.562 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Feb. 1, 1900. 
the conditions imposed ; to ask, in fact, for such 
f?uarantees as may ensure good faith. The 
Ceylon Government h;is had a good deaL ui 
experience now of land "grants" and 
"leases," and must he well able to protect 
the Crown and the ])ubUc. But, in the 
present instance, we confess we can 
see no room for susijicion or donbt. 
Sir John liamsden, Bart,, and his fellow- 
directors are known to be wtalthy and en- 
terprising ca])italists. and they have ample 
reason to trust the judgment of tlieir Agent 
and Manager, Mr. Turner, with his te7i 
years' experience of I^^nang, in addition to 
a long spell in Britisli Guiana. Should 
the answer of the Ceyhni authorities to Mr, 
Turner's letter of enquiry be satisfactory, it- 
is his intention to send over a comjietent 
member of his staff (they number 88 Euro- 
peans in all) during March, to traverse the 
Tamankaduwa and Trincomalee disti'icts 
examine the soil, drainage, river— if navi- 
gable, &c., and make all other possible 
observations to help to a decision. Mr. 
Turner himself Avoiild then fohow in 
August— the driest, hottest montli of the 
year in the North-East— in order to see for 
himself how matters look at tiieir worst. A 
final decision will then be arrived at, and 
the land be taken up, or else the scheme be 
abandoned. 
The revival of profitable Sugar Cultivation 
in British Dependencies of late years is 
very noteworthy. Even in British Guiana, 
and yet tliere are many plantations 
abandoned that were once tionrishing, 
there are others still paying their way, 
although the produce realizes uoav only 
£10, in place of £3o, a ton. The latter 
marks the day when it used to be said 
that "a sugar estate maintained six car- 
riages and pairs " of merchants and agents, 
apart fi'om proprietor and manager ! Mr. 
Turner passecl through the days of adversity 
when the screw was applied all i^ound salaries 
cut down, and a course of rigid economy adop- 
ted. And looking around him while in Ceylon, 
he told us he could not help thinking "that, 
judging by the prevalent tone, there was still 
room for economy, for closer attention to 
supervision and to outgoings in all their detail, 
in regard to work on, at least, 
some of our tea plantations. In Penang, as we 
have already mentioned, it is reckoned that 
the return from two tons of sugar per acre 
is as good as from estates yielding three or 
four tons in Java. Of course, one great at- 
traction to his Company, in thinking of 
taking up land in Ceylon, would be a cheap 
and abundant labour supply. We have 
pointed out to him, however, that 
our tea planters would be up in arms 
if their cooly districts were interfered 
with ; but that he ought to have the 
full support of both tiie Ceylon and Indian 
Governments, if he applied for the transfer 
of a large number of labourers from 
points adjacent to the famine dis- 
tricts in India, to a country and climate 
so like their own as that of North-East 
Ceylon. He and his staff would also be very 
glad to utilise any local labour of Sinhalese 
or Moormen, giving them land and advances 
on easy terms, in order to grow canes in 
their gardens, for which there would be a 
ready purchase at the Central Factory. We 
have said enougli to show that Mr. Turner 
and his C(jmpany are in earnest in approach- 
ing the Ceylon Government ; that there is 
much reason for encouraging any well- 
considered proi)osal to open up unoccupied 
territory in North-East Ceylon ; and that 
the addition of successful sugar-growing on 
a large scale to our list of agricultural in- 
dustries, could not fail to benefit the native 
comnnmity and general revenue. Fortun- 
ately, the Governor has at this juncture an 
adviser in Sir Edward Walker who is very 
familiar with the subject of Sugar Cultiva- 
tion in the West Indies and Guiana, and 
Vv'ho will be able, therefore, to see that Mr. 
Turner and his Company are dealt with 
prudently as well as generously and with a due 
regard to all the interests at stake. 
INDIAN COMMON TEAS. 
HOW TO PUSH A SALE IN THE 
COUNTRY. 
The field which ia open to pushing ouc common 
Indian teas tliioughout the country is one which 
might engage the attention of the Tea Association. 
It is many years since we advocated this, and as yet 
no steps have been taken beyond tlie Indian Supply 
Tea Company. The progress of the Company has been 
but slow, but last year's report reads as if it was 
coming on a bit now, and we hope it may. There are 
of course a great many difficulties to face, but we 
believe, if vigorously poshed, there is money in it. A 
few years ago, we suggested asking the different inland 
river companies to allow their staff to undertake the 
sale on the steamers on commission, and we have 
do doubt but that they could be approached with 
successs on the subject, and we commend the idea 
to the Indian Tea Supply Company. It seems 
rather a disgrace to our mercantile jush that 
nothing but Lipton's Ceylon tea can be obtained 
to drink on board those inland steamers. Here 
are the tea-planters, almost the backbone of the 
India General Steam Navigation and River 
Steam Navigation Companies, being ousted in 
the matter of snpplying tea to drink at their 
very doors. Who is accountable for this ? In 
addition to this, why are not teashops opened at 
the gates of the large jute mills ? The jute coolies 
is by no means above wanting his morning cup of 
tea, as might be seen by any one walking out in 
the morning in the vicinity of our very oldest jute 
factories ; but it is not general, although it ought 
to be. We suppose it is the old story, what is so 
many peoples' business is no one's in particular. On 
our great Indian railways -we understand a good 
deal of revenue is derived from selling the right to 
deal in sweetmeats, pan, &c- Why should not tea be 
treated in the same way ? How much better for 
the traveller to have a cup of tea in the hot wea- 
ther to quench the thirst than water, which, to say 
the least, looks far from clean, and the look of 
which, at any rate, viewed from an European stan- 
dard, is revolting. We feel certain that many an out- 
break of cholera would be prevented were the sys- 
tem put on its trial. Water, however dirty, is loo- 
ked upon as safe to drink if it has been boiled, and 
we think that our idea might comme» d itself to a 
Government striving after sanitation. The amount of 
tea that is annually stolen fiom factories (the amo- 
unt it is difficult even to estimate) shows that the na- 
tive is by no means avers to the cherry cup, and 
if this is the case, howmuch more go is it in the 
North-West, Tirhoot, and Behar. The writer of 
this in the Behar Famine of 1875, had occasion lo tra. 
