Aphtl 1, 1901. J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 687 
LORD CUKZON AND TEA PLANTERS. 
We direct special attention to the follow- 
ing important extracts from the recent speech 
of the Viceroy, dealing with the " Exchange " 
and "Tea Overproduction " questions. These 
give the official vievv- of the Exchange problem 
in opposition to Mr. R. H. JBlliot, and aiford 
most sensible advice in regard to promot- 
ing a taste for tea throughout India. It 
would pay if the planters set aside 10 per 
cent— that is of inferior grades up to that 
proportion— to be devoted to exploiting both 
the opposite Continent and this island, in 
the way Lord Ourzon points out : — 
THE EXCHANGE QUESTION. 
In his concluding speech on the Assam 
Labour Bill at the last meeting of the Sup- 
reme Legislative Council, the Viceroy re- 
marked : — 
Tliere is another claim that was specially put for- 
ward by the Hon. Sir Allan Arthur which I must 
equally decline to accept. It is the claim that we 
owe some special reparation to the planters for the 
currency policy, which, by raising the rate of ex- 
change, is alleged to have raised against them the 
cost of production. Now this case was argued before 
the Currency Commission in London in 1898 by 
prominent representatives of the planting interest, 
and I do not hesitate to say that it completely 
broke down. It was conclusively proved before that 
Commission that the depression in the industry was 
due not to the closing of the Mints by the Gov- 
ernment of India, not to the fiscal policy of the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer in raising the tea duty, 
but over-speculation, over-competition, and over- 
production. I have gone very carefully into the 
figures, and they show most conclusively that 
whereas in the nine years preceding the closing 
of the Mints, i e. from 1885 to 189.3 inclusive, 
the area under tea cultivation in India increased 
by 39 per cent and the quantity produced by 
85 per cent in the six years following upon the 
closure of the mints, namely 1894 to 1899, 
the area increased by a further 43 per cent, 
and the produce by a further 76 per cent., while 
in 1899 the increase in production vt-as double what 
it had been in any previous year. So much for all 
India, I will next take the case of Assam alone. 
In the nine years from 1885 to 1893, the increase 
in area was 39 per cent., in production 75 per cent, 
in the six years from 1894 to 1899 it was 18 per 
cent, in area and 67 per cent, in production. Fur- 
ther, if we eliminate the years 1893 to 1897 while 
the rupee was steadily rising from 13d to 16d, and 
if we take the years posterior to 1897 only, during 
which the rupee reached and maintained stability, 
we shall find that in the two years 1897-99 there 
was an increase of 20,000 acres in Assam alone 
brought under cultivation, and of 21 million pounds 
of tea produced. Moreover, the fall in the price 
of tea, about which we have heard so much, con- 
tinued long after exchange had become stable. 
It is clear, therefore, to me that the argument de- 
rived from the closure of the Mints is of very 
little value : and that the tea industry has been 
disastrously affected not by the currency policy 
of the Government of India, but by the ill-con- 
sidered rush of speculation, and by the production 
of more tea than there were markets to purchase 
or mouths to swallow. 
A TEA MARKET IN INDIA. 
The Viceroy continued later :— 
§7 
"lam a believer in the policy of helping those 
who know how to help themselves, I see the tea 
merchants ot India and Ceylon scrambling for the 
markets of England, the Continent, and the 
ITnited States of America. Why do the Assam 
planters not recogniss that there lies the most 
splendid market in the world at their doors ? 
Millions of Indians now burn kerosene oil, con- 
sume ice, ca.rry umbrellas, and smoke cigarettes. 
Twenty-five years ago these habits would have 
been scouted as impossible. Now they are com- 
mon and in some cases universal. Why do you 
not tempt these people also to'drink tea? What 
is the good of scouring the world for the 
thousands ? You have the millions at your gate. 
It I were a planter in Assam I would never rest till 
the pluckings of my garden became the staple 
drink, of the Indian artisan in place of the spirit- 
uous poison whicli he is now tempted, for 
want of anything better, to pour down his tliroat. 
I give you this suggestion for what it is worth ; 
and, whether it be taken or not, I hope that 
Honourable Members will at least admit that 
throughout the controversial discussion of today the 
Government has shown itself a critical but not 
unfriendly champion of the composite interests of 
the most interesting Province of Assam. 
^ 
DUM-DUM BULLETS FOR USE IN 
SPORT. 
* 
NOTES ON THE -300. 
(To the Editor of the Asian,) 
Sir, — In a former letter, written from Ceylon, 1 
mentioned that the mark IV hollow-nosed bullet 
could not be relied upon to expand properly, even 
in so tough a creature as a crocodile. Sometimes 
these bullets expand perfectly ; at others, under 
apparently the same circumstances, they make a 
wound but little larger than that caused by the 
ordinary Mark II bullet. I have lately been trying 
the dum-dum bullet on blackbuck, chinkara, cro- 
codiles and smaller animals, I have come to the 
conclusion that it also is very unreliable for shoot- 
ing game. A crocodile hit about the right place 
through the shoulders got back to the water 
without any signs of distress. Another one raked 
fore and aft, left his sunny sand-bank with great 
nimbleness. In neither case was there any after 
disturbance of the calm water to show that the 
reptiles were suffering pains below. On another 
occasion I fired at a bla?k buck, the range being 
about 180 yards. The buck fell to the shot, but 
almost immediately recovered himself and made 
off. I followed after him and fired two more shots 
which, as they produced no visible effects, I took 
to be misses. The buck moved away slowly and 
by keeping out of sight behind some scrub, I 
was enabled to get a fourth shot which killed 
him. I then found that all four of my shots 
had hit the antelope, and moreover that any one 
of them, had it expanded, would have killed or 
disabled the .inimal at once. Another case was 
that of a chinkara. He was hit far back in the 
haunch with a Dum-Dum bulletj and made away 
slowly. I eventually cut him off, and killed 
him at short range with a 192-grain hollow- 
fronted sporting bullet. The difference in the 
two wounds was most noticeable, the Dum- 
Dum had not expanded at all, while the sporting 
bullet had made an enormous hole. A jackal hit) 
about amidships with a Dum-Dnu» van fifty yarcl§ 
