182 
THE TROPICAL 
AGPJCULTURLST. 
[Sept. 1, 1899. 
to the occasion as tlie Ceylon planters were 
when their coffee was all but annihilated by 
disease. As tea is not now what it used to be — 
and there can be no hopes whatever that it ever 
will be in the position it occupied 20 or 30 years 
ago — I think you do well when you advocate the 
planting of coffee, or for the matter of that any- 
thing, as an auxiliary to tea. Eveu if the 
tea districts of Assam could prow suflieient coffee 
to supply the consumption of the eastern part of 
Indiait would always be something, and a very 
big something, as by all accounts tlie consumption 
is large and increasing. 
We, in Ceylon, should be very glad, indeed, 
if planters in any part of Northern India 
were able to supplement their tea with coffee 
and to grow the latter profitably. We wish 
them a full measure of success ; but our 
doubts can only be overcome when we learn 
of a 100-acre field of Arabian coffee at four 
to five years old giving a paying crop of 
the berry without showing signs of exhaus- 
tion from the dread leaf disease (Hemileia 
vastatrix.) 
INDIAN AND CEYLON ASSOCIATIONS. 
TEA IMPORTERS AND THE DRAFT 
ALLOWANCE; 
{Special Report for " Ceijlon Observer") 
A meeting of growers and importers of tea 
was hela on Monday, July .3id, in tlie Council 
room of the London Chamber of Comnieice, 
Eastcheap, to receive the report and recoiuinen- 
dation of the joint Committee of the Indian Tea 
Association (London), and the Ceylon Association 
in London, on the proposed abolition of the 1 lb. 
draft allowance on tea. There was a crowded 
attendance, and late-comers bail ditiiculty in lind- 
ing standing-room. Sir H Seymour King, M.P., 
K.C.I.E., presided, and there M'ere present : — 
Messrs. H K Rutherford, J N Stuart, D Cruik- 
shank, Begg, Dunlop & Co. ; H Cholinsley, Char- 
gola Tea Association ; E L Sparks, Messrs, P 
K Buchanan & Co. ; John M Holt, Messrs. 
Stewart, Holt & Co.; W Johnson, New Sylliet 
Company ; Douglas R Smith, G G Anderson, 
Scottish Ceylon Tea Company ; Geo. Stehn, 
Messrs. Wilson, Smithetfc & Co. ; Jas. F Ander- 
son, Messrs. Lyall, Anderson & Co. ; W H 
Anderson, New Dimbula Company ; R Gordon 
Shaw, F D Mitchell, Jno. J Efielsten, W J 
Thompson, Jnr. John McEwan, D M Stewart, 
W Watson, T C Owen, Messrs. Rowe, White 
& Co. ; A Thomson, Wm. McKenzie, P Oswald, 
C C McLeod, R S Corbett, P G Spence, C A 
Goodricke, R A Cameron, W S Bennett, Jno. 
Hamilton, J L Anstruther, H Earnshaw, A 
Bethune, G J Gibson, J M Smith, J L Shand, 
H J Vollar, R C Dowling, W J Skene, G A 
Talbot, F Pook, H S J Oscar Thompson, F H 
Cumberlege, E H Gregory, Alford Want, A 
Bryans, Messrs. P R Buchanan & Co. ; F W 
Holt, Geo. VV Christison, H A Hancock, A B 
Tomkins, J H Dickson, Robt, Anderson, Hugh 
Fraser, A Crabbe, G W Payne, A L Hutchi- 
son, W G Smith, Scottish Trust «& Loan Com- 
pany ; Jas. Sinclair, W McDonald, J Hughes. 
M P Evans, A W Stoi)ford Sackville, G H 
Austin, R Hart, J Steel, J W Sidey, A E 
Butler, W S Warren, K Brown, D Wilson, J 
A Roberts, C E Strachan, R B Magor, Messrs. 
Geo. Williamson & Co. ; Geo. White, G Seton, 
S H Smith, Carolina Tea Oompany ; Alfred 
Brown, T S Dobree, T A Williams, Blackwood 
Coffee Company ; Geo. G Playfair, Lebong Com- 
pany ; li L Tottenham, A Ledington, L H 
Pieris; Duncan W H Skrine, N W Grieve, K 
C Lyall, Lunisden, G A Dalby, Henry Bois, 
Sanderson, Jas. Wilson, Arthur Thompson, 
Ad^ms, Doake, A Collingwood Small, C Milner, 
A MacLaughlin, C F Hunt, E G Rock, Doom 
Doonia Tea Company ; A E Watson, Messrs. 
Geo. Williamson & Co. : C W Wallace, Messrs. 
G R Shaw & Co. ; representatives of Messrs. 
Geo. Dunlop oc Co. ; Messrs. Finlay, Campbell 
& Co. ; Messrs. Lister & Biggs ; Messrs. Blyth, 
Greene, Jouniain & Co. ; and the Kelani Valley 
Tea Association ; Messrs. Ernest Tye, Secret- 
ary, Indi 11 Tea Association ; and Wm. Martin 
Leake, Secretary, Ceylon Association in London ; 
and many others. 
SIR SKYMOUR KING'S SPEECH. 
The Secretary of the Indian Association (Mr. 
Ernest Tye) having read the nocice convening 
the meeting. 
The Chairman s.aid -.-Gentlemen, the numbers 
in which you lia\ e attended today show that this 
meeting is one of a historic character in the tea 
trade. It i.s one, which must for good or ill in- 
fluence the course of the history of that trade 
for a long time to come. We meet here to re- 
ceive and to deliberate on the report of the 
Commihtee of the two ii:fluential Associations re- 
presenting the Indian and Ceylon trade. I owe 
the accident of having the honour of presiding 
over your deliberations today, gentlemen, to the 
fact of my being the honorary president of the 
Indian Tea Association, anil 1 trust you will 
forgive nie if I do not in every way meet your 
expectations while I am in a position that ftiight 
have been lilled by others who are more com- 
petent to represent the interests of which we 
have to speak this afternoon. I said this is a 
historic occasion. We are met to consider the 
abolition of an ancient custom. There is no 
doubt as to the antiquity of that custom; there 
can, equally, be no doubt in the minds of tea 
growers as to the unreasonableness of the custom 
(Applause), I have never yet heard, gentlemen, 
of any custom which long maintained its sanction 
which necessitated a person giving away, for 
nothing, a part of what he produced (hear, hear). 
We are met to consider the question of the one 
lb. draft on each chest or half-chest of tea which 
it has been the custom to exact from the growers. 
If the growers had remained prosperous, perhaps, 
the question would not have been raised. But 
there is no one in this room who does not know 
how real is thj necessity for pinching ecanontie.s 
in the tea industry, and for casting about for 
some means of making a "living wage" out of 
it. The growers and importers have therefore 
had to consider whether they cannot save a con- 
siderable sum e\ cry year by the abolition of the 
1 lb. draft. (Hear, hear.) They would, I feel sure, 
welcome some change in the present method of 
weighing the tea, but that seemed impracticable. 
The method of weighing already inposes a heavy 
toll on the producer, who feels that that toll is 
sufficient without the addition of the 1 lb. draft 
allowance, (hear, hear. ) At the same time we have 
to remember that those who purchase from us 
are worthy of every consideration and cultiva- 
tion on our part. One cannot well exist without 
the otlier. Perhaps the producer is more necessary 
to Che retailer than the retailer is to the producer, 
because, after all, the retailer does not buy our 
tea because he loves us, but because he must have 
tea to sell to those who want to drink it. (Hear, 
hear.) But at the same time it must be obvious 
to everyone that friendliness, courtesy and 
