Dec. 1, 1899.] THE TROriGAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
TEA AND OTHER PKODUCTS— SPECIALLY 
CACAO liN THE WEST INDIES. 
London, Oct. 1.3. 
My enquiries, I am bound to say, do 
not in their results, give much eucourage- 
'ment to the iDroposal to substitute "pri- 
vate contracts," to some extent, for public 
sales. The very large number of lots to be 
dealt with is offered as a strong objection 
by a broker with long experience in the 
China and Indian tea trade ; but that might 
be obviated, to some extent, by larger breaks, 
as indicated in my last, if the big Companies 
and proprietors so arranged. A more forcible 
objection is the difficulty of getting at the 
chief buyers and of disgusting the smaller 
men who would in a manner be shut out from 
"private contract" business; v/hile they parti- 
cipate in all that goes on in the public a,uction 
room. There is, however, another side ; and 
I have been favoured with opinions worth 
quoting — thus one merchant writes : — 
There is, I believe, a very general impression that 
huge profits are made by the London buyers. I 
don't think this is the case to an undue extent ; 
but, on the other liand, I think that the public 
are getting too good value for their money in 
many cases. I enclose the advertisements of three 
of the big blenders in the Grocer of 2nd inst. 
all offering a blend at Old per lb. duty paid {id) 
and carriage paid. There can be no profit on this, 
even if the commonest stuff of any sort that can 
be picked up be supplied. This is only a "method" 
of the trade to enable these people to get at the 
higher priced trade out of which they can make 
- a profit. Besides these three, there were on 2nd 
Sept., about six or seven other firms with a O^d 
blend. In this week's G^-ocer Brooke Bond's 
advertisement does not appear ; but both Kearley 
and Tonge and Lipton's are still offering their 9id 
mixture, although there is hardly a leaf of Indian 
or Ceylo)! tea to be had at less than 6id as it lies 
in bond. The profits earned by these big concerns 
represent in most cases a return on years of energy 
expended in building up the business. The en- 
closed advertisement from a recent Standard 
throws some light on the ins and outs of; tea 
distribution, and the cutting from s ot a Time 
few weeks ago, re .John Rees, shows that everyone 
doesnotsucceed in the business! Thesepoints may 
be useful to you in dealing with the question 
of a Growers' Distributing Co., to manage 
which successfully a " genius " would have to be 
discovered. If a few of the big Companies— C. T. 
P. Eastern Produce, Anglo Ceylon, &c.— were to 
give the " private contract " system— with large 
breaks— a trial, I think they would not find it as 
difflcult as would at first sight appear. 
Again, it is quite realised that a change, 
even though partial to sale by private con- 
tracts," involves very big interests, and is a 
big question altogether, requiring careful 
consideration at the hands of the leading im- 
porters and agents, as well as by the plant- 
ing and mercantile community of Ceylon. I 
may have some more opinions to give from 
this end later on. 
Meantime as we are congratulating our- 
selves on the check to further extension of 
tea-planting, with the risk of over-production, 
I find the following advertisement in The 
Times of 12th Oct. :— 
Ceylon Tea Land, 4,000 to 5,000 acres in one 
block, elevation 2,000 to 3,000 feet. Good water 
power and rainfall. Exceptional chance. Little 
land now available at this elevation,— A. F. S., 
Z.442, The Times Office, E.C. 
49 
The initials "A.P.S." would seem to point 
to a well-known retired planter, and I should 
guess that the block referred to must be 
situated in Yakdessa or the upper end of the 
Kelani Valley. 
Turning from Ceylon, to the '] 
SVEST INDIES, 
one may ask, can any good thing be found 
in that much-tried part of the world ? Well 
it seems an enterprising Scot vi^ho knew 
little or nothing of the Tropics, until he 
happened to read " Tropical Lands " by A. 
Sinclair (copies to be had at your office), 
sought an interview with the author wlio 
advised him to go with his capital to the 
island of 
TOBAGO 
and there i6 seems he (Mr. W. Archibald) 
is in a fair way to make a fortune ! Here is 
an extract from a letter which has been 
placed at my disposal : — 
I did not return home till the end of June this 
year from the West Indies and I am glad to say 
all the time I have been away I have enjoyed very 
good health. I am very well satisfied with all my 
investments in Trinidad and Tobago. One of my 
cacao estates gave me a return of nearly 30 per 
cent. I bought another cacao estate in .January 
in Upper Caroni for a little over £4,000 and I 
expect this will pay me even better than the other. 
VVe had a very severe drought after the crop and 
this property did not suffer nearly so much as the 
others. I have had my hands full in Tobago. I have 
built a pretty large house there, which will be 
finished by the end of next month. The house 
is exactly 400 feet above sea level, with splendid 
view of the hills at the back and sea in front. 
Water is laid on all over the house, and I am 
putting in acetylene gas ; so when all is finislied, 
it should be fairly comfortable, and I hope you 
will come out and pay me a visit, and see Tobago. 
As to planting, I have got about 50 acres in cacao, 
about 10 acres of coffee, [The coffee grown in To- 
bago (Arabian small bean) fetches the highest 
price in the New York market.] 5,000 nutmeg trees 
and before the end of the year will have over 5,000 
rubber trees planted. The difficulty is getting 
stieady labour to keep the young cultivation clean. 
I am getting over coolies from Trinidad and hope 
to get a larger area planted next year. Since I 
bought my estate in Tobago last year, things are 
booming, a number of estates have changed owners 
at higher values. A Mr. Thornton from Ceylon has 
bought an estate "Alma" for £1,600. This property, 
I believe, could have been bought last year for 
£800. He purposes, besides planting, of erecting a 
large bunsalow for a sanatorium and run a coach 
from Scarborough to Alma. Messrs. Howard and 
Ord bought the adjoining-estate to mine shortly after 
I bought mine last year. Tliey are acting for an 
English Rubber Syndicate : they have already plan- 
ted,Ibelieve, about 50,000rubber trees. Those trees 
planted under shade are doing well, but in the open 
grovi'ing very slowly. There are still many good 
estates to be had in Tobago. I have the offer, of 
one now — 500 acres — for about £700 called "Cale- 
donia " with 1,000 cacao trees bearing and 5,000 
non-bearing, 200 young nutmeg trees, and I under- 
stand the soil is very rich. So if you know of 
any one who wants a cheap estate, I will be glad 
to get and give all information. 1 am thankful 
to say we have escaped so far all the hurricanes. 
We are in a measure out of the latitude of them, 
although, I think, in 1845 they had a slight one in 
the northern side of lobago. 
I suppose Mr. Thornton is our old friend 
of the Kelani Valley and Dikoya. who has 
travelled a good deal in his day. It is cer- 
tainly surprising, in the face of such an ex- 
