Kov. ], 1900.) THE TROPICAL 
A safety trip device has been introduced of a very 
aimple nature, whicli is arranged to stop tlie maohiue 
when any foi-eigii snbatanoe gets between the cnttiog 
rollers, and in the interim no unb7'okcii tea can 
escape ; the driving pulley in tha meantime runs 
loose on its axis until the obstrnction is removed 
imd the machine re-started. It is claimed for this 
machine, the coat of which is £31, that it is capable 
of breaking and equalising 1,2(10 lb. of tea per hour, 
if run at the standard speed given, making a. smaller 
percrnfar/e oj' dust than amj machine in ilie 
market and tcithout in the least giving the tea a 
grci/ or dull appearance. 
a' machine "doing oao third less work than 
the above-mentioned can be mounted and worked 
in connection with Mr. Jackson's new balanced 
sifter to equalise the tea prior to sorting. 
The power required is stated to be nominal. 
The driving pulley is 9 in. diameter, with 2J in. 
face, and the speed is 280 revolutions per minute; 
the driving belt required is 2 in. wide, which can be 
supplied at the option of the purchaser. 
We understand that the superintendent of the 
Dooars Tea Company, Limited, testifies to the excel- 
lent work done by this machine at the Bhogot- 
pore factory.— /J'. cC C. Mail, Sept. 21. 
THE INDIAN TEA INDUSTRY. 
DEFECTS AND HOW TO REMEDY THEM* 
"Counsels of Perfection." 
Mr. J. B. Leslie-Rogers is writina; a series of 
papers in the Pioneer, a good idea of which 
can be obtained from the following extracts: — 
To begin with directors and all such controlling 
agents— men in the above capacity should be chosen 
for purely business reasons and not because they 
happen to have a considerable nuniber of shares in 
the concern, nor because they happen to be conve- 
niently handy. Money and brains do not neces- 
sarily go together and shares in a concern by no 
means imply that the holder is ait fait witii tiie 
requirements of that particular industry. Two 
.qualifications are absolutely necessary in all coii- 
, trolling agents, be they proprietors or mem))ers 
of a 
BOARD OF DIRB:CT0RS. 
They must have a special business aptitude and 
training, and lliey must have a personal knowledge 
of tea generally ; and if among the sliareliolders 
. men can be found with a combination of tlie above 
'/qualities, they should be unhesitatingly elected to 
,| ihe Board, regardless of how many shares they 
Eossess. But as is very often the case, while purely 
usinessmen are available, there is no one with 
the requisite knowledge of tea production. All 
experience goes to prove that in such cases it 
would be infinitely wiser not to elect the full com- 
plement of directors from among the shareholders, 
but to have at leastone place on tlie Boaid tilled by 
an outsider who is a tea expert : tlie latter to 
attend all meetings and have the full powers and 
usual fees of the ordinary shareholding directors. 
Some proi'e.«sional opinion is absolutely necessary 
on every Board, as it is the only way directois 
can logically presume to direct a professional 
planter. In cases where any great and excep- 
tional changes are contemplated in the working 
of an estate,— first the manager's opinion should be 
invited and it should carry considerable weight 
with the Board. Too often the manager is alto- 
gether ignored, to the detriment of the investors' 
interests. If further opinions are desirable, they 
ahould be obtained from leading planters from the 
AGRICULTURIST. 
same di.^trict, and in extraordinary cases even 
from experts in other ilistricis in India. All sucU 
information should be adequately renuinerated on 
the same principle as opinions are paid for in the 
medical and legal professions. Every director 
should be required to visit his plantation at least 
once during the first year of his election, and make 
himself personally acquainted with the manager 
and assistants, and tlie conditions ujider which 
tliey have to work : tlie manager being granted 
sumptuary allowances for all such business visit.*. 
The failure of either of these essential duties 
shouM immediately disqualify a director from 
holding any further office on the Board. 
Proprietors who have a penchant for directing 
and controlling their own estates, might with con- 
siderable advantage to themselves, follow some- 
what similar lines. It is the height of folly, if not 
presumption, for anyone who i.s not himself a 
trained planter to dictate to one who is. 
In most cases it would be advisable for 
proprietors to leave the conduct of affairs to 
the discretion of their managers ; and if further 
profes-sional or technical information is required 
it should be obtained from duly qualified men, 
and paid tor as altove recommended. But in all 
cases it should be remember id that 
THK MANAGER 
is the real deus e.v inachina, and his opinions 
should carry the greatest weight in all matter."* 
appertaining to his estate. Directors and pro- 
prietors are often too prone to excessive inter- 
ference: they forget that their duty is not to 
despatch dictatory and arbitrary orders on every 
little detail of work, but only to lay down broad 
guiding principles for each year, within which the 
manager should have every possible latitude to 
use his own discretion and professional knowledge. 
The less interference in actual executive work the 
better, as tea cultivation and manufacture cannot 
reasonably be carried on by fixed rules and regula- 
tions like an ink slinging Government depart- 
ment. The success of a plantation, or in fact any 
business, depends almost entirely on the personal 
ability, experience, and foresight of the man in 
Sictuai charge : being on the spot he is the best 
individual to judge what should or should not be 
done in the ever-varying conditions on a planta- 
tion ; and his work .should be judged more by re- 
sults than by methods. To re<luce a manager to 
a mechanical non-entity who merely carries out 
orders, often emanating from incompetent sources, 
is to kill all initiative responsibility and desire for 
improvements. No tea estate can remain station- 
ary : it must either progress or deteriorate ac- 
cording to the management it is subjected to. To 
enable it to go onwards and be up-to-date it 
must have at its head the best professional talent 
tliat money or other inducements can procure. 
Once such a man is secure !, lie should be given a 
stake in the shape of shares, eonmiission, bonuses, 
c! •., and his pay should be liberal, with a pro- 
spective pension at the end of a certain number of 
years. It cannot be doubted that it would be to 
the owners and shareholders' interest to make the 
manager feel by generous and .sympathetic treat- 
ment, that he had in future a settled and com- 
fortable home. No man can be expected to put 
forth his whole heart and energy into his work 
if he has the constant dread before him of being 
suddenly turned out of his post at the caprice or 
cussedness of his proprietors or directors. There- 
fore to put the matter in a few words, it is 
essential for efficient and profitable managemcRt, 
