AmtL 1, 1903.] . TFIE TROPICAL A.GTIICULTUUIST. 
679 
Dear Sir,— Your letter of the Uilh instant 
uavin^ been duly reutl and consi lered iit a recent 
meetiiig of the Committee of ilie Piantei.s' Associa- 
tion of"Ceylon, I now write to ask you to brin;' 
under the notice of your Association Die annexed 
copy of resolutions passed ou the subject of the 
resolutions to be brought forward at the annual 
general meeliii>» of the Colombo Tea Traders' 
Association.— I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully, 
A. Philip, Secretary to the Planters' Associ-itiuu 
of Ceylon. 
Kandy, Feb. 23rd, 1903. 
{Ttesolution referred to.) 
" That as regards Uesolulion 4 in the advertise- 
nient notice of the meetinR of tlia Colomho Tea 
Traders' Association the Committee of the Planters' 
Association considers that the value to be deducted 
from the sale proceeds should not; exceed the 
present charge. (II). That as regards Resolu- 
tions 4, 5 and 6 the Committee of the Plantors' 
Association considers that in their present form 
they appear to be detriniental to the interests of 
the Producers." 
Mr .J. H, ADAMS— (Messrs F. F. Street and Co.) 
— with your permission I should like before moving' 
the motion to alter the increase to read from 3 Ihs. 
to 4 lbs. 
The Chairman :— I sujipose the Association will 
have DO objection to permitting the mover to 
substitute 4 ibs, instead of 5 lbs ? 
Mr. J. H. Adams— then moved the motion 
standing in the name of Mr, F. F. Street, which 
amended read as follows : — 
" That in view of the increased number of buyers 
and the demand for extra samples for foreign 
markets, it is desirable that ihe sampling allow- 
ance tor big breaks be increased from 3 lbs., as at 
present, to 4 lbs." 
In doing so he said that since the resolution had 
been published there had been a lot of discussion 
on the matter and he thought sellers generally had 
come to the ')pini'>n that 4 lb. would be quite 
enough for the trade but at the same time they 
alloweil that 3 lb. was hardly a siifficient 
quantity to give adequate samplts. In Calcutta 
the sample was J lb. and he believed buying brokeis 
got 1 lb. each. £n London they got larger samples 
and in China they used to get 1 'b. At the present 
moment in Ceyion there was never a sample left 
afcer the sale tor the buyer or for other firms who 
wanted to send a sample away. 
Mr. S P Jeffery— (Me.-srs. Lipton, Ltd.)— in 
.seconding the motion, said th.nt he thought from 
the resolution passed at the Committee Meeting 
ot the Planters' Association that they were inclined 
to overlook the fact that all the tea sold on the 
local market contained absolutely net weight. 
He had some experience in re-packiiig and his ex- 
perience w.as that if there was a gain it was on 
the wrong side. Wi h regard to tea packed for 
London he thought it was the cuslom to pack a 
little for what weight may be lost. His chief 
reason for supporting the resolution was, however, 
that the sample they got as buyers was in his 
opinion too small and he thought that was the 
opinion of many others. A huge sample looks 
much more attractive, and be thought if they had 
lar>;er samples to value the teas on, it would he 
in the producerb' favour. O.m looking at a large 
sample they were inclined to see the tea in a better 
light. It is very ditKeult to get a sample of tea 
after the sale. He had often tiled to get a sample 
to otler where he thought he could get orders and 
he had to leave it because he could not get 
saniplfs big enough to offer to customers. That 
was his chief reus )n and he strongly supported 
the res olutiou. He hoped both sellers and buyers 
would see it was to their interests to support it. 
Mr. DuURY — at some length, explained the 
system of distributing samples ands;ho>.ved the sizes 
of the tins and thesize-t of the packets in which the 
samples were coulained. Tlie brokers drew 3 lb. 
of tea and they distribu'ed in laige breaks 37 
samples and in small hre^iks 39 samp'es in the 
iiade. Tliey ware distributed in this way. 20 
of the buyers sent round tins of this sort (showing 
one) some larger and some smaller. These buyers 
expected these tins to be (i lid and for 18 buyers 
who have no tins they sent samples in paper. The 
complaint was that if only these 3 lb were to be 
used they could not lill tliese tins. In fact some 
of them are only half filled, atid that was where 
the complaint arose. if filled, 3 lb. would not 
even go round. That meeting could fix on a 
standard size of sample or fix a limit. He would 
suggest a size of box — that used by Messrs Croa- 
fiuld, Lampard & Co. They could have 38 samples 
out of the quantity allowed if that box was 
adopted. A large sample looked better than a 
small one and it w,as mo-t certainly to tlie 
interests of the seller and also to the interests of 
the buyer that larger samples be allowed. He 
would stiongly support i\n-i motion that 4 1b be 
drawn and they could get a sample that would 
please everybody. After they bought, they could 
get a sample to send to their constituents and 
a sample which could be used for pushing tea 
in the various parts of the world, which was a 
very necessary thing indeed. 
THF. VIEWS OF THK P. A. REPRESENTATIVES. 
The Hon. Mr J N CaMpimsi.l— said he was 
not altogether satisfied witli the demonstration 
made by Mr Drury. Of course, he did not put 
his opinion against Mr Drury's or any of their?; but 
he thought the trade hitherto had been supplied 
hy the brokers in C:)lombo with a sample such 
as was sufficient and if all the brokers had sup- 
plied similar samples he did not think that 
agitation wouhl have ever been brought before 
the Association. He perfectly atrreed tliat a good 
sample ought to be given to the trade and if 
it was actually necessary that moie than 3 :b 
should he taken he per-onally had no objection; 
but the question was "Who is to provide this 
satnple?" HiUierto the seller had borne the whole 
ot the cost ot the sample supplied to the trade. 
Some years ago there was no such deduction 
made from the invoice .as was made now, and 
that in a way without consulting the producer. 
When he said " witliout consulting" the producer 
he meant that apart from consulting him in that 
Association the producer was not invited to 
express his opinion and the result was that buyers 
received a sample of 3 lb which was paid for by 
the seller. A further allowance of 1 lb was asked 
from them, but he wanted to know what 
became of the 3 lb they already supplied. At 
present they gave about 100,000 lb to the trade 
per annum in sam|)liug allowances and no»v 33,000 
lb were asked for the same purpo-e. He thought 
it would be only fair that the huyer would ba 
willina; to take his share of that responsibility 
.and in future that they (the producers) should 
be liniiteil to the 3 lb and 'f further sampling 
allowance was necessaty, the 1 lb or i lb — as he 
was told by some was sufficient — should not 09 
