[May i, 1895. 
or two places, but what will it be when large 
tracts of country are opened. If it's uncertain nou), 
and rising in price what will it be then '! 
With regard to the coffee, my correspondent said 
that it seems to give good maiden and second crops, 
but after that the next crop falls off very much. 
I regret I am un ible to say what coffee districts 
my correspondent visited, though I hear he went to 
see a number of places. — I am, sir, yours faithfully. 
LOW OUNl'RY PLANTER. 
TEA SWEEPINGS. 
March 27th. 
Deah Sih, — At last a movement lias been made to- 
wards putting an end to the practice of Tea Sweepings 
evils of which you have often directed attention. But I 
fear that the Circular Order, issued relative to 
the disposal of tea sweepings by the Customs at 
home, is too va^ue in character to have the desired 
effect. In foiwaiding you a copy of this order, your 
London correspondent pointed out how readily its 
provisions may be evaded by anyone disposed to 
regard his own selfish gain in preference to the 
general well-being. As he remarks, any warehouoe 
proprietor who may be so inclined, has only to direct 
that tea sweepings shall not be placed in the so- 
called "damage box " to make it permissible to him 
to dispose of these in anyway he may think best. 
It is true the restraint is imposed upon such a 
proprietor that before these sweepings are sold they 
shall be submitted for official inspection ; but it can 
readily be conceived that these might be given 
treatment prior to that inspection which, while 
not removing the objection to them, might enable 
them t) pass muster. It would appear that 
this Customs' Order must fail to accomplish 
all that is needed. Sweepings passed for sale — 
ostensibly for the manufacture of caffeine — 
will almost certainly be again vamped up and 
find their way into English consumption. Evidently 
there are but two courses open for fully putting a 
stop to this evil. Either, as Mr. Christy has suggested, 
the owners of the teas dealt with should be able to 
claim the spillings of their chests ; or all sweepings, 
whether previously placed in the " damage box " or 
not, should be subject to the admixture recommended 
to Mr. Goschen by that gentleman. Until a more 
stringent Order is issued by the Customs, entire 
immunity from the evil complained of must remain 
barely probable. The suggestion that a joint Com- 
mittee of the representative bodies interested be 
appointed to deal with all complaints made is worthy 
of consideration. I have been informed upon what I 
was told was the best authority, that the Indian Tea 
Association seemed to be holding back over this 
matter. At all events no notification as to action taken 
by it had, it appears, reached the Ceylon representative 
Association in London. But I observe that the Home 
and Colonial Mail, when publishing the Customs' Order 
referred to, assigned the credit of obtaining its issue to 
the first-mentioned Association ! I do not know 
upon what authority this assignment of credit 
was made. The Ceylon Association is apparently 
ignorant of any ground for it, and I am therefore 
disposed to accept the view that the credit was more 
probably due to Mr. Chrkty, who has more than 
once brought the subject to the notice of high authority. 
But it is not improbable that even he would have 
failed to notice the weak points in the Circular to 
which I have directed your attention ; and I hope 
he will see his way to attract the attention of the 
Customs authorities to them. The Home and Colonial 
Mail evidently overlooks these altogether, for it ex- 
presses its congratulations to all trie interests con- 
cerned upon the Order issued. Want of full know- 
ledge of all the conditions has probably induced the 
belief on the part of the conductors of that paper 
that all is well now. But all is not well. It is pio- 
bably the case that for a time, while the new broom 
is doing its traditional perfect work, that some re- 
straint may be experienced by dishonest vendors of 
these tea sweepings. But when the official attention 
becomes after a time relaxed, I fear the latter class 
of men will endeavour to drive the coach-and- 
four through the enactment. This will not be far to 
seek, and when found you may expect to see the evil 
that it is sought to redress as rampant as ever. — Yours, 
etc., A CORRESPONDENT. 
THE PRICE OF COCONUTS. 
Sin, — There is little mystery in the present price 
of coconuts when the subject is looked into. The 
present price of a ton of oil iu the Loudon market 
is the equivalent of . . . . . . R420 00 
li.1'20 nuts give one ton of oil from the estate 
in question . . . . . . 2«7l»j 
Excels on nuts .. .. ,.RLS8'A5 
Value of poonac at local price.. .. 1* 43 
Over producers price .. .. . . Rl.VJ'Uj 
to be divided by the local dealer, the manufacturer, 
and the exporting merchant, and if it did not pay 
each or any of them, such prices would not be giveni 
As the great bulk of our coconuts are used for oil- 
making local prices are chiefly governed by the prica 
of oil.— Yours, dec, COCONUTS. 
NYASSALAND. 
( lonamotavii, Haputalc, April 'X 
Sin, — In reply to " Low Country Planter's ' 
letter published above it may interest him to 
know that I have ascertained the name of 
his informant whom I just missed meeting at Man- 
tyre. If a Nyassaland planter came to Ceylon 
with the intention of investing in tea. and if during 
a stay of a few days in Colombo he penetrated as 
far as the Kelani Valley, he woula probably be 
choked off in a similar manner ' The planting 
districts lie at a considerable distance — 30 to KO miles 
— from Blavtyre and cannot be reached in a 
day's outing. A great deal of the coffee, in 
fact most, has been planted in unsuitable places, 
but, where the rainfall is sufficient and the soil 
good — to say nothing about elevation — it cannot help 
being a success, and is a success. 
Whether the death-rate is 2 J per cent or 20, you, 
Mr. Editor, could help us with a few extracts from 
the Blue Book. Also about labor. My experience 
was that no plainer was much the worse for the 
climate, and that there is a native population of 
millions to draw labor from. The African Lakes 
Company alone employ 15,000 men daily during their 
transport season. "Large tracts of country" will 
not be opened, as there is comparatively little suitable 
land ; Africa is a rainless place and this is probably 
the reason why the coffee planted outside the " rain- 
belts " in the Shire Highlands has to be cut down 
after the second or third crop referred to by 
L. C. P's correspondent. The feverish part of the 
country is the Zambesi Valley which must be passed 
through to reach Nyassaland. — Yours faithfully, 
J. H. CARSON. 
SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS POLITICS :— MR 
DAVIS— ALLEN IN REPLY TO "CI VIS 
BRITANNICUS." 
Grand Hotel, Mount Lavinia. April 8th. 
Sir, — " Civis Britannicus " has been to South Africa 
and does'nt like it. The mere mention of it seems 
to worry him ; for coming across your recent leader 
on Sir Hercules Robinson's appointment to the Cape 
he spends his brief spell ashore, not as you would 
have done, Sir, in an informing drive and a generous 
meal at the G. O. H, but in penning a letter to the 
local press full of mourning and lamentation and 
woe. And he calls on me I what an odd man it is!) 
to certify to the truth of it all. 
But I fail to see what useful end would be served 
by discussing in a Ceylon newspaper the domestic 
concerns of South Africa. I fail to see how they 
could be profitably discussed, or even made intelligible, 
within the narrow limits of a press letter. One may 
