348 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTUEIST. [Nov. 1. 1899. 
they ace only too ready to give in their names, with or 
Vfithout any reasonable excuse and leave the estate. 
Mr. Carey said he thought we were inclined to take 
Mr. Huttenbach too seriously, as he could hardly 
imagine that Mr. Huttenbach really meant all he had 
said. 
The motion on being put to the meeting was lost, no 
one voting for it but the proposer. 
TELEPHONES. 
Mr. Huttenbach proposed and Mr. Peiob seconded 
the following resolution : — " That Government be 
asked to connect the outstations and various estates in 
the districts by telephone with Kuala Lumpur." 
Carried unanimously. 
The next business before the meeting was to elect 
a member of Committee in place of Mr. Dougal who is 
shortly leaving the State for the old country. 
On a ballot being taken for a representative of the 
S, P. A. in the U. P. A. Committee, in place of Mr 
j>ongal, Mr. G Shepherd was elected. 
^ 
AN AUSTRALIAN TEA BUSINESS. 
(Special to the Ceylon Observer.) 
Sydney, Oct. 1. 
Griffiths Brothers are a house hold name in 
Sydney and district, being one of the largest tea 
firms in a city, which is conspicuous for stores, 
selling that popular article of consumption. They 
have erected handsome premises opposite tlie 
Town-hall in George-street, at the top of which 
is a railway signal, and the trade mark of this firm 
is seen half-way down the street. The firm believe 
in advertising and in all iiarts of Sydney and 
suburbs placards announcing Griffitli's teas and 
coffees meet the eye, while they have adopted 
a rather novel method of bringing their name 
before the public. Near every station on all the 
railway lines for a good distance from Sydney 
are placed finger-posts telling the traveller how 
many miles he has to go before reaching their 
well-known firm. Their store is a very hand- 
some one, and is made attractive by a number of 
China and Japan curios, while on the walls are 
several handsome paintings, giving a very good 
impression of Ceylon tea estates in the hill dis- 
tricts. The other afternoon a representative of 
this journal called at Messrs. Griffiths Brothers ; 
and made the acquaintance of Mr. Greenhill, the 
buyer and taster of the firm, who readily con- 
sented to saj a little about the tea trade, in 
which his firm are engaged, which is chiefly to 
the public, without passing through the hands 
of agents. They blend Ceylon, China and Indias 
together, but sell each country's teas separately 
■ as well. 
Ceylon tea, said Mr. Greenhill, plays a very im- 
portant part in our business. I suppose on the 
whole Ceylon takes up a third of the output of 
our trade. I do not think we exceed that. 
Some of the finest grades come into this 
market. 
Asked what estates were tlie favourites he re- 
plied hastily, Agra Ouvah and Middleton. St. 
Jolin's were seldom met with on this market, but 
"Tymawr" is frequently met with. 
Mr. Greenhill complained of the advance in 
price in the lower grades of Ceylon tea, and 
said tiiat duiin.t^- tlic last six months there had 
been an advance of fully 20 per cent. On the 
other hand he eniloi.sed what the representative 
of another fii iii in thi.s city had .said about Cey- 
lon not getting up to the quality it used 
to. India tea Mould do very well for 
blending )iurposes, and Ibis could be ob- 
tained at JoM'er ratea. Of course what 
Tea was used depended on the man. who mani- 
pulated the blends. 
What is the prospect of Ceylon tea liere? — 
Ceylon tea will go ahead if bi ought back to 
the average quality it was tiiree to five years 
ago, but if not it will go on the wane. China 
is coming ahead. The average price of Ceylon 
tea is highei-, the quality is lower. 
Messrs. Griffith Bros, have branches in 
Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Freemantle as 
well as the capital of New South Wales. Mel- 
bourne, which also supplies Tasmania, is the 
headquarters of the firm, but Sydney has the 
largest output. 
Our representative had seen in a western paper 
an advertisement announcing the distribution of 
tea-seed among fanners, etc., and he asked for 
a few particulars about it. 
Mr. Greenhill said it was a kind of a hobby. 
Mr. Griffith had got tea to grow pretty well in 
his garden at Bays water, just outside Melbourne, 
and they had sent seeds to some of their clients. 
They had about 300 applications, but they had had 
barely time to judge of results. He thought it would 
never pay to grow tea here on account of labour 
ditti.;>ilties. If they had coolie labour they might; 
but, owing to the objections of the working classes, 
the various Governments in the colonies refuse 
to allow alien labour to be introduced. The de- 
velopment of tea takes a number of years, but 
if the labour difficulty was ove-come, and they 
looked ahead a quarter of a century the chances 
were a certain amount of tea might be produced 
in the colony for commercial purposes. 
MR. E. E. GREEN " COCCIDAE OF 
CEYLON." 
We have already published several notices 
of this book, and are glad to fiud it is still 
receiving at the hands of the reviewers at 
home and elsewhere the attention it de- 
serves. The following critiques are from 
two papers of recognised value in scientists' 
circles :— 
(Natural Science, October.) 
The Coccidae constitute an aberrant group of the 
Hemiptera, contradicting all ordinary definitions 
of the order and class to which they belong. Hemip- 
terous hexapods, yet in the female sex wingless, 
and in many genera legless as well. The very 
methods by which they must be studied are pecu- 
liar, and as such distasteful to the ordinary ento- 
mologist. 
So it has happened that these creatures, though 
numerous and peculiar, have been greatly neg- 
lected. But in recent years, as though outraged 
by such persistent scorn, they have risen in their 
might and played havoc with our fruit trees and 
otlier crops, not to mention ornamental plants ; 
wherefore we have been obliged to recognise their 
existence. 
Studies usually begun with economic ends in 
view have led us far afield. It becomes plainer 
every day that the Coccidae are not only extremely 
jium'erous in species, but offer an extraordinary 
scries of peculiar forms, whose organisation, as re- 
Jiiti il to their environment and habits, is of the 
greatest interest from a purely biological stand- 
point. The opportunity to advance both economic 
entomology and pure science is too good to be neg- 
lected once perceived ; and so we find a new body 
of students arising, calling themselves coccidolo- 
gists, and dignifying their study by the name of 
coceidology. ^ ^ 
Of these latter-day students assuredly E. Ernest 
Green is second to none. Beginning his researches 
during the previous decade he at fli'st proceeded 
slowly. The literature of the subject was diflScult 
