200 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
rOcT. ], 1900. 
labels in a couple of hours; the paper used cannot 
be made here; and there is a very small amount of 
timber u=ecl in making the boxes, for they are sent 
backward and forward and used again. 
THE OTHEK SIDE. 
Having obtained Mr. M'Kenzie's statement, we 
deemed it a fair thing to interview Mr. N Harper 
Bell, who supports the petition, and his views of tea 
subject were thus espresied :— 
The justice of the petition involves three ques- 
tions — 
1st. Whether it is better to have the tea packed 
locally or by coolie labor, 
2nd, Whether there is any injustice to existing 
importers or to the public in prohibitory duty on the 
cooUe article. 
3. Whether the lead packages adopted in Oeylon 
(ire superior to the local methods of packing. 
1. The tea at the gardens is graded, bullied, put 
into chests or half cheats, and despatched to Oolo nbo. 
There it is aucLioned, and, according to the instruc- 
tions of Home or coloniil buyers, either despatched 
in original packages or repacked iuto sm.dl lead pack- 
ets and boxes of from Jib and lib packets to 51b 
,and 101b boxes. 
As originally purchased, it is extremely exceptional 
for a tea to combine all the qualities for which the 
consumer looks, and consequently, as much blending 
takes place in preparing the teas for tiie small pack- 
ages in Colombo as in any other part of the world 
where such packing is done. The tea to be so 
blended is necessarily exposed, and in the hot, humid 
climate of Ceylon it naturally loses its aroma and 
fragrance at an infinitely higher mte than in a tem- 
.perate climate such as New Zealand. It is even 
affirmed that a sample of tea left exposed one night 
on the liquoring table will be quite mouldy on 
the following moiniug. The handling and mix- 
ing are done by coolie labor under circum- 
stances of climate, etc., which are, to say the least, 
"^'.Bot conducive to an improvement in the qualities 
of the tea. It can readily be seen, therefore, that if 
blending must take place, it is belter that it should 
be done in New Zealand than in Ceylon. Blending 
is 30 absolutely a necessity that without it a very 
large proportion of the teas of the World would be 
unsuitable for general consumption. One tea poss- 
esses strength Vi^ithout sufficient flavor; another tea 
has most delicious flavor without the strength neces- 
sary for an agreeable liquor. Few original samples 
of tea, therefore, would meet with the approval of 
the public palate, which varies very much in different 
countries, or even districts. The expert blender in 
New Zealand, having a more certain criterion of the 
taste of his colony, has a great advantage in this 
respect alone. On all these grounds, therefore, the 
advantage to the public rests with the locally-packed 
article. 
2. No injustice is apparently iuflioted upon the 
present importer of coolic-packed teas if the extra 
duty be imposed, as the stoclc argument of such a 
dealer is invariably that tea i.-i only locally packed 
for the sake of extra profit. In this regard it may 
be pointed out that inferior teas can be and are 
grown in all tea countries, but as the expenses of 
freight, duty, etc., etc., are equally heavy, no matter 
what the quality, the inducement to add rubbishy 
cheap teas to a blend is infinitely greater to a Colombo 
merchant than to a New Zealand one. Further, the 
argument that teas are only blended in the colony 
for the sake of mixing cheap rubbishy China tea, 
etc., with it is an insult to the public, who, in my 
opinion (after an experience of some sixteen years), 
are the best judges of a good cup of tea. 
:i The question of the be.'it way of packing tea in 
email quiinlities is one involving a certain amount 
of trade dispute. Most people are agreed that the 
lead package in vogue with the Ceylon packers is 
superior to paper as regards the retention of the finer 
distinctions of quality and flavor of the tea, but many 
peojjle prefer tne paper a» offering less chances of 
lead or muriatic acid poisoning. The tin package 
gradually finding favor in this colony when made by 
the blocking p-ocess, entirely obviating the use of 
solder, possesses an advantage over the lead package 
in all ways, and quite overcomes the objection to 
the paper bag, the paste of which may be aa pre- 
judicial as the solder used with the lead wrapper. I 
has the additional advantage of being absolutely air- 
tight. Personally I hxve p icked the Bell Tea in snch 
tins from its lucepciou, and although a more eKpeasive 
way of packing the evident superiority of the method 
has met with public commendation. 
THE DUTY ON TEA. 
TO THE EDITOR. 
Sir, — I see by last night's Sfa)- that the tea 
blenders have petitioned Parliament tD stop by means 
of a forbidable duty tea in Ceylon sealed packets, 
their chief argument being that the work is done 
cheaper in Ceylon, and therefore in favor of tho im- 
porter of such pickets. Tiiis is not the case. It 
costs Hd to pack tea iu sealed lead packets and boxes, 
and the same tea would be packed iu paper for 
to three-eighths of a penny, besides being well blen- 
ded with dust, fannings. cheap China, and other 
inferior teas for extra profit, and then put in a paper 
packet bearing the words " pure Ceylon tea '' to 
mislead the public 
Tea packed in pip.=r will not keep. From the day 
it is removed from the ir-ad-lined chest in which it 
came from Ceylon, India, or China till it is used it is 
losing in .strength and flivor. Believe me, but for 
the extra cost, no tea would be sold in paper bags. — I 
am, etc., Ex-Planteb. 
August 9. 
A COMPLIMENT TO THE " TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. ' 
Exjiosition Uuiver.selle, Paris, 1900, 
Ceylon Section, Trocadero, Aug. 20. 
Sir. — I enclose the card of a Mons. Henry de 
Variony— a gentleman connected with Le Temps 
— who wishes to have future issues of the "Tropical 
A«rieulturist " for review in his paper. I shall 
be glad if you will ivrite fo bitn and .say whether 
or not yon are disposed to aecede to his request. 
-Yours truly, W. E. DAVIDSON, 
Delegate for the Ceylon Government at the 
Paris Exhibition. 
Monsieur de Varigny is a remarkably-gifted 
man. He writes also for the French Nature and 
an Agricultural Review. —W.E.D. 
[Le Temps being tlie leading paper in Paris, we 
take this as a special ooinolinient — and agree to 
send on the T.A.—Ei). T.A.] 
THE RIPENING OF BANANAS, 
Galle, Aug, 28. 
Dear Sir, — Anent the " fearsome story " about 
the ripening of bananas taken over from the 
Westminster Budget, the Sinhalese process of 
forcing on the yellow colour is certainly les.o 
objectionable. The plantain bunches are buried 
in the ground, and then fumigated till the ripening 
process is complete. Plantains treated in this 
manner have a very disagreeablej taste. — Yours 
faithfully, A. 
