THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[June  i,  1893. 
736 
CEYLON  TEA  IN  AMERICA. 
Write3  a business  man 
“ If  Lipton  should  start  in  America  it  will  be 
a very  good  thing  for  Ceylon,  for  he  cannot  be 
approached  even  by  Elvtood  May  for  advertising. 
The  latter  gent  to  my  mind  thinks  more  of  adver- 
tising himself.” 
In  the  advertisement  per  se,  the  name  of  E.  May 
never  occurs  of  course  ; but  in  other  notices  no 
doubt  his  personality  is  put  well  forward— and 
what  harm,  so  long  as  he  bases  his  claims  to 
notoriety  on  Ceylon  tea  ? 
LABOUR  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  BORNEO. 
( British  North  Borneo  Herald,  1st  April.) 
During  the  past  fortnight  the  Superintendent  of 
Immigration  informs  us  he  has  engaged  about  one 
hundred  and  seventy-six  Chinese  coolies  who  have 
signed  contracts  for  work  on  estates  in  Marudu  Bay, 
Darvel  Bay,  and  Banguey  Islands.  Nearly  the  whole 
of  these  men,  originally  engaged  in  China,  have  been 
working  on  estates  in  this  country  for  three,  and 
some  for  four  years,  have  made  money,  and  have 
without  exception  re-engaged  entirely  of  their  own 
free  will,  instead  of  going  back  to  China.  The 
coolie  returns,  again,  all  show  a constant  and  steady 
improvement— in  many  instances  most  marked— in 
the  health  of  the  coolies  on  the  tobacco  estates. 
Desertion  is  nearly  unknown,  and  the  reward  for 
the  capture  of  run-away  coolies  is  hardly  ever  applied 
for.  With  the  extension  of  the  clearings,  the  greatly 
improved  health  on  the  estates,  the  abolition  of  the 
broker  system  as  it  originally  obtained,  and  more 
than  all,  the  fact  that  a coolie  who  means  work  can 
make  money,  all  these  causes  have  quite  revolu- 
tionized the  state  of  the  labour  market  in  North 
Borneo  during  the  past  two  or  three  years 
MAURITIUS. 
Port-Lo- is,  April  10th. 
The  Weather  and  the  Chop. — Since  last  mon'k 
the  plantations  have  been  well  watered  and  the  fields 
in  gem ral  look  satisfactory.  Now  that  we  may  c insi- 
der the  season  of  cyc'ones  to  be  over,  we  can  rely  on  a 
very  fair  crop  for  1893  94. 
Aloe  Pibee. — Since  our  l»6t  the  market  has  resumed 
a fimer  tone.  We  have  to  quote  the  sale  of  150  hales 
of  good  quality  at  R275  per  ton.  The  following  quota- 
tions are  nominal — 
1st  quality...  R275  to  280  per  ton 
2nd  225  to  235 
Coffee. — Market  is  still  bare  of  pood  quality  which 
is  worth  from  K90  to  100  per  50  kilos.  Mixed  triage 
qualities  continue  to  sell  at  JR40  to  54  per  50  k los 
according  to  quality.  No  Ma  lagascar  and  Reunion  on 
the  market, — Merchants'  and  Planters'  Gazette, 
April  11th. 
THE  AMSTERDAM  MARKET. 
Amsterdam,  April  12th. — The  oinchona  auctions  to 
beheld  here  in  Amsterdam  on  April  27'h  will  consist 
of  421  cases  and  4,829  bales,  about  430  tons,  divided 
as  follows  : — From  the  Government  plintations, 
12  cases  and  353  bales,  about  31  tons ; from 
private  plantations  409  oases  and  4,476  ba'es. 
; bout  399  tons.  This  quantity  contains  : — Of 
druggists’  bark—  Suociruba,  quills,  372  cases; 
broken  quills  and  chips,  386  bales  and  49 
cases;  root,  59  bales  Of  manufacturing  bark 
Ledgeriana,  broken  quills  and  chips,  3,573  hales  ; 
mot  415  bales.  Hybrids,  broken  quills  and  chips  298 
bales  ; 48  bales.  Offioinalis,  broken  quills  and  ehipa, 
50  bales  toot.— Chemist  and  Druc/yist,  April  15th. 
UPCOUNTRY  NOTES  AND  QUERIES. 
At  last  the  Whipping  Ordinance  has  been  intro- 
duced into  the  districts  of  Dnmbara  and  Matale  ! 
And  this,  too,  just  at  a time  when  men’s  minds 
began  to  be  exercised  about  the  Commission  that 
was  at  one  time  so  imminent,  that  the  name  of  the 
Commissioner  became  pabulum  for  the  newsmonger 
The  19th  century  discoverer  of  the  Ciceronian  sic 
vos,  non  nobis  ought  now  to  rest  on  his  oars  and  be 
thankful. 
Let  not  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Cacao-gbowers 
subside  with  this  concession.  A great  deal  has  yet 
to  be  done  ! The  receiver  of  our  stolen  produce  must 
be  reached  ; for  so  long  as  he  flourishes,  and  his  name 
is  Legion, — the  temptations  to  thieving  will  not  abate. 
We  must  have  some  such  provision  of  the  law  as 
came  to  the  rescue  of  the  planter  in  the  old  coffee 
days.  Surely,  “ there  is  something  rotten  in  the  state 
of  Denmark,”  if  the  man  who  vends  cacao  seeds 
without  a single  cacao  tree  that  he  can  call  his  own, 
cannot  be  made  to  account  for  his  possession  of  that 
produce  ? Our  Magistrates  are  perfectly  helpless 
here.  Why  should  the  possessor  of  unripe  produce 
be  asked  to  account  for  such  possession  and 
not  the  possessor  of  ripe  produce  ? Why  deal 
severely  with  the  man  who  steals  valueless  fruit, 
and  tenderly  with  the  man  who  steals  valuable  ? 
Is  this  not  an  anomaly  that  requires  to  be  dealt  with 
promptly  ? Let  our  Planters’  Association  be  up  and 
doing,  and  the  remedy  will  come. 
Let  all  the  native  laddies  where  cocoa  is  bought 
and  sold  be  registered;  and  let  every  keeper 
have  a book  showing  the  dates  of  purchase  and 
the  quantities  purchased  and  the  names  of  the 
sellers;  and  let  there  be  a stringent  prohibition  of 
purchase  after  nightfall  and  before  daybreak.  The 
Tambies  are  the  principal  offenders  in  the  matter 
of  purchasing  stolen  produce, — and  they  must  be 
carefully  looked  after 
Does  the  Whipping  Ordinance  touch  the  Receiver  ? 
It  is  worth  knowing  this:  for  otherwise,  the  fat  oily 
Moorman  and  the  sleek  Chetty  trader  will  escape. 
When  Cocoa-stealing  has  been  banished  from  the 
island — and  the  receiver  of  stolen  produce  has 
become  a character  in  past  history  ; then  we  shall  be 
ready  to  pass  from  our  position  as  a Crown  Colony, 
to  a dependency  of  the  Indian  Empire;  at  all  events 
with  all  the  irritating  present-day  questions  at  rest, 
we  shall  be  in  that  stat  of  delectable  composure,  as 
would  enable  us  with  good  grace  to  face  the  question 
of  absorption  into  India. 
Certainly  if  that  day  should  ever  come,  our  Railway 
system  will  be  considerably  benefited.  At  pre- 
sent every  thing  that  can  ensure  discomfort  to  the 
passengers  and  gain  to  the  Government,  is  in  the 
ascendant  This  is  not  a crying  but  a piercing  shame  1 
Is  it  true  that  such  a lot  of  goods  traffic  is  sent 
on  by  the  mail  train  leaving  Colombo  at  7 p.m.  that 
the  draught-power  of  the  locomotive  is  not  equal  to 
the  t"-8k  of  pulling  the  heavily  laden  waggons  up 
the  iucline  ? A few  days  ago  some  of  the  first-class 
passengers  going  upeountry  were  heard  pouring 
their  benediction  on  the  driver  and  the  guard.  No 
wonder  ; when  they  found  the  train  nearly  an  hour 
late.  Indit  is  the  remedy  for  this. 
And  other  departments  will  be  similarly  benefited. 
What  a scope  for  our  budding  lawyers  and  civilian 
judges  India  will  afford!  One  comfort  will  be  that 
the  law  of  Ayency  under  which  the  country  is  groan- 
ing at  present  will  come  to  an  end  ; and  a more 
healthy  Administration  take  its  place. 
But  what  about  Indian  tea  then  ? Shall  we  have 
divided  interests  in  respect  of  that,  or  will  there  be 
one  grand  Indian  blend.  Querist. 
Coconuts. — There  seems  to  be  a real  mania  for  the 
purchase  of  Coconut  properties  in  Jaffna.  Every  one 
is  anxious  to  invest  his  capital  in  Coconut  estate*-. 
The  two  leading  Tamil  Brokers  of  Colombo  who  are 
m'w  on  a visit  to  Jaffna  are  prepared,  we  understand, 
to  purchase  ooconut  estates  here  even  at  a fancy 
price ; hut  unfortunately  for  them  there  are  nope  ip 
the  market  just  now  .—Ibid. 
