28 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 1, 1899. 
By Proceeds of sale as per account 
Sales showa 
By Balance . . 
Total 
E. & 0. E. 
London. ICth November 1895. 
£ s. d. 
206 4 8 
1 12 0 
£207 16 8 
MINOR PRODUCTS REPORT. 
London, May 4. 
CiN'CttoNA Bark has dropped twenty-five per cent 
t6day iu Amsterdam. Quinine, which has been the 
victim of the conflicting reports of Java bark ship- 
ments this week, has been, on the whole very 
qaiet. 
Coca Leaves.— Quiet. Huanuco kind is neglected 
at Is. For Truxillo there are inquiries, and busi- 
ness is likely to be done at lOd. The string of 
Ceylon leaves offered at the last auction have all 
been sold, lOd being obtained for all but the dark 
damaged leaves. 
Cinnamon. — Quills are about half-pence better this 
week in anticipation of the small sale at the end 
of the month. Firsts are quoted lOd to lOJd ; 
seconds, gjd to 9|d ; thirds, 8Jd to 9d ; and fourths, 
SJd. In the spice sales yesterday 13 bales of Ceylon 
were sold without reserve at 6Jd to Gj^d ; while 25 
bags of chips were bought in at 3|d. During the three 
months— January, February and March 1899—331,217 
lb of quills and .'>63,345 lb of chips were exported 
from Ceylon. 
Cinchona Baek. — From details of the exports of 
this article from Ceylon which have been published 
it appears that of the 150,080 lb of bark exported, 
from January Ist to March 28th 121,250 lb went to the 
United Kingdom, 28,797 lb to America and 331b to 
France. 
Fixed Oils. — Coconut : Ceylon, spot, £25 10s to 
£25 15°. — British and Colonial Drwf/gist, May 6. 
Cinchona, — The C?ylon shipments from January 
lat to April llth were 168,770 lb, as compared with 
' 301,273 for the corresponding period of 1H98. Since 
the auctions last week sales of 400 to 500 bales are 
feported, at an advance of §d on the unit then paid. 
There have been nibbles for the soft Colombian 
bark, but no business has transpired. The exports 
of bark from Java for April were 996,000 Amst. lb 
against 850,000 last year, making a total for the four 
months of 3,021,800, against 3.225,000 Amst. lb last 
year. The shipments this year have been : — January 
5098,00; February 539,000; and March 977,000 
Atnst. lb. 
Cardamoms. — A fair amount of business is passing 
in Mysores privately at the rates paid in auction. — 
Chemist and Pmggist, May 6. 
INDIAN AND CEYLON TEA. 
CiRCUIiAK TO ALL PR0DUCEK3 AND 
1M1*0KTKRS OF TEA. 
The following circular has been issued by the 
Secretaries of the Indian Tea Association (London), 
ind the Ceylon Association in London : — 
We are instructed to forward to you the enclosed 
memorandum on the proposal to abolish the draft 
allowance on teas sold at public auction in London, 
and to invite your support. We are desired to point 
Out that it is greatly to the interest of producers and 
importers that the proposal should be carried into 
effect, and to add that it has the unanimous approval 
of the Committees of the Indian Tea Association 
(London), and the Ceylon Association in London. If 
y»u see your way to support the proposal, we shall 
feel obliged by your returning to either of us as soon 
8,8 po.isible the enclosed form duly filled up. — Ernest 
Ti'E. Secretary, the Indian Tea Association, London. 
Wm. BIak 'J)> Leake, Secretary, the Ceylon . Asso- 
(iSktiQU ia 
I/We, the undersigned gro i^er or importer of Indian 
Ceylon, Java, or China teas, hereby agree that any 
teas I, we may put up for auction at public sale, in 
London, on <(,nd after a date to be h^r.^after deter- 
mined by the Joint Committee of tlie Indian and 
Ceylon Association in London, but not before Jnly 
1 next, shall be sold on the express condition that 
no allowance for diaft be made to the buyer. 
This I we agree to carry out, provided the Joint 
Committee of the two Associations receive in their 
opinion sufficient support to ensure the adoption of 
the proposal. 
[Here follows name of firm, proprietor, or company 
and quantity represented of Indian, Ceylon, China 
and J ava teas.] 
MEMO. AS 10 ALLOWANCE OF 1 LB. DRAFT ON TEA SALES. 
1. The profit on tea cultivation having 
reached such a narrow margin it became im- 
perative on the gLOwer to curtail every item 
of expenditure iu India and Ceylon to the 
very lowest limit, and in consirquence many 
forms of allowances which were common iu better 
times have of necessity been abolished. 
2. It has now unfortunately become necessary for 
the grower to extend this priming down to nnnpcessary 
charges and allowances on his teas in London, and the 
most obvious of these is the allowance of one pound 
draft per chest or half cliest. 
3. This allowance has long been looked upon by tlie 
grower as an unwarrantable tax upon his teas, and it ia 
held that the time has come for it to be abolished. 
4. During last year theie were imported into 
London : 
Chests. Half-chests 
5'rom India .. 1,286,998 285 664 
„ Ceylon .. 831.406 316,090 
2,118,404 601,754 
and the allowance on these from draft alone amounted 
to 27,20,000 lb. 
5. And this is not all ; for, by the present system 
of weighing by H.M. Customs, a turn of the scale ia 
given in the buyer's favour on the gross weight and 
auDther on the tare weight. Each of these may give 
the buyer a maximum advantage of 15-7 oz., so that 
the two together average close on lib. of tea per 
package, exclusive of draft. 
6. Taking then the two forms of allowance 
(namely, draft and weighing) together, the buyers 
on these figures received 5,000,0001b. of tea more than 
they paid tor. 
7. Without raising the question of an alteration in 
the system of weighment there is no reason why the 
draft allowance should not be abolished. It is a 
survival from times and conditions which no longer 
prevail, and it is not exacted in countries other than 
Great Britain, to which India and Ceylon supplied 
last year 560,000 chests. 
8. In 1890 all draft allowance was abolished on 
cured provisions and cheese, the same has been done 
in the case ot bark and other articles, and the same 
should be done now in the case of tea. — R. and C, 
Mail, May 5. 
SIR A. MACKENZIE AND THE TEA 
PLANTERS. 
Sir Alexander Mackenzie's thrice unfortunate 
aspersions on the tea-garden managers have 
aroused much indignation and no wonder. Al- 
though in giving evidence before tlie Curieaey 
Commission the ex-Lieutenant-Goveinor does not 
say in so many words that the manager are for 
the most part incompetent, lie groups his answers 
in such a manner as to leave his hearers no 
itlternative inference. Yet when we read on, Ave 
find that Ids grievance really is that "'the 
conditions of prolitable cultivation have changed." 
Surely that is not the manager's fault. Maclii. 
nery has come in, says Sir Alexander, and with 
it tlie practice of amalgamating a number of 
