642 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March 1, 19G1. 
had devoted much tmie and tlionght to their in- 
terests. They had been deprived of the assist- 
ance of Mr Mackenzie, the chairman for a (greater 
part of tlie year, as that gentleman liad been 
travelling in Canada and the States with the ob- 
ject of trying to raise the consumption of Indian 
and Ceylon tea. He (the speaker) joined the 
board of this Company four years ago, believing 
that it had good prospects, and that tea from 
Travancore would realise a good price. The Di- 
rectors could not foresee that such a mass of tea 
would be thrown on the market. He thougiit it 
would be very unfortunate for the shareholders 
to throw up the sponge. He believed the depres- 
sion would pass away, as a great industry, such 
' as the tea industry, could not go on as now. The 
Directors were all willing to lend a helping hand. 
They did not f et any fees, and the item for keep- 
ing the books, &c., was a mere trifle, so there 
was no such thing as bolstering up the company. 
Mr Dangerfield, in seconding the proposal, re- 
marked that the shareholders could take it for 
^.ranted that tlie whole of the board were acting 
in good faitii. He had perfect reliance on them, 
and believed tliat if the company could be pulled 
through they would do it. 
The resolution tor the re-election of Mr Rutherford 
was then unanimously agreed to. 
On the proposal of Mr Worthington, seconded 
by Mr Dangerlield, the Auditors were re-elected. 
The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to 
the Directors.— H and C Mail, February 8. 
THE LIMLTATION OF TEA PRODUCTION— 
A TEA PLANTER'S VIEW. 
To the Editor of tlie Home <fc Colonial Mail. 
Sir, — May I ask your permission to make a few 
remarks on this important subject, more particu- 
larly from a planter's point of view ? The various 
conditions are sutiiciently complex to make the 
problem somewhat difficult of solution, I believe, 
however, that a means may be devised which may 
be practicable and acceptable to producers. The 
following scheme may to some extent, perhaps, 
assist in the matter : — 
ESTABLISHED OR MATURE GARDENS. 
1. All factories whose tea crop of season 1900 
realised, say, lid per lb gross be exempt from 
restriction. 
2. A graduated scale of restriction aa to yield for 
all estates whose tea crop of season 1900 realised 
an aTerage price of less than lid per lb at, say, 
from 5 per cent, for the finer, graduating to 12 
per cent, for the coarser teas. 
3. All fiv«-year-old planting to be classed as 
mature, and four years and under to be exempt 
from restriction. 
ENTIRELY NEW PLANTATIONS, 
4. All new gardens of five years' planting to be 
limited to the average yield per acre of mature 
plant of the district. 
5. All four years' planting and under to b« ex- 
einpt from restriction. 
In making these varying distinctions consideration 
haa to be given to the following : — 
a. The makers of high-class teas have not con- 
tributed unduly to the present glut and therefore 
■bould be exempt. 
6. The factories producing low class teas are mainly 
responsible for the present over-production, and 
should lightly be. subject to restriction. 
• «. In the case of new planting of four years and 
under it would obviously be unfair to tax such planting 
to repair a diflicalty to which it had not contri- 
buted to any appreciable extent. 
6. In order to calculate quantity to be produced 
by each garden a return of crop of season 1900 to be 
sent in to secretary of the respective Tea Associa- 
tion, together with statement of new planting for 
the years 1900, 1899, 1898, 1897, and in the case of 
entirely new gardens return of area planted in 1896, 
7. All gardens manufacturing a special make of 
coarse tea sent down under a separate mark, not the 
recognised mark of the garden, to furnish statement of 
Buch teas produced in season 1900 to secratary of their 
Tea Association. 
8. A'.l factory marks to be registered with the Tea 
Associations. 
A form of agreement as between two contracting 
parties could be adopted by which each producer 
covenants with the joint Tea Associations as repre- 
senting the whole or any one of the members of the 
Tea Associations to carry out the engagement as to 
allotted output, &c., under pain of whatever penalty 
may be agreed upon. 
It occurs to me that the agreement contracted should 
extend over at least two years — with provision, of 
course, for such modification as circumstances may 
render necessary, for little good will be gained by 
merely clearing away the present accumulation in 
order to make room for another. The present produ- 
cing capacity of Indian and Ceylon gardens is far in 
excess of requirements. It will be necessary, there 
fore, that production be controlled until it is orertaken 
by requirements. This brings me to a subject about 
which I will, in this letter, only remark that the time 
has arrived when the scope and sphere of influence of 
the Tea Associations of India and Ceylon should be 
extended. — Yours truly, James Hodges. 
Erdington, Birmingham, Feb. 12, 1901, 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
The Crisis in Tea.— The Chancellor of the Exche- 
quer is, we fear, not in a mood to lend a kindly ear 
to proposals to reduce taxation, but the two members 
of a sub-committee appointed by the Indian Tea Asso- 
ciation (London) have thought it advisable to direct 
public attention to the causes which have contributed 
to the present crisis in tea. In the circular issued by 
these gentlemen, and reproduced in another column, 
it is mentioned that Sir Michael Hicks-Beach will be 
asked to reduce the Government royalty on tea from 
sixpence to fourpence per pound. In the circular it is 
pointed out that the closing of the mints and the fixing 
of the rupee at the artificial value of Is 4d by the 
Indian Government have increased the cost of pro- 
duction by some 20 per cent, while the addition of 
twopence to the duty last year, instead of coming out 
of the pockets of the consumer, has fallen almost en- 
tirely on producers. A still more cogent argument 
is that the home Government reaps an annual har- 
vest of six millions sterling from tea, and the total 
revenue at home being 120 millions, the impost is 
out of all proportion to other taxes levied. The 
object of the circular is to invite all those who are 
interested in the production of tea to help the move- 
ment by at once communicating with their local 
members of Parliament (irrespective of party), asking 
them to support Sir Henry Seymour King in his en- 
deavour DO get the tea tax reduced to its former rate 
of 4d per lb. We trust that the statements put forward 
will direct public attention to the grievances of the 
tea producer, who sees that unless some remedy for 
the existing state of things is found the important 
industry developed with such care, patience, and 
expenditure of capital is seriously threatened. 
A Trade View of the Tea Position. — " As a natural 
consequence of the rapidly increasing production of tea 
within the last few years — that of Indian alone ex- 
panding from 148,252,000 lb. in 1897-98 to 182,144,0001b 
as the estimated crop for 1900-01 — the market here has 
been so over-supplied with the article," says the 
Grocer, '' that steps have been recently taken by a 
Select Joint Committee of the Indian Tea Association 
