Colonial Mail. ) 
Dear Silt, — The following will be of general interest 
to all dealers and buying brokers in the tea trade : — 
The rapid deterioration of Ceylon teas after ar- 
riving m this country is acknowledged by all buyers 
of the article, particularly after bulking has been 
necessary. It is also well known that in this cli- 
mate, and especially in such weather as we have 
experienced the last two months, that any unneces- 
sary exposure of the article to the air increase this 
deterioration. Merchants hurry their produce to sale 
regardless whether it can be got ready for delivery 
on the day of sale or not, as prescribed by Clause 1 
of Public Sale Conditions. 
It is well known by the buyers in the trade that 
Ceylon teas are often printed for sale when only a 
few packages of a parcel are in the warehouse, and 
when complete, and after being hurriedly inspected, 
are left to the mercy of the warehouse keepers, 
who frequently have so much to attend to from the 
large quantities brought forward for each Tuesday's 
sales that they cannot get anything like half the quan- 
tity coopered up ready for delivery " on day ot sale, 
although, if any small parcel uncoopered were paticulaih 
wanted, they might deliver them as a special event. 
For example, say we bought i)00 chests in one line 
in sale, presented a delivery order for steamer game 
evening, found all the packages open, and had to 
wait for them to be coopered up, probably losing 
steamer, could this be called "ready for delivery on 
day of sale " ? 
The clear meaning and object of Clause 4 was no 
doubt to protect buyers, hut it has been so long 
ignored by the trade that the warehousemen now 
consider it a "trade-custom " not to have teas nailed 
up and actually ready for delivery " on day 
of sale," but close them up as it suits their 
convenience. Times and the nature, to a large 
extent, of the article have, however, changed ; 
when this Clause was introduced China teas were 
largely in vogue, and slight exposure, except to 
the finest grades, which were well looked after 
by the buyers, did not affect them very detrimen- 
tally. But now Indian and Ceylon teas are the prin- 
cipal growths it is very different. 
Casss are continually occurring where Ceylons have 
been inspeeted several days before sale day, and the 
packages have remained open for two or three days 
after " day of sale " and often for a longer time. 
Indeed, instances are known, after teas have been 
bulked, that buyers have found those they bought 
iti sale as "ready for delivery '' lying in heaps on 
the warehouse floor the morning after sale. 
The rapid deterioration of certain parcels that 
have been bulked and left open, with consequent 
loss to buyers, caused us, in our own and in the 
interests of the trade, to watch the state of various 
parcels after several sales, and on Tuesday, the 5th 
inst., out of eight parcels we bought, 011 sampling 
them between ten and twelve o'clock the day after 
sale, we found six parcels without the lids on, the 
papers and leads being patted down just as they were 
left after the inspector had examined them. On this 
ground we refused to accept various contracts, but as 
all the warehousemen concerned replied to our com- 
Elaints through the selling brokers " that they could 
ave delivered on demand," we selected one case for 
arbitration to test the real trade meaning Clause 4. 
The arbitrators — one for each party — could not agree, 
and the umpire they chose, a gentleman of high stand- 
ing in the trade, has given his decision as follows: — 
"I find that under Clause 4 of the Public Sale 
Conditions a buyer is entitled to throw up his con- 
tract on finding that the parcel was not actually ready 
for delivery at the time of sale, hut was open and with 
lids off, and was so left until the following day." 
His decision can of course be reversed by another 
arbitration, but the matter is of the greatest import- 
ance to all concerned and it would be well to have 
the Clause 4 more definitely expressed. 
The crux of the whole matter is, that a clause 
should be inserted in the Public Sale Conditions, 
" That no merchant should print teas for sale until 
they have been properly inspected and weighed.' If 
this were carried out, warehousemen would hau- 
time to get all ready for delivery " on day of sale. 
The decision in the present case, until the matter 
is carried to some higher authority, will, how- 
ever, awakeu warehouse keepers to their res- 
ponsibilities ; and we may mention a very curious 
fact, that after this matter had been well 
ventilated during the last week, every parcel 
we bought in last Tuesday's sale was found to 
be nailed up and ready for delivery on the Wednes- 
day morning following the Tuesday's sale of the 
12th inst. 
Formerly, Chinas were mostly offered by private- 
contract, and the majority of samples not sold for 
days or weeks after arrival ; but now, as the bulk 
of Ceylon and Indian teas are printed for sale 
often almost before the ship is well in dock, it is 
time for changes to be in the terms of sale in 
buyers' interests. At present the terms are mostly 
in sellers' favour, and it is well known by dealers 
how merchants take advantage of them. We have 
known many cases lately where packages, in- 
spected in the ordinary way by selling brokers w ho 
cannot see into the middle of chests, have shortly 
after sale been removed from the public warehouses to 
the warehouses of most respectable dealers, who on 
turning them out have found rubbish, or distinct 
damage in middle or bottom of packages. On referring 
the matter to the merchants, through the selling 
brokers, the invariable answer is — reference to 
Clau-e 5 Public .Sale Conditions! 
If iner hants can make such good use of ClauEe 5, 
surely buyers should be able to use CUuse 4 when 
necessary.— Yours faithfully, Hawes and Co. 
— March 15. 
NY ASS A LAN I) COFFEE COMPANY. 
As will be seen from a notice in our adver- 
tising columns the Directors of this Company, in 
consequence of the non-receipt of the title deed 
have only provisionally allotted 700 shares, and 
the application list for the balance, 300 shares, 
remains open. 
DRUG REPORT. 
(From Chemist and Druggist. ) 
London, March 14th. 
The Liverpool Oil and Chemical Markets- Cotton 
seed oil is easier, at 17s 9d to lbs per cwt. Coconut 23s 
Cd to 24s per cwt. 
Annatto-seeo — Firmly held. Privately sales of good 
Madras have been made nt 4.Jd per lb. At auction 4 
bags were bought in at that figure. 
Areca-nits remain very cheap; 17 bags oil-damaged 
nuts sold, without reserve, at 8s 6d p:r cwt. 
Cocaine — The manufacturers advanced their prices by 
9d per oz on Monday— viz. to 18s 9d for Hydrochloride. 
The stock of crude cocaine here is said to be rather 
small and the exports from Peru have fallen off a good 
deal lately. For these rea .ons a further advance in the 
refine drug is thought not unlikely. We bear that some 
American firms have been placing cocaine-orders freely. 
Cocoa-leaves— Considerable sales have been made in 
Liverpool lately, but in London there does not appear to 
have been much moving. At auction a parcel of fine 
soft broken green Truxulo coca was shown. It is held 
for Is Id per lb. 
Kola— Fine qualities are in demand at an advance of 
about 2d per lb, one lot of fine bright West Indian 
realising Is 7d per lb today. For 25 bags of good quality 
a bid of Is 3d was refused. Is 4d being the limit. It is 
anticipated that prices will advance further. 
Cinchona— Since the Amsterdam auctions of February 
2Sth, 440 bales of Java cinchona, representing 1,943 
kilos of sulphate of quinine, which were ) ought in on 
that occasion, have been sold privately. Taa exports 
from Ceylon during the months of January and Febru- 
ary have been — 
Year 1S95 1894 1891 
lb 11. lb 
79.000 484,000 1,059,000 
The exports from Java, during the five months from 
October 1st to February 2Sth, were— 
Year 1894-5 1893-4 1892-3 
lb lb lb 
Amsterdam 3,700,624 3,195,303 3,091,830 
Cloves— Firmly held. At auction a few lots of tine pale 
Zanzibar cloves realised 2|d to 3d per lb, Good, V enang 
