March 2, 1903.] THE TliOPICAL A(JRICULTURIST. 
621 
Indian Tea in Afghanistan.— The Afghan 
officials to whom reference has been made ex- 
pressed themselves as bein^ well satisfied with 
the samples sent to them. But so far it has not 
been found to be possible to work up the trade 
to any extent, 
Indian Tea in Persia.— In their last Annual 
Report tlie Committee leferred at length to tiie 
mission to Persia which had been undertaken by 
Mr. E, G. Foley. As a result of that mission 
two or three caravans with fairly large quantities 
of tea from the Kangra Valley, Dehra Dim, and 
Calcutta, were despatched by the Nushki Ssistan 
route to Meshed. The reception which was ac- 
corded to tiiese experimental ventures did nob 
however justify further efforts. It was only with 
the greatest difficulty that the tea was disposed 
of even at the lowest prices. In the case of the 
caravan from the Kangra Valley no tea was sold 
for some months, the prices offered being barely 
sufficient to pay the cost of carriage. Business 
in Persia is not conducted on cash basis, credits 
frequently extending for two or three years ; and 
sales of tea at twelve months credit were effected 
by the Kangra Valley agent with diilieulty. 
Indian Tea in Chinese Tuekestan and Tibet. 
— An expression of opinion was invited by Govern- 
ment as to what would be a reasonable rate of 
duty in Thibet having regard to («) the cost of 
transit from India to Tibet, and (h) the price at 
which China tea is sold at Lhasa. The General 
Committee, to whom tlie point was referred, 
expressed the opinion that the duty should not 
exceed that levied on China tea imported into 
India. At this point the question stands a.t 
present, at least so far as Thibet is concerned. The 
Government of India have not yet given any indi- 
cation as to whether they can take action in 
regard to Chinese Turkestan. 
Ceylon Import Duty on Tea.— The Commit- 
tee referred in their last report to a representation 
which they had made to the Government of India 
upon certain matters relating to this duty. Their 
main sugsesbion was of a two-fold nature. Firstly, 
that the Ceylon Government should be asked to 
exempt Indian tea from the payment of the irapoi t 
duly of four annas per lb ; and secondly that, if 
necessary, the Indian Government should similarly 
exempt Ceylon tea from the payment of tlie hve 
per p.eut ad valorem duty levied in tliis countiy. 
Further, the Committee proposed that, if the 
Ceylon Government declined to make this exemp- 
tion, the Indian duty should be enhanced to a 
protective rate. In June tlie Government of India 
intimated that they were not prepared to adopt 
any of tiiese proposed courses of action. They 
submitted, at the same time, a statement of the 
views expressed by the Ceylon Government on the 
question. From this it appeared that the Lieut,- 
Governor of Ceylon was unwilling to exempt Indian 
tea from the paymeutof import duty. In their repre- 
sentation the Committee hai complained of the 
heavy transhipment charges at Colombo ; and had 
asserted that it was cheaper in the ca.'e of teas 
destined to Kussia for example, to tranship at 
Singapore. The Ceylon Governnieut denied that 
the charges were high, but they did not contro- 
vert the assertion that transhipment at Singapore 
was cheTiper. They further contended that Indian 
teas competed on actually level terms with all 
Ceylon teas which are sold^aud exported without 
being blended, or made into packets. It was 
yecoguised in Ceylon that the object of Indian 
growers was to obtain facilities for blending iu 
Colombo. This was considered both by Ceylon 
planters and merchants to be undesirable ; their 
object being that pure Ceylon tea only should 
be exported from the island. Looking at the 
question purely from the Ceylon point of view, but 
little fault can be found with this decision. But 
the Committee still think it is unfair to Indian 
growers tiiat Ceylon tea should be freely admit- 
ted into India for blending or any other purposes. 
For if Ceylon will only admit Indian teas under 
certain restrictions, it is buj right that similar 
restrictions siiould be enforced in India against 
the produce of the island. As matters at present 
stand, liowever, there is nothing to prevent the 
sale in India of blended Indian and Ceylon teas ; 
while the sale of such in Ceylon, or their export 
from Colombo, is debarred. So far the Committee 
have not reopened the question with Government, 
but possibly their successors will consider tlie 
advisability of making a further represer tation. 
ExpoKT Bounty to Encourage the Manu- 
facture OF Green Tea.— It is with much 
satisfaction that the Committee record a consider- 
able advance in the manufacture of Indian green 
tea during the past year. 
Before the end of the season the bounty will 
have been paid upon 720,000 lb. of Indian green 
tea. "When it is remembered that last season the 
quantity upon which the bounty was paid did 
not exceed 30,000 lb. the nature of the advance 
which has been made will be readily perceived. 
With the advent of the Cess and the consequent 
possibility of a bounty on a more extended scale, 
the prospects of Indian green tea v/ould appear to 
be distinctly good. 
Ullage and Depreclvhon of Tea.— The 
following amended rules for dealing with claims 
for ullage and depreciation of lea were adopted in 
May by the Indian Tea Association (London) 
after consultation with representatives of the 
Conference Liners, viz: — 
(1) Metal packages.— No ullage to be recog- 
nised unless tlie fastenings are intact, and unless 
the metal is perforated. (2) Packages country 
coopered but not Dock coopered — No ullage to be 
recognised. (.J) Packages country coopered and 
Dock coopered. Allowance to be one-half of 
amount of agreed loss. (4) No claims to be 
recognised for ullage in respect of packages of 
Fannings, or Dust Tea, which exceed 110 lb. ia 
weight nett of Dustor 120 lb. nett cf Fannings. 
(5) No claims for depreciation in value to be 
recognised unless ullage amoants to 10 lb. or 
over. (6) That any siich allowance shall not 
exceed Id per lb, (7) All claims for depreciation 
to be accompanied by satisfactory evidence of 
such depreciation. (8) Minimum ullage to be 
recognised for any package — 41b. 
Map OF the Tea Districts.— In their last 
Annual Report the Committee mentioned that 
they were arranging for the compilation of a map 
ot the tea districts. The map was published in 
September last, and shows the position of all tea 
estates in Assam and Bengal. 
EsTiMATn:s of the Crop.- At the last Annual 
Meeting of the Association the following reso- 
lution was unanimously adopted : — "That in view 
of it having been found to be impracticable to 
obtain complete returns from producers, the 
General Committee be instructed to discontinue 
the publication ot figures relating to the outturn 
of the crop." The practical effect of this res9lutioi^ 
