6^0 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Apbil 2, 1900. 
come the conservativism of the large Russian 
distributor?, as we had to do formerly willi tliose 
in Great Britain, thus brins;in,c; al'out a gradual 
transition from tiie use of China Tea to Uiat of 
Indian and Ceylon. The letaii f-ellino; iirices 
of Tea in many European countries are ii.erely 
caused by the fact of the very limited demand, and 
merchants there are lartjely of oiiinion that a 
reduction would not have ar.y niat.erial effect upon 
increasing; the consuniption, the latfer being a 
question of national taste. 
•' The whole of the Ceylon men are so cninpara- 
tively new to the Tea business, that Uiey wre con- 
tinually making discoveries of matters well- 
known to firms like my own, an I it is a uity that 
they do not allow themselves to li^' rather more 
influenced than tliey are by some of the previous 
traditions of the Tea trade. 
"I have not left nsyself much room to deal with 
your editorial of 26th October, and I would just 
say that the sendin^^ of Tea to otiier centres such 
as Manchester and Glas^'ow has been tried over 
and over again. I have had as much as 5,000 
chests in stock in bond in Glasgow at one tinie, 
but the pracciea conclusion I have come to is that 
you must have one ruling market, and unless you 
wish to suffer heavily by being at the mercy of a 
limited outlet of buyers, you must have your Tea 
available to offer in that ruling market." 
KEPLY. 
It will be seen that our correspondent does 
not require to use the prayer " Gie's a gude 
conceit o' one's self," in regard to some of 
his opinions. From a reply, written to him 
by us on board ship we quote : — 
" I have your long aiul interesting letter; but, I do 
not agree with you on several points. The way in 
which I have myseil seen the use of tea increase 
among the French (the least likely of people to 
be converted) gives me great hope for the whole 
Continent of Europe and the United States. In 
1878, the year I first visited Vichy, and saw a great 
deal of Paris and its people, under the auspices 
of a relative. Dr. MacCall, founder of the well- 
known Mission in Paris and other leading towns, 
when I enquired for tea, I was always referred to 
the " Pharmacy." I found a change for the better 
on my next stay in 1887 ; but now in 1899, there 
was not a grocer in Vichy (nor I may add in 
Paris) who did not hold tea ; and much more, 
not a caf6 or restaurant where they did not give it 
to you, if asked for, at any hour of the day : and 
still more, L saw French families of an evening 
frequently with the " tm pot and cups before 
them, in place of coffee or wine, at the restaurants. 
Then, as to the United States : can you tell me 
why the tea-drinkers from the United Kingdom, 
-who have gone by the 100,000 or 1,000,000 to the 
States, during the ))ast 50 or 60 years, have become 
coffee drinkers ? Simjily, because they could not 
get the beverage to which tliej were accustomed 
at home, or rather the quality of tea from which to 
brew it. I crossed the Pacific in ] 884, with the largest 
buyer of Japanese tea for the United States and he 
admitted that every pound was artificially 'faced' 
with deleterious stuff' to give it the required colour, 
and that it would be far better if his countrymen 
drank pure Ceylon tea ; but, he added, their taste 
won't change in tuy time (he was an oldish man) 
and 1 don't mind your using my opinion. Well, 
gradually, but surely, the Americans are being 
. won over to English breakfast tea : the figures 
show a steady increase, and if only there liad 
been no war tax on tea, the increase would have 
been greater. — You mistake iny argument in the 
circular letter as to Russia: M. de Witte, the 
Finaiifte Minister, has, for some years, been trying 
to improve the condition of the people by getting 
tliem to drink tea in |)lace of intoxicating drinks 
— lie has been opening tea-houses under official 
auspices, or directly encouraging others to do so. 
Now my point is, that with so heavy a. duty it is 
impossible for the bulk of the [leople to afford to 
hny gooil tea. The duty in Russia now is what 
it was in England when Queen Victoria came 
to the throne— 2/1 a lb. The English duty is 
now 4d ; but the revenue has lost nothing, but 
has rather benefitted. Now surely, for Russia to 
begin reducing graciually, should lead to the same 
result :— increased consumption and increased re- 
venue. As a matter of fact, Russia has a 
differential duty, in favour of 'overland' teas, 
which ?s not fair to tea sent through Odessa. 
[This has since been rectified.] As regards the 
burdens on tea in London— between ship and retailer 
— don't you think an Association of all tea pro- 
ducers is required to investigate and reform the 
matter thoroughly'' Tea seems to be placed at a 
great disadvantage as compared with coffee." 
WANTED A TEA-GROWERS' 
ASSOCIATION. 
LARGE breaks' DEPRECATED. 
.TOO ATI VE PROPOSAL TO ABOLISH 
BROKERS ! 
In regard to the closing remark in our 
last instalment, emphasizing the need 
of an Association of tea producers 
to watch over their interests, we have the 
following strong expression of opinion from 
another London merchant connected with 
Ceylon tea — an opinion which planters would 
do well to note and endeavour to act on: — 
"I think a Tea-growers' Association is badly 
wanted, and that if it were properly representa- 
tive of Indian ami Ceylon (British) tea-growers, 
it would be of much advantage to the industry. 
The mere fact that the growers had organized 
their forces would have a wholesome influence on 
the Docks' Committee and Buyers' Association. 
Nearly every industry has its Association to pro- 
tect its interests, and why not tea growiyig, as 
well as tea distributing and tea warehousing ? 
The one weak point, as regards growers, in the 
tea draft fight was that their forces were much 
of the ' undisciplined-mob' order." 
BIG BREAKS — WAREHOUSE CHARGES- 
ABOLISH BROKERv^. 
Finally, from a source whose identity for 
obvious reasons is not to be revealed, we 
have the following rather extraordinary 
if not amusing deliverance : — 
" Very large breaks are not a sood thing for tlie 
producer. They are only Avanted by the big 
brokers and buyers in London to save themselves 
trouble. Breaks of moderate size bring the best 
competition in Public Auction. 
"The warehouse charges will probably be at once 
reformed here, and there is another reform which 
I have jocularly suggested for many years, but 
I would on no account like my name to be as- 
sociated with it, because so many of the Tea 
Brokers are intimate personal friends. I con- 
sider that as business is conducted now-a-days, 
there is absolutely no need of either selling or 
