Oct. 1, 19G0.J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTLTPJST. 
269 
taiued K,boufc a mauudmore or less, and the packiug 
cost on ;i,u tiverp.ge seven aanas per bag. Y/lieu I 
meuticii that ihe dsh price paid at the factory before 
deliveiy amounted to auythiog bet« eeu As. 12 to 
per lb., it will be realised !iow profitable the manu- 
facture of f;reen tea was at that lime. 
J3ut those halcyon days of pro.sperity came to an 
untimely end, and in the beginning of the "nineties" 
this profitable business wholly vanished. Its de- 
Etruc;i ::i jnay be assigned to three causes, viz., first, 
the pi -Iiibitive customs duties levied by the Rus-sian 
Government in Central Asia; second, the suicidal 
fi-soal policy of the Amir of Kabul ; and last, but not 
least, the apathy, and I may say the pusillanimity, 
of the Indian GLiveriimeut, in not vigorosly support- 
ing {hi planters of Northern India. Unanimous 
rtpressiitations were made by the districts above- 
menticnsa', with a view to having these disabilities 
renioved if possible, and a strong deputation waited 
on Sir James Lyall, the then Lieutenant-Governor of 
the Punjab. Though we "^'ere vv'ell received, and given 
every opportunity of thoroughly explaining the 
ruinous situation, we could not help feeling dis- 
appoi^.teri at the official laissez faire attitude adopted 
; 'lie whole tea industry. And it was apparent 
-t the Indian Governijaeut had evidently not 
y.i t 'Jed. from the destructive thraldom of the 
" masterly inactivity " school ; and as a consequence 
the unfortunate deputation broke up without having 
obtained any tangible results from the powers that be. 
Subsequently I had the honour of a personal inter- 
view with the then Viceroy, Lord Lansdowne, who 
though showing the greateet sympathy with the 
planting community in its distress, he yet professed 
his inability to do anything for the industry in the 
direction desired. It is a noticeable fact that just 
about that period, both the Kabul and Russian Gov- 
ernments treated the Indian Government as a wholly 
negligible quantity in politics, and we were far too 
weak and vacillating in our policy to resent such 
derogatory treatment, and claim an equitable reciijro- 
oity in trade. 
Be the cause what it may, once again nothing was 
done to help the struggling planters in these parts. 
In despair I offered to proceed to Kabul myself, and 
personally represent matters to the Amir from the non- 
oificitil trader's point of view. Fortunately this pro- 
posal found favour, and I was accorded permission to 
accompany Lord Roberts' mission to the Amir. How- 
ever, the mission, as everybody kaows, did not proceed 
to K^,biil, for political rsasons, and once more an 
opportunity was lost of obtainiog some redress. As 
a last resort I applied to be allowed to address His 
Highness the Amir direct by letter. This request was 
granted with the proviso that I should first submit 
my communication to the Government at Simla for 
approv ii. Toe letter was considered satisfactory, and 
was graciously translated into courtly Persian, and 
returned to me to forv^ard on to Kabirl. That was 
many years ago, but in spite of proverbial Oriental 
poli'.euess. His Highness has not to this day had the 
courtesy to acknowledge a respectful and important 
petition, concerning the trade interests of so 
many of his own subjects, as well as those of tlie 
Indian Government. Some months after the despatch 
of my letter, I heard from private sources, that 
the Amir had declared his firm iatf.ntion not to 
bo guided in any way by the Indian Government in 
ihatters concerning the internal trade of his kingdom ; 
and we wei'e therefore sacrificed to the whim of an 
uueulightsued potentate, and the ineptitude of oar 
own rulers. 
T ie above ends the lamentable history of a once 
flourishing trade in Northern India. The green tea 
market having been destroyed through the machina- 
tions and neglect of others, we were perforce obliged 
to turn to the manufaotare of black tea, but with 
nothing like as profitable results. The wisest course 
now, in my opinion, would be to revert again to 
green tea, if not altogether, at any rate to a consider- 
able extent ; and to make it this time especially lor 
the American consumer. From the fact that the 
Central Asian, and subsequently the Bombay traders, 
have pronounced our green teas as very similar to 
the same qualities from China and Japan, I feel con- 
vinced that the hill gardens of Northern India are 
capable of producing a commodity that would com- 
pete on more than favourable terms against China 
and Japan teas in the American market. But I cannot 
say I feel very sanguine that any such business-like 
step will be generally undertaken in these days of 
official neglect and regrettable drift and disunion 
among those connected with tea. When planters 
show so little cohesion and community of interests, 
and Government show such marked opposition and 
discouragement to all private enterprise, jro decided 
improvement can logically be expected, in the tea 
industry of Northe^-n India. — J B Leslie Rogeks. 
Camp Danga Gully, via Murree, Pujab, Sept. 4. 
— Indian Gardening and Planting, Sept 13. 
BRICK TEA FKOM LONDON TO RUSSIA: 
INDIAN TEA AMD THE PARIS 
EXHIBITION. 
TEA COMMISSiOiVEES NOT OF MUCH USE IN 
NKW COUNTRIES ! 
[From a pj'ominent London merchant toritinq 
to the Calcutta " Planter."} 
For several years back a large shipment of brick- 
tea in baskets has been sent annually from China 
to London for re-sliipment from there to Siberia 
throu£-h the Kara Sea. This ,oute has proved 
rather unfortunate and is, I think, now entirely 
ab.^.tidoued. One year, tea to the extent of 4,000 
tons was on board the P. & O. steamer " Aden " 
which became a total loss on tlie island of Soeotra, 
Last year's shipment was despatched in a fleet 
of 3 or 4 litrht draft steamers bound for the Yenisei 
River, one of which was totally wrecked some- 
wliere about the White Sea, and' the others bein" 
unable to get tlirough had to return to London" 
where t!ie tea was re-warehoused. It lay in bond 
here all winter, and soniecime last spri'n£>' it vvas 
re-shipped, a statement being made that it was 
going Overland from Vladivostok. I query the 
route as the Siberian Railway is so incomplete, 
and I question wiiether the tea may ever reach its 
destination owing to the disturbed conditions in 
the nortli of China, but anyhow 1 am told tho.se 
who tried to work this .service do not intend to re- 
open it. At present there is litigation involvino- a 
very serious amount, of money in the LoncToa 
courts, the owners of the tea claiming to be re- 
funded by the steamer people who had made the 
contract to carry the tea to Siberia, the amount of 
the cost that it is now entailing upon them for 
sending it through by the other route- 
If you happen to see the London Grocer for 
Saturday 18th Aug. there is a, page there on "Tea 
in the Paris Exhibition " ^"contributed by me. - The 
Grocer has excised certain references to Japan 
tea wbi3h I think it would have been well to 
print, but they were cutting the article down to 
the limit of a page. You will see that I have 
endeavoured to deal fairly with the representation 
ot tea by each of the countrie.?, and that I take a 
much more favourable view of what the Indian 
people have done as compared with tlie others than 
some of your correspondents have expressed 
Of couise the Indian planters lack the energy of 
the Ceylon man and do not advertise themselves 
so thoroughly, but all practical tea experts regard 
* This article has been already reproduced in thq 
Tropical AgricHliurkt, — Ed, 2',.-1, 
