394 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec.  i,  1892. 
the  affairs  of  the  Ceylon  American  Tea  Company^ 
but  is  due  to  some  negotiation  arising  out  of  the 
late  failure  of  an  important  London  firm.  He  is 
comparatively  a young  man,  but  seems  to  have 
favorably  impressed  all  those  who  have  come  into 
contact  with  him  since  his  arrival  here.  He  speaks 
with  much  enthusiasm  as  to  the  prospect  of  pashing 
your  teas  at  the  Chicago  Exhibition,  and  states  it 
to  be  the  intention  of  his  firm  to  establish  a store 
in  that  city  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  all  wants 
that  may  arise  cut  of  your  representative  in  the 
Great  Show  itself.  We  know  that  Mr.  Grinlintcn 
made  special  mention  of  the  importance  of  having 
such  an  establishment  when  he  addressed  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Ceylon  Association  on  h i b last  return 
from  America,  and  we  recollect,  we  think,  that  he 
further  said  he  would  himself  aid  euoh  a scheme 
financially  ; so  no  doubt,  be  will  be  glad  to  hear  of 
Messrs.  Wattson  & Farr’s  resolution. 
THE  RENEWED  ACTIVITY  IN  THE  CHINA  TEA  TRADE. 
During  the  week  I have  had  a long 
conversation  with  a gentleman  well  qualified 
to  inform  me  with  respect  to  the  causes  which 
have  led  to  a renewal  of  aotivity  in  the  China 
tea  trade.  On  my  asking  if  he  could  account  for 
this  he  replied  The  fact  is  that  the  maiket  is 
almost  denuded  of  cheap  teas  from  India  and 
Ceylon.  There  is  nothing  to  bo  bought  now  at 
the  sales  of  those  kinds  below  Gjd,  and  the  re- 
sult is  that  those  traders  who  advertise  their 
cheap  blends  of  Ceylon  and  Indian  with  China 
are  at  their  wits’  end  to  keep  within  their  adver- 
tised prioes.  They  must  either  ute  almost  exclu- 
sively China,  or  they  must  put  their  prices  up. 
This  last,  of  course,  they  are  exceedingly  unwilling 
to  do.  It  would  give  a great  blow  to  their  trade, 
and  so  they  are  bidding  freely  for  any  China 
rubbish  they  can  find  offering.  It  would  bo 
much  more  sensible,  in  my  opinion,  if  they  took 
the  bull  by  the  horns  and  raised  their  retail 
prices  so  far  as  to  enable  them  to  keep  up  the 
standard  of  their  blends  to  what  it  has  hitherto 
been.  Do  I think  that  this  putting  into  circula- 
tion a larger  amount  of  China  tei  will  improve  the 
popularity  of  that  of  Ceylon?  No,  I cannot  think 
this  to  be  likely.  The  taste  for  the  last  variety 
is  far  too  firmly  established.  What  has  to  be 
dreaded,  however,  is  the  possible  effect  this  pre- 
sent demand  for  China  may  have  during  next 
year.  You  see  we  oannot  expect  to  receive 
any  large  quantity  of  Indian  and  Ceylon  before 
next  June,  or  possibly  later.  Therefore  there 
seems  every  reason  to  expeot  that  the  present  high 
rates  will  be  maintained  until  that  date.  Possibly  this 
fact  may  induce  the  China  shippers  to  send  home 
a large  quantity  of  their  cheaper  teas,  and  we  may 
have  the  market  flooded  with  them.  In  that  case 
a weaker  demand  will  probably  follow  for  Indian 
and  Ceylon.  You  see  men  who  advertised  the 
finest  tea  the  world  produces  at  Is  7d  per  lb.  oannot 
possibly  sell  pure  Ceylon  of  high  quality  at  that 
price.  Take  off  the  fourpence  duty  and  this  is 
changed  to  one  shilling  and  threepence,  out  of  which 
all  sorts  of  charges  for  storage  and  packing,  and 
at  leaBt  these  profits,  besides  cost  of  transport  to 
distant  towns,  has  to  be  paid.  Now  a really  fine 
Ceylon  tea  oannot  be  bought  at  the  sales  below  a 
shilling  the  pound,  and  it  stands  to  reason,  there- 
fore, that  there  must  be  a large  use  of  inferior  teas 
to  make  up.  That  is  why  these  advertising  people 
are  now  failing  the  pinch  due  to  the  absence  of  cheap 
Ceylon  and  Indian  teaB.  Of  course  th- y are  buying 
the  only  cheap  teas  available  just  now,  and  these 
come  from  China  only.  As  I have  said,  there  is 
no  need  for  us  to  oare  about  the  present 
heavy  sales  of  China,  but  it  is  the  probable  effeot 
on  the  course  of  next  year’s  FupplieB  that  must 
be  regarded  with  some  anxiety  ? This  view  had 
not  previously  occurred  to  me,  and  I am  not 
sufficiently  up  in  suoh  matters  to  offer  any  reliable 
suggestion  based  upon  it ; but  as  an  outsider  it 
occurs  to  me  that  the  more  you  oan  send  us  at 
the  present  time  of  the  cheaper  teas,  the  leas 
chance  there  will  be  of  a renewed  competition  by 
China  next  year. 
VALUATION  OF  CEYLON  TEA  IN  NEW  YORK. 
Dealing  with  the  foregoing  topio  reminds  me 
of  a further  communication  had  by  me  this  week 
on  the  eubject  of  tea.  A friend — well-known  to 
yourselves— told  me  that  he  recently  sent  several 
samples  of  Ceylon  tea  to  New  York  for  valuation 
by  the  experts  there.  When  the  report  from  these 
were  reoeived  my  friend  was  exceedingly  astonished 
to  find  that  the  broken  pekoes  had  been  value! 
by  the  New  York  referees  at  threepence  per  pound 
below  the  price  they  had  quoted  for  the  pekoes  1 
This  is  quite  a renewal  of  the  judgments  univers- 
ally given  in  London,  the  broken  pekoes  always 
selling  higher  than  the  pekoes.  Further,  the 
New  York  valuation  on  a particular  sample 
was  eigktpence  per  lb.,  whereas  at  the  time 
this  valuation  was  made  the  same  teas  were 
selling  at  the  Mincing  Lane  auotions  at 
Is  2d ! What  can  be  concluded  from  such  a 
report?  The  question  to  my  mind  is  whether 
it  is  due  to  ignorance  or  to  some  malevolent 
desire  to  keep  out  Ceylon  tea  ae  far  as  possible. 
We  all  know  that  the  New  York  brokers  have  all 
along  been  opposing  Mr.  May’s  efforts.  Indeed,  that 
gentleman  told  us  when  last  in  England  that  almost 
the  hardest  part  of  his  work  on  behalf  of  Ceylon 
teas  was  to  combat  the  opposition  of  the  New  York 
brokers.  This  was  at  the  time  confirmed  by  Mr. 
Delmege.  who  said  at  the  meeting  of  the  Ceylon 
Association  repotted  to  you  that  some  years  back 
his  firm  had  endeavoured  to  introduce  your  teas 
into  America,  but  that  they  oould  not  induce  the 
New  York  brokers  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
them,  the  fact  being  that  they— or  the  dealers — 
could  mako  much  more  profits  out  of  the  cheap 
Japan  aod  Java  teas  they  were  aocuetomed  to  deal 
with  than  they  oould  out  of  the  finer  Ceylon  teas. 
As  the  result  Messrs.  Delmege  had  to  wholly 
abandon  their  attempts  on  your  behalf,  and  it  has 
been  left  to  Mr.  Elwood  May  to  at  length  obtain 
some  footing  in  the  States  for  your  production. 
It  is  evident  from  what  my  friend  told  me 
that  the  opposition  among  the  New  York 
brokers  and  traders  still  exists.  It  is  impossible 
except  under  such  a supposition,  to  aocount  for 
the  extraordinary  charaoter  of  the  report  furnished 
to  my  friend. 
CHINA  VS.  CEYLON  TEA:  A NEW  BROCHURE. 
While  on  the  subjeot  of  tea  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  there  has  just  been  published  a brochure 
entitled  “ Theine  versus  Tannin,”  aDd  a copy  hae 
been  obtained  by  me  of  this  to  forward  to  you 
with  this  letter.  This  pamphlet  is  written  by  Mr. 
Stuart  Cranston,  of  Glasgow,  and  purports  to  be  a 
letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Gosohtn  when  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer.  [As  we  extracted  a lengthy  notice  of 
the  pamphlet  from  the  II.  and  C,  Mail  some  time 
ago,  we  omit  our  correspondent’s  remarks. — Ed ,T.A.~] 
It  will  be  unnecessary  for  me  to  further  allude 
to  the  contents  of  Mr.  Cranston’s  pamphlet.  Alter 
reading  it  I feel  convinced  that  every  argument 
it  adduces  has  been  fully  met  and  threshed  out 
before,  and  it  is  the  general  view  here  that  its 
publication  is  only  the  •‘expiring  kiok”  made  by 
1 those  interested  in  the  doomed  teas  of  China, 
