Sept,  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
181 
the  unhealthy  state  of  the  Tea  Trade  to  which  we  hare 
just  referred.  They  give  only  the  bright  side  of  the 
picture.  We  do  not  think  the  present  scheme  at  all 
a good  investment. 
TEA. 
The  Financial  World  of  the  2nd  inst.  has  tha 
following  editorial  note  on  tea: — 
The  competition  of  Ceyloa  is  playing  havoc  not 
only  with  the  Chi  a tea  trade,  but  with  that  of 
Assam.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Assam  Company  on 
Monday  the  Chairman  had  to  announce  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  profit  had  been  swept  away  by 
the  fall  ic  the  price  of  such  tea  as  they  had  been 
in  the  babit  of  producing.  Bad  the  prices  been 
obtained  that  they  reached  last  year,  the  differences 
to  them  would  have  meant  a very  large  sum  indeed. 
That  was  the  cause  of  the  unfortunate  result  ; and 
although  there  was  some  blame  to  those  who  pre- 
pared the  tea,  the  real  matter  was  that  tea  had  fallen 
all  round  owing  to  t e competition  on  the  part  of 
Ceylon  and  other  places  which  had  come  wi  h a 
sudden  burst  upon  the  market.  The  chairman  hoped 
for  an  improvement  next  year,  ut  omitted  to  aay 
how  that  improvement  was  to  be  affected. 
It  would  be  a good  thing  if  the  news  of 
still  further  tea  planting  in  Ceylon  put  a stop 
to  the  extension  of  operations  both  in  India  and 
Java  ; and  certainly  the  tea  planters  of  the  latter 
dependency  might  be  asked  by  our  Association 
to  bestir  themselves  a little,  after  Ceylon  and 
Indian  fashion,  to  get  their  teas  better  known  in 
the  Continent  of  Europe,  so  as  to  increase  consump- 
tion and  prevent  the  necessity  for  any  Java  tea 
coming  to  the  London  market. 
THE  BRITISH  NORTH  BORNEO  CO. 
has  been  holding  its  half-yearly  meeting  when  Sir 
Alfred  Dent  had  not  a very  satisfactory  aooount  to 
render.  One  passage  I quote  in  case  it  should 
esoapo  prominent  attention  : — 
(From  the  Financial  Nevis , July  6.) 
Tbe  crash  in  the  tobacco  trade,  brought  about  by 
the  McKinley  Tariff  Bill,  had  been  so  sharp  and 
decisive  tbat  it  was  impossible  that  the  planting 
interests  in  Borneo  could  esoape  the  co  is<que"ces. 
He  regretted  to  say  that  during  the  year  there  had 
been  almost  a oessation  of  laud  sales.  The  actual 
sales  of  land  had  been  £841,  as  against  £39,942  in 
1890.  The  closing  of  estates  had  thrown  a large 
number  of  coolies  out  of  employment,  many  of  wbom 
had  to  be  sent  out  of  tbe  country  at  the  Company’s 
expanse.  Referring  to  the  discu-Rion  on  the  British 
North  Borneo  Company  in  the  House  of  Lords,  he 
sa  d that  the  gist  of  Lord  Brassey’a  remarks  waa 
that  the  time  had  come  when  the  British  Government 
should  assume  the  administration  of  that  country 
and  similar  protected  States.  No  doubt,  after  a time, 
their  country  would  be  absorbed,  like  the  East  India 
Company,  and  when  tbat  time  came  it  would  be  the 
duty  of  the  directors  to  protect  the  interests  of  the 
shareholders.  The  trade  and  revenue  of  the  country 
for  the  last  five  years  showed  that  the  progress  had 
been  steady,  especially  as  r garded  the  receipts  from 
revenue  proper,  the  deficit  for  the  past  year  being 
entirely  due  to  the  cess  ition  of  land  sales  and  the 
depression  that  had  been  felt  all  over  the  East. 
Mr.  J.  L.  Shai  d gave  an  account  of  his  visit 
— a full  report,  I hope,  may  reach  you  ; he 
spoke  of  telegraphio  communication  as  the  chief 
present  want. 
PLANTERS  IN  JAMAICA. 
The  Duke  of  St.  Albans  (brother  of  Lady  Blake) 
has  a paper  in  one  of  July’s  monthlies  on  •'  Jamaioa 
Risurgens  ” which  the  Spectator  desoribes  as  very 
poor  and  thin,  though  the  following  paragraph  is 
quoted  as  instructive  ; — 
“ A young  man  prepared  to  exert  himself,  live  care- 
fully, and  with  smali  capital,  can  do  better  here  than 
in  most  parts  of  the  world.  He  can  turn  his  at- 
tention to  the  cultivation  of  coffee,  chocolate,  nutmegs, 
oooonuts,  bananas,  tomatoes,  spices,  sugar,  dye-woods, 
tobacco,  which  is  an  increasing  and  paying  crop,  while 
the  development  of  railways,  and  better  communication 
with  the  United  States,  is  likely  to  make  growing 
early  vegetables  and  fruit  a remunerative  industry. 
If  the  investor  prefers  it,  the  breeding  of  cattle  and 
horseB  can  be  successfully  carried  on 
Estates  are  pointed  out  which  have  repaid  the  purehase- 
moDey  in  the  first  year,  and  others  paying  15,  even 
30,  per  cent.,  and,  considering  the  generally  healthy 
climate,  the  productiveness  of  the  country,  the  low 
taxation  and  security  of  a settled  government,  land 
purchased  with  a knowledge  of  tropical  agriculture, 
and  selected  with  ordinary  care  and  judgment,  should 
prove  to  the  energetic  settler  a remunerative  invest- 
ment.” 
OIL  PROSPECTS. 
In  my  last  I referred  to  the  very  poor  prices 
offering  for  coconut  oil,  and  now  I Bte  distress 
prevails  near  at  hand  owing  to  depression  in  oil 
industries.  Here  is  a paragraph  from  the  Daily 
Graphic : — 
Scottish  Oil  Companies. — A large  amount  of 
capital  has  been  invested  iu  the  Scottish  oil  companies, 
but  of  late  years  tho  returns  have  not  been  satisfactory. 
Iu  their  mouthly  circular  Messrs.  J.  D.  Walker  and 
Watson,  of  Edinburgh,  report  during  June  tbe  shares 
of  these  companies  have  been  depressed.  “ In  the 
duel  of  the  giants — America  vnd  Russia — the  poor 
little  Scottish  shale-oil  industry  is,  the  circular  states, 
fairing  badly,  the  announcement  during  the  month 
oi  a reduction  of  30s.  per  ton  in  lubricating  oils 
being  another  disastrous  blow.  There  is  no  choice  but 
to  follow  the  ‘cut’  or  be  left  with  the  stuff  to  keep. 
The  outlook  for  this  sorely-tried  iodustry  is  certainly 
anything  but  encouraging,  the  oDly  redeeming  lecture 
being  the  reduction  in  working  costs.  Some  consola- 
tion may  perhaps  be  drawn  from  the  belief  that  under 
present  conditions  tbe  oil  industry  can  hardly  be  pro- 
fitable to  tbe  American  and  Russian  producers  either, 
and  that  therefore  some  improvement  may  be  looked 
for  when  the  present  struggle  between  them  comes 
to  an  end.” 
Mr.  Gladstone  in  his  electioneering  tour  in  Mid- 
lothian found  himself  in  the  heart  of  one  of  the 
shale-oil  distriots,  but  while  alluding  very  sym- 
pathetically to  the  distress  prevalent,  he  pointed  out 
she  folly  of  looking  to  Protection  Customs  Duties  for 
relief.  If  we  put  a tax  on  foreign  oils,  why  not 
on  “ corn,”  he  said,  and  then  you  would  have 
dearer  food  to  injure  you. 
NOTES  ON  PRODUCE  AND  FINANCE. 
The  Same  Old  Story.— The  Chinese  Consular  re- 
ports  all  tell  the  same  tale  of  losses  by  Chinese  tea 
growers,  and  of  their  inability  to  compete  with  Indian 
and  Ceylon  plinters.  Mr.  Westall,  in  a review  of  the 
Foochow  tea  trade,  says:— In  contquence  of  orders 
from  Peking,  recommendations  were  posled  in  the 
various  tea  countries  by  the  local  authorities  to  im- 
prove the  quality  of  the  teas  this  season,  as  a means 
towards  the  resuscitation  of  the  trade.  Some  of  the 
teamen  in  the  Pakling,  Paklum,  and  Panyong  did  their 
best  to  further  this  eud,  and  to  a certain  extent  suc- 
ceeded ; but,  on  the  other  hand,  judging  by  results,  no 
other  conclusion  could  be  arrived  at  than  that  those 
maKiug  teas  in  all  other  distriots  had  disregarded  tbe 
recommendation.  The  former  were  buoyed  up  with 
hope  at  the  opening  of  the  market,  when  they  obtained 
for  a few  of  their  best  chops  prices  20  per  cent 
higher  than  the  highest  price  paid  last  seasons,  tbat 
they  were  going  to  make  their  fortunes,  and  congratu- 
lated themselves  on  having  followed  the  gnidanoe 
of  the  Manuarins.  Their  satisfaction  was,  however, 
shortlived,  as  tbe  demand  for  fine  tea— at  any  rate, 
high-priced  fine  tea — fell  away,  and  as  they  persis- 
tently refused  throughout  the  season  to  meet  buyers 
iu  the  matter  of  price,  they  were  left  at  the  close 
of  the  year  with  the  bulk  of  these  teas  on  hand. 
There  were  exceptions  to  this  rule,  hut,  as  far  as 
foreigners  were  concerned,  whether  they  bought  of 
these  men  at  the  high  price  or  of  others  who  sub- 
mitted to  a reduction,  they  lost  money  on  their  ventures. 
