?56 
THE TROPICAL AGFJCCJLTlTElST. [May 1, 1903. 
teas to the exclusion o{ Indian and Ceylon, so that 
it seems as if it would be more to the advantage 
of the grower to retain the 1 irger consumption by 
keeping down the price, and to setk for profit in 
reduced cost of production and the other heavy charges 
which tea hss to pay. That lov7-priced teas can 
be made remunerative to the grower appears to be 
a fact, as some estates, with the lowest average price 
per Ib.i are able to pay dividends.'' 
TT. S. A. NATIONAL TEA ASSOCIATION. 
A New York paper says, apropos the tea trade of the 
United States: "Nearly two hundred members of the 
tea trade have consented to become charter members 
of the proposed national tea association, v/hieh will 
probably take shape in the early spring, but unless 
this federal orgauisalicn can reach down to the ex 
treme fringe of the business and control the actions of 
the retail cutters who have a weakness of cheap tea, with 
an 'inductment' thrown in, the tea puddle will hardly 
Ibe disturbed by any ripple the national association 
can cause. It is 'getting together' that the tea 
trade needs so much as an active competition 
between packers of fine blends, assisted by extensive 
and expensive advertising. It is 'up to ' any 
wholesale of retail grocer with fair capital to be 
the tea tvade's Moses and lead it out of the house 
of bondage— the bondage to 'tea for price.' 
with trading ptamps, a cup and saucer, 34 lb. of sugar 
thrown in. Who'll be the trade's Moses 1 Not Uncle 
Sam, with his tea standards and board of inspectors ; 
not the blender of ' something just as good." not the 
tea-store chain-system, with its cut prices and very 
ordinary goods ; not the tea peddler who goes from 
bouse to house ; not ' Lancelot not another,' but just 
the plain old-fashioned family grocer, who has the 
wit to see the possibilities in the tea department 
when it is properly developed and pushed." — H. and 
0. /Kai7, March 13. 
TROPICAL PRODUCTS IN JAVA, 
In the districts around Bafcavia, coffee-planting 
is on the down grade owing to low prices, disease 
among the plants, and exhaustion of the soil. 
Should prices continue to be low for the next few 
years, very few estate.? will be left to profit by any 
considerable rise in quotations. Tea-growing has 
met with a check owing to low prices and over- 
production. Rubbei'-growing is extending there, 
and bids fair to prove profitable.— Pera/c Pioneer, 
March 24, 
THE MANUFACTURE OF GREEN TEA, 
{To the Editor, Home and Colonial Mail.'") 
gir, — With reference to the manufacture of 
green tea in India and Ceylon, it appears to me 
important to consider how this can be made self- 
supporting at as early a date as possible, so as to 
relieve those gardens which are making black tea 
of the necessity of aiding, by bonus, those engaged 
in exploiting this new manufacture. It will no 
doubt be necessary for a few years to help those 
planters who are willing to undertake the manu- 
facture and exploiting of this article, for the 
capital required to properly alter existing facto- 
ries and equip the same for the scientific 
production of green tea must be considerable. 
There are two methods of distributing this 
bonus ; — 
1. Indiscriminately to any factory which makes 
experimental or small quantities. 
2. To bind the planter to produce a season's crop 
and ensure to him the bounty on a given quantity. 
Thefiis, we may di-smiss at once, for it will only 
encourage amateur and spasmodic efforts which 
will waste money, and it will not give suilicient 
continuity of supply to enture confidence amongst 
buyers. The second is the only practical way, 
for the planter will then study the question of 
manufacture, and also the markets, &c., and this 
should enable him in time to buihi up a sound 
business in green tea of British growth, independ- 
ent of bonuses and outside help. — Yours faith- 
fully. Export. 
London, March 12, 1903. 
—H. and C. Mail, iVlarch 13. 
PLANTING LABOUR ON THE NILGIRIS. 
{To the Editor, " Madras Mail") 
Sir.— Sometime back a meeting of the 
planters in this District was called to talk 
over the local labour conditions. It was 
then decided that the rate was in future to 
be cut down from four annas per day per 
man cooly to five days for the rupee. One 
would have thought that this was a blessing 
to the planter, but it has by no means been 
so, and the only people we have to thank 
for the present slate of things are ourselves^ 
Before we cut down the rates for labour 
the coolies used to come to the estates from 
their villages between 8 30 and 9-30 a.m. and 
do a fair day's work. But of late it has been 
getting later and later, and only last week 
I saw a gang going down to work at 10"45 
a m Now, these coolies could not have 
started work till 11 o'clock at the earliest, 
and they leave off at 5 p.m., making six 
hours per day or 30 hours work per rupee 
at present rates. Under the old rates when 
they came at 9 they did eight hours per 
day or 32 hours per rupee. But the loss of 
two hours is not the greatest loss. When 
we have crop coming in it takes us now 
Si days to do the same amount of work that 
imder the old system we got done m four 
days. Not very long ago I happened to see 
a case of this cut-throat policy going on. 
Some coolies arrived atlO lS, but the manager, 
who is trying to get back to the old time 
of 9 o'clock, refused to give the coolies 
work. They straightway went on to the 
next estate iind were given xvMk, although 
they could not possibly have arrived there 
before 10'30. The estate that had refused 
the labour h\s now got to take them at 
their own time or they go. If they are 
refused they only have to go on to one of 
the surrounding estates and are sure of being 
taken on. BERRY, 
Kil Kotagiri.— M Mail, March 31, 
Kanan Devan Hills.— The most com- 
plete, up to-date and interesting account of 
this favoured district in North Travancore 
appears in a recent "Pioneer" and is given on 
page 743. Everything promises well and good 
returns are expected : only the mono-rail 
tramway is not quite the success hoped for. 
The Olivk in South Australia.— From a 
report just published, we learn that the cultiva- 
tion is much in favour, the climatic conditions, 
nature of the soil, and the introduction of the 
best varieties, all tending to the success of a 
highly remunerative industry — of the production 
of fruit and oil of the best quality. The number 
of trees returned tor 1902 is 66,852, against 61,740 
in the preceding year. — Gardeners^ Chro7iicle, 
March 21, 
