Aug. 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 
99 
THE PROPOSED ABOLITION OF THE 
DRAFT POUND. 
To the Editor of the Home and Colonial Map. 
yiR,_As the "pound diLift question is beiii;^ de- 
bated' now, 1 venture to sugKest an aUernative 
iiietliod of getting over the ditliculty. The impor- 
ters say " lliiib the [jrofits are so small th-i'o it is 
imperative to curtail every item of expenditure to 
the very lowest limits." And as there are various 
other items of expenditure on an average chest of 
Indian orCeylon tea (worth, say, 8d per lb), it seems 
to me that, beloreinterlering with an old trade cus- 
tom, and raisinj: anotlier very serious controversy 
with the buyers of tea, it might be possible to apply 
the pruning knife first to such items as : 
Per chest, 
s. d. 
Shipping charges and freight 4 0 
Warehouse charges and insurance 3 82 
Calcutta agency commission 1 6 
London agency commission 1 9 
Brokerage and public sale charges 0 i 
11 
Now, the avorpge saving to be effected by withhold- 
ino- 'the draft pound would only amount to 8d, and 
it "seems to me that belore levying all the tax on 
the retail tea dealer, it would be more productive to 
squeeze a little oft'the Calcutta and Londonagents, 
who seem to enjoy rather an undue shate, in con- 
oideration of the amount of work they have to do* 
-I am, &c., A Tea Dealer. 
IMPORTANT TO THE TEA TRADE. 
We understand that a very determined effort 
will shortly be made to abolish the one pound 
draft allowed from time immemorial on chests and 
half chests of tea. In 1870 a similar attempt 
was made to carry out the same object, but, owing 
to the active efforts made by the leading whole- 
sale and retail traders, the project was completely 
defeated, and the subject has not been raised for 
nearly thirty years. With similar energy on the 
part of the dealers there is no reason why they 
should not be equally successful in resisting the 
present attempt' to deprive the trade of their 
legitimate rights. . 
It is well-known that teas are now weighed 
much closer than was the case a few years ago, 
and the experience of dealers is that, even allow- 
ing for the one pound draft, the net weight of 
tea contained in many packages is less than that 
actually paid for. Moreover, the trade has long 
suffered serious loss and inconvenience from the 
inefficient manner in which teas are bulked in 
London. Indeed, in many cases, it is well-known 
thatiuiporters instruct their warehouse keepers 
not to bulk their teas at all, trusting to luck that 
no complaint will be made by the buyer, and this, 
notwithstanding the fact that all catalogues state 
that " These teas have been weighed, inspected, 
and bulked" (in the country of production or 
London). In fairness to the better known com- 
panies it shoubl, however, be stated that these 
latter remarks do not apply, as most of the teas from 
their estates are properly bulked at the place of 
erowth. Still, the evil is an imi)ortant, and, 
we fear, an increasing one, as far more com- 
nlaints are now made with regard to the matter 
than was formerly the case. Meanwhile, we hope 
that immediate steps will be taken for opposing 
the proposal to abolish the one pound draft, and 
our columns, as on the previous occasion, are 
open for the free ventilation of this important 
svibject. 
13 
On reading through the discussions which took 
I)lace in 1870, nothing can be more clear than the 
fact that this draft was not allowed tor loss of 
weight only, but was intended to cover all sorts 
of other contingencies aiising from the nature of 
the trade, such as the occasional refusal of any 
allowance for damage, false package, ecrc, after 
delivery from the public warehouses. Of course, 
also buying at original landed weights, the trade 
accejjt a great risk when delivery is delayed, as it 
often is, and they must have some margin in 
return. — Produce lilarket. May 20. 
INDIAN PATENT. 
Applications for the under specified inventions 
have been made : — 
No. 133. — Samuel Cleland Davidson, merchant, 
of Sirocco Engineering Works, Belfast, Ireland. 
Improvements in means of supporting the bear- 
ings of spindles or shaft* in wall brackets or 
frames. 
No 134. — Samuel Cleland Davidson, merchant, 
of Sirocco Engineering Words, Belfast, Ireland. 
Improvements in centrifugal fans and pumps. 
No. 165. — William Jackson, Engineer, of Thorn 
Grove, Mannofield, Aberdeen, North Britain. 
Improvements in apparatus for sifting, sorting and 
classifying tea or other products or materials. 1--- 
tndian and Eastern Engineer. 
Ceylon Tea in America.— In our daily and 
Tropical Agriculturist v/ill be found a good 
deal on this subject: Mr. Mackenziereportspi-o- 
gressand Mr. R. E. Pineo, at some length, dis- 
cusses the need of extending as well as continu- 
ing the American campaign. "Advertising" is 
the burden of Mr. Pineo's advice and well 
pleased we are to follow him, until we 
come to the point where we learn that he 
would exclude advertising in the daily news- 
papers ! "O lame and importent conclusion," 
and yet it is true that the " dailies " are not 
regarded in the States as they are in British 
territory — and yet these papers must be I'ead ? 
If so, we believe it should pay well for the 
Ceylon Commissioner to make a contract in 
a few proiuinent dailies for a really con- 
spicuous but concise intimation, such as 
" Drink Piu'e Ceylon Tea." It is all nonsense - 
to say such would not eventually tell and 
if it is not the custom to advertise in dailies, 
the charge should be all the more moderate 
Mr. Pineo believes in "Demonstrations" and 
rightly so ; — but to civocate an illustrated 
lectiu'e on our "Buried Cities, "in order to 
get the Americans to drink Ceylon ta,e, 
savours a little of the comical ! And yet 
again, the " sensacionaF' as well as the "amus- 
ing " must be freely used if popular attention 
is to be attracted across the Atlantic. Still, 
we should think that a lecturing campaign 
treating Ceylon on its productive merits — ■ 
the island of cinnamon, cardamoms, citron- 
ella, coconuts, cacao, coffee, coolies and 
Cinghalese ! — adding in its gems, pearls, 
plumbago, its grand variety of palms and 
all their wonders and winding up with 
its TEA, ought to tell. But there cannot 
be too much of a good thing and certainly 
the "Buried Cities," if backed by Mr. 
Cave's illustrations, would prove a capital 
subject ; but would it be quite fair to tag 
on to it "a tea demonstration"? Mr, 
Mackenzie should be the best judge. 
