Dec. 1, 1899.] THE TEOPICAL 
AGEICULTURIST. 
419 
INDIAN TEA ASSOCIATION. 
AbsLiach of proceedings of a meeting of the 
General Coniiuittee lield on 3lst October, 1899. 
I'resent : .Messrs. fl S Ashtoii (Cliairinan), H 
C Regf; (Vice-Chairman), W Brown, A C Lawrie, 
K Mayor, M K Quin, A Tocher, and T Traill, 
Mr. It K Toynbee was absent troin Calcutta. 
Proceedings of the last meeting of the Com- 
mittee, held on the 3rd October, having been 
a|)|)roved in circulation, was contirmed. Proceed- 
ings of the Assam Branch of the Association for 
the montli of September were to be recorded. 
Letters of 22nd ynd 29th Sejjtember, andGihand 
13th October, from Mr. Ernest Tye, Secretary, 
Indian Tea Association, London, were brought up, 
after previous circulation for linal consideration, 
riie principal matters to which Mr. Tye referred 
in these letters were : — 
(a) Bonded WarcJiouse Charges in London. — V^iih 
his letter of '22ud September, Mr. Tye euclosed 
copy of a letter dated, 21st September, ad- 
■dressed by the London Committee to the Tea 
•Cleariug House Committee in reference to this ques- 
tion. In this letter the London Committee laid stress 
on the onerous nature o£ the charges levied upon teas 
by the warehouse proprietors, and strongly urged that 
substantial reductions should be made. In his letters 
of 6th and iSth October, Mr. Tye referred at length 
to the General Committee's letter, No. 501-0. of 
13th September, in which the whole question of ti e 
warehouse charges was fully diacnssed. He stated 
that a Special Sub-committee of the Ijondon Branch 
of the Association had been appointed for the pur- 
pose of negotiating with the Tea Clearing House 
Committee with a view to a reduction of charges. 
The London Committee had also considered the 
question of the organization of opposition ware- 
houses on the principle of co-operation. Itwas pointed 
out that this principle had been adopted for some 
years by several of the largest London tea Companies 
who had subscribed capital for the purchase of 
Butler's wharf. Other warehouses might be esta- 
blished on the same principle ; and possibly a license 
' might be granted by the Customs authorities if the 
combination were sufficiently strong to guarantee, say, 
two hundred, or two hundred and fifty thousand 
chests. If the warehouse were not in a position to 
offer the facilities provided by the Tea Clearing House, 
there would be a difficulty with the tea trade; but 
this might be met by either purchasing or hiring one 
of the existing bon'deJ warehouses. If, in raising 
the requisite capital, the amount subscribed by each 
shareholder was appr'oximately in proportion to the 
quantity of te;i sent by him to the warehouse, the 
rates could be fixed on any scale, because it would be 
the same thing to the sliareholders whether they re- 
ceived the benefit of their co-operative working in the 
shape of low charge.", or as a return in the shape of 
profits. Companies selling their teas in Calcutta 
would, however, be unable to control the warehousing 
ot their produce cn arrival in London. Piiecantions 
similar to those taken on boardship to prevent contact 
with other produce have to be taken in the warehouses. 
This necessitates separate buildings; consequently a 
warehouse which could depend upon a full supply of 
tea would be at a considerable advantage compared 
with one which could only utilize a portion of its tea 
space and could get no return from the balance. For 
thlH reason the London Committee believed that some 
of the existing warehouses had difficulty in working 
to a profit. 
The question was considered by the Committee, 
' and the Secretary was directed to address the 
London Committee again in regard to its urging 
them to bring matters to a definite issue. In 
this letter attention was lo be drawn to the sug- 
gestion made in the General Committee's letter 
of 13th September that a scheme for establishing 
co operative warehouses should be formulated in 
35 
London, an enquiry was to be made as to whether 
It was proposed to devise such a scheme, and 
it was to be recommended that this should be done. 
The Secretary was also directed to v.'rite (in 
continuation of his letter No. 569-0. of 14th Sep- 
tember) to the twenty-six Calcutta tea com- 
panies nam.ed in the proceedings of the meeting 
held on the 15lh September. In this letter the 
remarks made in the letters from the London Com- 
mittee vere to be incorporated, and it was also 
to be stated that they were again being ad- 
dressecl on the subject in further reference to the 
establishment of co-ojierative warehouses. 
(h) Area of Tea under Cultivation.— ysliih his lettera 
of 22nd and 29th September and ISth October, Mr. 
Tye forwarded copies of correspondence between Mr. 
J B O'Conor, o I E, the Director-General of Statis- 
tics, Mr. A G Stanton of Messrs. Gow, Wilccn and 
Stanton, and himself in regard to the difficulty of obtain- 
ing accurate returns oi the area under tea in several 
districts in India. Mr. O'Conor drew special atten- 
tion to the case of Travancore. In that district the 
total area under tea was returned o-s 30,07o acres in 
1897, while in 1898 it was given as 19,634 acres. On 
the other hand the outturn was given in 1897 aa 
2,546,9131b. while in 1898 it was returned as 8,413,860 
lb. Mr. O'Conor also stated that 84 gardens in Assam 
had Vv'ithheld the information for which they were 
asked in connection with the matter. The London 
Committee suggested that the Association in Calcutta 
should give all the assistance possible to Mr. O'Conor 
in order to enable him to procure more reliable figures. 
The question was discussed, and it was pointed 
out that it liad engaged the attention of the Com- 
mittee in connection witii the Keport issued by the 
Director-General of Statistics on the 1st Novem- 
1898. Some correspondence had ensued between 
the Statistical Bureau and the Association, witli 
the result that it had been suggested to the 
Diiector-General, that if practicable, before pub- 
lishing the figures in his next report, he might 
place them before tlie Committee for verification. 
No reply had been received to this letter and it 
was accordingly decided to write to the Director- 
General of Statistics pointing this out ; and 
stating at the same time that the Committee 
would glad to do everything possible to procure more 
accurate returns. It was also to be suggested that 
tlie names oftha 84Assamgardensreferred to should 
be furnished, as it would be difficult for the 
Committee, without that information to take 
any steps in regard to them. 
The Secretary w'as also instructed to address 
the United Planters' Association of Southern India 
and the Planters'. Associations in Travancore, 
dravi-ing their attention to the mattter and lay- 
ing stress on the importance of reliable statis- 
tics being furnished to Government in all eases. 
The Chairman undertook to interview Mr. O'Co- 
nor in regard to the question. 
(c) Scientific Officer. — It was stated in the letter of 
13th October that the London Committee had again 
considered this question. In view of Mr. Kelway 
Bamber's re-engagement with the Ceylon Associa- 
tion, they asked for the views of the General Com- 
mittee as to whether a scientist should be selected in 
England. The Chairman of the Association in Lon- 
don had undertaken to make enquiries, and the ne- 
cessary arrangements would bs made by the Com- 
mittee there if desired. 
The matter was considered, and on reference 
being made to the replies received from the various 
local Associations to the Committee's Circular letter 
No. 31822 O of 12th June, it was seen that a ma- 
jority were in favour of the engagement of an 
agricultural chemist. 
