August  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AQFflOtSLTU  Ft I ST. 
109 
THE  LONDON  CUSTOMS  AND  ADULTERANTS. 
It  was  only  recently  that  we  took  occasion  to 
allude  to  endeavours  being  made  at  home  with  the 
object  of  inducing  the  Customs  authorities  of  the 
port  of  London  to  consent  to  a modification  of 
its  present  arrangements  with  regard  to  the  grouping 
together  for  sale  of  small  breaks  of  tea.  We 
shall  yet  have  to  wait  some  time,  we  suspect, 
before  we  can  learn  whether  those  authorities  can 
be  sufficiently  influenced  to  induce  a relaxation  by 
them  of  the  existing  rules  made  and  oarried  out 
in  this  respect.  But  we  now  learn  that  the 
London  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  about  to  institute 
a further  attack  upon  the  practice  of  these  same 
Oustoms  authorities,  one  which  we  feel  sure  will 
not  be  open  to  objection  to  its  possible  results  in 
the  degree  that  the  application  first  above  referred 
to  is.  It  will  be  within  the  recollection  of  all 
of  us  how  Mr.  Gladstone  at  one  time  proposed 
to  refuse  to  allow  any  mixture  of  coffee  with 
other  substances  to  pass  through  the  Customs. 
This  resolution  was  hailed  with  great  satisfaction 
by  all  planters  raising  natural  products  ; and 
the  disappointment  was  equivalently  great 
when,  just  at  the  moment  that  we  believed  this 
resolution  was  to  be  given  the  force  of  law, 
the  then  veteran  Premier  changed  his  mind 
and  allowed  these  mixtures  an  entry  provided 
only  they  were  labelled  as  such.  It  was  said  at 
the  time  that  this  ohange  had  been  entirely  due 
to  the  remonstrances  of  a leading  member  of  the 
then  Cabinet  under  Mr.  Gladstone’s  leadership 
who  were  personally  largely  interested  in  the 
manufacture— or  preparation  rather— of  these  mix- 
tures. Whether  that  was  the  faot  or  not,  it  iB 
certain  that  since  that  date  coffee  adulterated  with 
chicory  and  other  substances  has  been  permitted 
entry.  That  great  abuse  should  exist  under  this 
permission  was  to  be  foreseen  ; and  it  vould  now 
appear  that  that  powerful  body,  the  London 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  is  reoognizing  that  this  is  so. 
Representations  are,  we  learn,  to  be  made  by  it 
exposing  the  evils  done  to  legitimate  trade  by  the 
permission  aooorded.  The  Chamber  will  not  seek, 
it  is  said,  to  insist  on  the  entire  exclusion  of 
mixtures  of  this  character,  but  it  will  represent 
that  under  existing  rules  it  is  perfectly  possible  to 
introduce  articles  which  may  contain  but  ten  per 
oent  only  of  the  leading  ingredient,  and  it  will  be 
urged  that  this  proportion  is  by  no  means  unfre- 
quently  to  be  detected.  What  the  Chamber  wishes 
therefore  to  bring  the  authorities  to  insist  upon  is 
that  every  label  shall  specify  not  only  the  nature  of 
the  admixture  but  the  proportion  of  each  of  its 
ingredients.  A false  representation  as  to  this 
proportion  would  of  oourse  subject  the  importer 
to  an  entire  loss  of  the  artiole  dealt  with,  and 
probably,  in  addition,  a very  heavy  fine.  It  is 
the  case  that  we  here  in  this  island  no  longer 
feel  the  interest  in  this  question  that  we  had 
some  years  back,  when  the  prosperity  of  Ceylon 
depended  almost  entirely  on  the  sucoess  of  its 
ooffee  industry.  Tea  does  not  lend  itself  readily 
to  corresponding  debasement  by  admixture ; and 
although  the  blending  of  Ceylon  tea  with  inferior 
kinds  is  an  evil  whioh  might  be  checked  had 
such  blends  to  pass  through  the  Oustoms,  the 
application  now  to  be  made  oould  scarcely  affeot 
our  present  staple.  But  after  all  coffee  is  still 
an  artiole  of  export  with  us  ; and  it  is  yet  on 
the  cards  that  the  future  may  see  this  increase. 
He  would  be  a rash  man  who  would  prophesy 
dogmatically  that  this  may  not  be  the  case.  We 
shall  therefore  welcome  the  interference  of  the 
London  Chamber  of  Commerce  should  it  result  in 
producing  fresh  obstacles  to  the  introduction  of 
adulteration  in  whatever  form  they  may  be  pre- 
vented. There  is  an  underlying  principle  in  this 
which  cannot  fail  to  affect  the  interests  of  all 
raisers  of  natural  products. 
♦ 
INDIAN  TEA  AT  CHICAGO. 
A correspondent  writes  to  the  Englishman  : — 
Messrs.  Gow,  Wilson  and  Stanton’s  remarks  anent  the 
representation  of  Indian  tea  at  the  forthcoming 
Chicago  Exhibition  are  very  much  to  the  point,  and 
it  will  be,  indeed,  a pity  if  an  opportunity  suoh  as 
this  is  lost  in  oonseqaence  of  any  petty  feeling  on  the 
part  of  planters  or  others.  A certain  amount  of 
money  is  required  before  any  steps  can  be  taken, 
and  to  raise,  or  help  to  raise,  this  sum  it  has  been 
proposed  by  the  Committee  in  Oaloutta,  in  whose 
hands  the  matter  has  been  entrusted,  that  the  different 
tea  gardens  subscribe  a sum  which  will  represent,  on 
the  average,  a tax  on  the  tea  produce  amounting  to 
about  3T0ths  of  a pie  per  lb.,  and  when  it  is  considered 
that  the  payment  of  this  tax  wilt  go  far  towards 
obtaining  a substantia!  price  for  Indian  teas  in 
years  to  come,  by  opening  out  new  markets  to  them, 
it  will  surely  be  a pennywise  policy  for  planters  to 
withhold  their  subscriptions  at  the  present  moment. 
A lot  has  been  written  and  spoken  of  the  desirability 
of  getting  merchants,  agents,  brokers,  shippers  and 
others  to  subscribe,  but  the  fact  that  some  of  these 
have  already  subscribed,  and  that  many  are  daily  sub- 
scribing in  a manner  which,  although  not  apparent  to 
the  general  publio,  is  none  the  less  effective  in  the 
interests  of  tea  by  way  of  finding  new  agents  and 
markets  for  the  disposal  of  the  produce,  has  been 
rather  overlooked.  With  merchants,  agents,  and 
shippers  the  tea  industry  forms  merely  an  item  of  their 
business,  whereas  to  the  tea  proprietor  and  planter 
it  is  “bread  and  butter,”  To  whose  interest  then  is  it 
that  the  utmost  endeavours  be  made  to  uphold  the 
industry  and  to  push  it  whenever  possible  ? The 
present  endeavour  is  for  the  common  good  of  Indian 
tea,  and  all  connected  therewith,  and  it  would  be 
ohildish  for  those  connected  with  one  District  to 
decline  to  subsoribe  unless  some  special  effort  was 
made  to  push  the  produce  peculiar  to  their  District  as 
distinct  from  other  Indian  tea  at  the  forthcoming 
Exhibition.  What  is  wanted,  first,  is  to  obtain  a foot- 
ing by  lotting  Indian  teas  and  their  superior  qualities 
become  known  ; and  when  this  is  done,  the  qualities 
peouliar  to  certain  Districts  will  doubtlessly  assert 
themselves.  If,  then,  the  representation  of  Indian  teas 
at  the  forthcoming  Exhibition  and  their  pushing  in 
the  American  markets  is  to  be  a success,  planters  and 
proprietors  should  not  hesitate,  but  come  forward  at 
once,  and  as  one  man,  with  their  subscriptions,  and 
leave  them  to  be  dealt  with  by  those  who  have  been 
entrusted  to  look  after  their  interests  in  the  matter. 
Oeylon  has  subscribed  a very  fair  sum,  indeed,  and 
would  doubtless  subscribe  as  much  again  were  they 
called  on  to  do  so  for  the  purpose  of  pushing  their  teas ; 
and  why  India  with  her  larger  acreage  and  yields 
should  be  so  far  behind  would  puzzle  one  to  imagine 
unless  it  is  a want  of  unanimity  among  the  Indian 
planters  and  proprietors. — M.  Mail. 
♦- 
LORD  CROSS  ON  THE  LABOUR  LAWS. 
In  reading  the  recommendations  of  the  Viceroy  on 
the  revision  of  the  Labour  Laws,  it  is  not  surprising 
to  find  that  Lord  Cross  expresses  an  almost  pathetic 
regret  that  the  relations  of  employer  and  labourer 
are  to  continue  to  be  regulated  by  Act  XIII.  of  1859, 
side  by  side  with  the  more  elaborate,  the  infinitely 
more  elaborate  provisions  of  the  Labour  Law.  properly 
so  called.  The  views  of  the  Secretary  of  State  on  the 
subject  of  the  Artisans’  Act,  now  perhaps  the  most 
strikingly  brief  and  compendious  enactment  in  the 
Indian  Statute  Book,  must  have  been  known  to  the 
Government  of  India.  It  is  confessedly  an  Act  not 
passed  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  Assam  tea 
planter,  being  merely  a short  enactment  passed  to  pre- 
vent the  fraudulent  taking  of  advances  by  artisans  in 
presidency  towns,  It  was  intended  to  enforce  the  per* 
