88 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[ August  i,  1892. 
AMALGAMATING  SMALL  BREAKS  OF  TEA. 
Advice  from  London  by  this  and  previous  mails 
informs  us  of  a movement  on  foot  towards  obtain- 
ing the  co-operation  of  the  Customs  authorities  of 
that  port  in  reducing  the  number  of  parcels  of  tea 
submitted  for  sale  at  the  publio  auctions.  Un- 
doubtedly,  if  this  result  could  be  secured,  it  would 
go  far  towards  lessening  some  of  the  hindrances 
to  free  competition,  which  are  operative  under  the 
arrangements  as  they  at  present  exist.  One  of  tbe 
complaints  more  frequently  heard  from  tbe  brokers 
is  that  tbe  number  of  samples  which  have  to  be 
tasted  before  the  sales  come  on  is  so  excessive 
that  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  this  operation  to  be 
got  through  in  time.  No  doubt  this  difficulty  has 
been  materially  lessened  by  the  concession  of  late 
obtained  with  respect  to  the  granting  of  the  extra 
day  on  which  Ceylon  teas  have  the  monopoly  of 
the  salerooms.  But  even  this  concession  has  not 
proved  fully  adequate  to  the  necessities  of  the 
case.  What  the  brokers  chiefly  desire  is  that  teas 
should  be  offered  in  larger  breaks,  so  as  to  minimize 
the  number  of  samples  to  be  dealt  with;  and  the 
negotiations  above  referred  to  have  been  entered  into 
with  that  objeot.  If  there  were  no  objection  to  the 
oourse  indicated  being  followed,  we  should  certainly 
say  that  the  steps  proposed  were  likely 
to  secure  all  that  is  needed.  But  we  much  fear, 
as  we  have  already  indicated,  that  proprietors  will 
see  objections  to  these  ; for  many  estate  owners 
would  certainly  view  with  disfavour  the  produoe  of 
their  garden  being  grouped  for  sale  with  that  of 
others  by  a method  over  which  circumstances  must 
wholly  prevent  them  from  exercising  any  control. 
For  we  know  how  naturally  jealous  such  men  are 
of  the  reputation  obtained  for  the  teas  of  certain 
estates  ; and  this  they  might  justifiably  think  must 
suffer  from  their  being  mixed  up  for  sale  with  those 
of  brands  of  a lower  or  possibly  wholly  unknown 
repute.  This  consideration  alone  must,  we  think, 
prevent  the  well-intentioned  action  of  the  tea 
brokers  from  receiving  approval  on  this  side.  But 
there  is,  further,  a second  side  to  this  question, 
one  which  we  do  not  think  can  be  easily  met. 
According  to  the  provisions  of  the  Merchandise 
Marks  Act,  all  articles  vended  must  have  distin- 
guishing marks,  and  must  be  sold  with  a guarantee 
that  they  are  what  those  marks  represent  them  to  be. 
On  no  point  more  than  on  this  have  the 
London  Oustoms  authorities  been  more  insistent ; 
and  we  think  we  can  see  that,  if  the 
strict  rules  in  this  respect  hitherto  insisted  upon 
are  to  be  relaxed,  the  door  must  necessarily 
be  opened  to  a good  deal  of  systematic 
attempts  at  fraudulent  representation,  a matter  it 
must  be  most  important,  if  the  reputation  of 
Ceylon  tea  is  to  be  kept  up,  to  avoid.  For  it  must 
be  manifestly  impossible,  if,  say,  a dozen  parcels 
of  tea  bearing  different  marks  are  to  be  grouped 
together  for  sale,  to  guarantee  that  the  distinguish- 
ing marks  will  be  maintained  distinct  and  separate. 
If  this  be  not  wholly  impossible,  the  attempt  to 
surmount  the  difficulty  foreseen  must  at  least  be 
attended  with  many  obstacles  ; and  we  should  say 
that  an  amount  of  labour  would  be  entailed  wbioh 
would  not  improbably  be  in  excess  of  that  attend- 
ing the  tasting  of  an  excessive  number  of  samples, 
and  this  would  certainly  be  likely  to  lead  to 
confusion  among  the  marks  and  consequent  dis- 
satisfaction to  our  planters.  Naturally  the  brokers 
regard  this  subject  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  from 
their  own  point  of  view.  A reduction  in  the 
number  of  breaks  to  be  dealt  with  would  greatly 
simplify  and  reduce  this  work ; and  it  can  therefore 
be  readily  understood  why  the  negotiations  referred 
to  have  been  initiated  by  them,  But  we 
confess  that  it  would  seem  to  us  that  they 
would  scaroely  be  justified  in  acting  upon 
any  concession  in  the  direction  sought  which 
may  be  yielded  by  the  Customs  authorities  with- 
out first  consulting  the  wishes  of  their  clients,  the 
planters  and  merchants  of  this  island,  who  would 
doubtless  see  reason  to  object  to  amalgamation 
of  their  teas  with  others  unknown  to  them  and 
under  conditions  removed  entirely  from  their  own 
control  and  deoision.  At  the  same  time  that  we 
discuss  these  objections  to  the  course  proposed, 
we  think  that  it  must  be  evident  that  the  alter- 
native must  rest  largely  with  our  looal  producers. 
At  present  these  seem  to  regard  lightly  the  despatoh 
of  a great  number  of  small  breaks  ; and  it  is 
certain  that  their  doing  so  considerably  hampers 
operations  on  the  home  side.  It  may  be  difficult 
always  entirely  to  avoid  the  shipment  of  small 
parcels  ; but  surely  this  might  be  effected  muoh 
more  frequently  than  it  now  is.  Possibly,  if  the 
present  system  be  indefinitely  continued,  it  will 
be  impossible  for  the  brokers  to  avoid  reoourse  to 
some  measure  of  the  nature  we  have  indicated  ; 
and  in  that  case  our  planters  and  shippers,  after 
the  repeated  wearnings  they  have  reoeived,  will 
have  no  one  to  blame  but  themselves  if  the  dis- 
agreeableness we  have  mentioned  as  on  likely  to 
follow  the  arrangements  under  negotiation  result.  It 
is  manifestly  time  that  some  endeavour  should  be 
made  on  this  side  to  avoid  shipment  until  suf- 
ficiently large  breaks  oan  be  accumulated  for 
despatch, 
Queensland  Sugar  Estates  and  Tropic  l 
Labour. — The  present  produce  of  sugar  in  Queens- 
land is  about  60,000  tons  per  annum,  but  there 
is  no  reason,  the  Australian  Trading  World 
considers,  why  it  should  not  increase  year  by 
year  until  it  is  600,000  or  a million  tons  or  more. 
The  district  suitable  for  the  cultivation  of  sugar, 
rice,  and  other  tropical  produce  is,  that  journal 
says,  of  vast  extent.  Capital  is  readily  forthcoming  for 
the  industry,  there  are  no  burdensome  taxes  upon 
the  land,  rent,  even  if  taken  at  a good  rate  of 
interest  on  the  first  cost  of  tbe  land,  is  almost 
inappreciable,  there  is  but  one  difficulty,  and  that 
is — labour.  Working  under  a tropical  sun  is  not 
a white  man’s  work. — P.  M.  Gazette. 
We  have  now  entered  upon  the  last  quarter  of 
the  coffee  crop  year  of  1891-92  and  the  persistency, 
with  which  exchange  rules  around  12d  is  disquieting. 
The  exports  of  coffee  from  Rio  and  Santos  during 
the  past  nine  months  have  been  large,  and  that 
the  gold  value  of'  these  exports  has  been  absorbed 
without  the  slightest  improvement  in  the  exohange 
value  of  the  Brazilian  currency  is  a fact  that 
invites  study  and  investigation.  The  wild  finan- 
ciering of  the  provisional  government,  and  the 
lunaoy  that  attaoked  a part  of  the  population  of 
Rio  in  1890  and  1891  unsettled  confidence  and  no 
doubt  led  to  a withdrawl  of  foreigners’  money 
that  had  been  invested  here,  but  this  drain, 
alone,  cannot  explain  the  fact  that  the  gold 
equivalent  of  nearly  6,000,000  bags  of  coffee  has 
disappeared,  and  one  milreis  is  now  worth  less  in 
gold  than  it  represented  nine  months  ago.  What 
has  beoome  of  the  eighteen  millions  of  pounds 
sterling  that  the  coffee  shipments  of  Rio  and 
Santos  represents?  No  one  appears  to  know,  and 
no  one  appears  to  care.  The  general  answer  to 
the  question  for  an  .explanation  of  a drop  in  the 
gold  value  of  the  milreis,  is  “ want  of  confidence.” 
But  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  an  explanation  as  to 
whether  the  “confidence"  is  laoking  in  respect  of 
the  government,  or  to  the  financial  position,  or 
both. — Rio  News,  April  5. 
