April 1, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULTURIST. 
685 
and creating imaginary grievances. Granting that the 
incidence of the duty is not necessarily upon the 
producer, the latter's hardship should be but of a 
very temporary nature unless the tax be so high as 
to destroy trade— which nobody can in this instance 
pretend it is" 
" Imaginary Grievances." — Withont attempting to 
fathom the meaning of the references to " tribute from 
India" and " those in the trade who intercepted part 
of an impost w't'oIi should have fallen wholly on the 
consumer," we suppose the moral of this is that In- 
dian and Ceylon te>i-planters should look on placidly 
while the industry they have built up is crushed out 
by the Juggernaut of circumstances over which no one 
in particular has any control. So long as the tax does 
not quite destroy their trade planters, instead of wor- 
rying the Government and other people with their 
" imaginary grievances," should bear their troubles 
with equanimity, and turn their thoughts to political 
economy and taxation problems. When a man is in 
danger of drowning, arguments about the depth of the 
water and how he got into it have no interest for him. 
The Grocer goes onto say : — " The prodacers in India 
and Ceylon appear to be suffering mainly from mis- 
calculations — either made by themselves or by those 
who advised them. Secondly, they are suffering from 
the miserable failure to arrive at an understanding 
throughout the trade whereby it might have been pos- 
sible to pass on the duty to the consumer, on whom 
that impost was meant to fall. Thirdly, they are 
suffering from the shortsightedness, net to say foolish 
avarice, which caused some of them to dump down 
upon this country so-called ' tea ' which was merely 
rubbish, and should have been treated as rubbish in 
India and Ceylon. With every desire to show practical 
sympathy for the Indian and Ceylon planters, we can- 
not help feeling that they a little over-reached them- 
selves last year ; and that their best course now is to 
pull themselves together without bothering about 
Government action on this side ; and if, rather than 
stretch again on the rack people such as the income- 
tax payers under Schedule D who already pay too 
much. Parliament should think well again to interfere 
with tea or sugar or what not, it is to be hoped that the 
producers and importers concerned may be fonud to 
have profited by the lesson of last year on the disad- 
vantage of non-combination." To this the producer 
can say, " Thank you for nothing." Sympathy of the 
kind here tendered does not amount to much. 
THE CALIFOEjSiIA ORANGE CROP. 
Estimates of the California orange yield grow 
larger as the season advances. The estimate of 
all citrus fruits for 1901, in tlie San Francisco 
Chronicle annual, was 22,000 carloads, of which 
1,145 were set down tor central California. The 
railroad authorities are said to now estimate the 
southern crop of oranges alone at between 19,000 
and 20,000 carloads, of which up to January 19, 
4,400 carloads had been shipped, which breaks all 
records to that date, while 850 carloads have gone 
forward from the central part of the state. Our 
contemporary's estimate of the shipments from the 
district of which Oroville is the centre was 500 
carloads, and the Southern Pacific Company now 
estimates the total crop from that district at be- 
tween 900 and 1,000, which goes to show that new 
groves are coming into bearing of which no one 
knew anything. It is probable, as is usual in good 
years, that the citrus crop will e.xceed all estimates 
and that this will be tiie most prospemus year 
California citrus grovvers have ever known. The 
abundant rains which have fallen in the southern 
counties will improve the quality of the fruit and 
strengthen the vitality of the trees to produce next 
year's crop.— flome paper. 
THE TEA DUTY. 
[To the Editor of the Home d- Colonial Mail.} 
Sir, — We would solicit your powerful aid to- 
wards arousing public attention to the subject of 
the taxation of tea. It will be fresh in your re- 
collection that last year's Budget laid on this 
article an additional duty of 2d a lb, being an 
increase of no less than 50 percent. We contend 
that the fiscal burden is wholly excessive, and is 
alike unjust to consumer and producer. 
It is unjust to the oonsumer. Tea, witli a duty 
of 6d per lb, now contributes about six niillioas 
sterling to the Exchequer, or 5 per cent, of the 
national revenues. The duty exceeds the whole- 
sale price of the great bulk of the tea consumed, in 
this country, seventy five per cent, of the quantity 
imported being now sold in bond at 6d per lb and 
under. Thus the duty falls most severely on the 
poorer classes, and infringes a fundamental law of 
political economy. If there is one thing which 
should be encouraged in this country above another 
it is the supply of a harmless beverage in universal 
demand. The evils arising from the extensive use 
of intoxicating drinks are too patent to need en- 
larging upon; and all interested in promoting the 
cause of temperance should join in condemning the 
excessive taxation of tea. 
It is unjust to the producer. Under ordinary 
circumstances the greater portion of the enhanced 
duty should have been borne by the consumer. 
But markets are so abnormal as to render this 
impossible. Prices have fallen in a direct ratio 
with the enhanced duty. In other words, the latter 
is being largely paid by the producer. The follow- 
ing table, showing three years' fluctuati(ms in the 
price of type-tea, places this fact in a clear light :— 
Description of Tea. 1899. 1900. 1901. 
Indian Pekoes .. 7"73 7'20 5'97 
Ceylon Pekoes .. 7-81 7*25 5-21 
But this process has its limits. In view of the 
cost ot growing and manufacturing tea, and 
transporting it 6,000 miles and upwards, it is 
clear that this burden cannot continue to be 
borne by the producer. The enhancement in the 
retail price caused by the increased duty must 
re-act on the demand to his detriment. The 
deep injury inflicted on the industry is shown in 
a serious shrinkage in the value of tea companies' 
shares, and in a general depression which has 
no parallel. 
The effect of the existing duty on the countries 
of production is equally prejudicial. Their con- 
gested areas are relieved of surplus population 
by a steady How of emigrants to the tea districts, 
and if famine is to te fought it must be by 
precisely similar means to those employed by the 
planter. His ruin would be severely felt by the 
peasantry of India and Ceylon, and the consequent 
check to the influx of British capital would 
lower the standard of existence and be prejadical 
to the interests of both countries. 
The industry thus heavily handicapped is one 
wliich should be fostered by every legitimate 
means. Tea differs radically from sugar, which 
stands in the same category as a constituent of 
our diet, but pays not a farthing to the Exhequer. 
Tea employs £30,O00,O0U of British capital, and 
is essentially a creation of British enterprise. 
Half a century back the whole consumption of 
these islands W3S supplied by China. In spite of 
many failures through losses which would have 
daunted most men, and at a vase sacrifice of lifa 
and money, we have succeeded in distancing 
