THF. TTJOPICAL AORICT'LTlT.IftT. [Sp.pt. 1, U 
DP, MORRIS, C.M.C;., AND MR. JOHN 
HUGHES ON THE WEST INDIES. 
INDIAN CURKENCY, AND CEYLON 
TEA. 
With Dr. Monis at Kew this afternoon (Ijtli 
June) I had a long convensation. Explaining the 
reasons for the 
AViiST INDIAN COMMLSSIOX 
to inquire into tlie disaslroiis cjntlitian of the.sugar 
trade, Dr; Morris stated that French Colonies 
send home their sugar to anj' French port where 
ic receives a bounty of £5 per ton ; thence it is 
sent over to the F.tij^liHh market and sold at the 
cost price of £10 per t)n. Eiiglisli Colonies re- 
ceive no bounty and therefore iiave practically 
to sell as-iainst Frenchmen at less than cost price. 
A rich mother-country, owing to her stubborn, 
and yet far from blameworthy, principles of free 
trade, thus allows a bounty-fed fore'gn supply of 
sugar to oust from the English market that 
sent homj by its owii colonies. Dr. Morris did 
not approve of the creation of a bounty sys'em 
of our o.vi), saeing that it te.ided to weaken the 
i idependeiice of i)!antei;s and led them to rely 
less u;) )n tlieir own resources. He would advo- 
cate very strongly, nevertheless, tii vt sonis assist- 
ance sliould be given in the ^Yest Indies to those 
Colonies, wiiicii have been ruinevl by the free-trade 
principles at lionie, in the sha-ie of loans at a 
inodjrate rate of interest to help them ))ut their 
estates in order and renew their michineiy. 
Even after this has bsen done, it seo>m5 to me 
that French sugar will still hold the Held in 
E'lgland, unless ibs quality is inferior to that 
of the Eag'isii and the charges for freiglit con- 
Riderably greater. The only resource of the 
West Indian i)lanters would seem to be to con- 
fine their supjilies to and develop those markets 
nearest to Mieui namely the Amciican and Cana- 
dian. It will be interesting to see what assist- 
ance Mr. Chamberlain will eventually ]iropose 
s'.iould be give"!, for he has already agreed that 
something shall be done for the West Indian sugar 
estates. 
With regard to 
THE CURRENCV 
Dr. Morris admired the wholly iustifiable energy 
with which the Ceylon Association had acted ia 
view of non-representationon the Indian Committee. 
JJut, he said, it would be unwise oa the part of Cey- 
lon planters to o.Tjr any opposition to the Indian 
Government when once ic had decided on the 
step vrhic'i to it seemeJ necessary — and this was 
evide.itly the fixing of the value of the rupee at 
Is 4d. if the whole question were looked at from a 
wider point ot view, the importance of Ceylon 
was sm lU compared with that of the dollar-using 
Colonies. The "almighty" coin which rarely 
fluctuated much from 43 21 in America, was there 
worth only 2< 3.1. Nevertliiless the injury that 
would result to Ceylon planters from the measure 
they fear, coupled with the recent fait in the 
prices of tea (now happily less marked^, would 
undoubtedly add to their difficulties. 
[It is what may shortly occur through British 
agencies, in the Yang-tse-kiang Valley in develop- 
ing properly grown and prepared teas, with tije 
dollar at 2s 3d or less, that brings a cloud over 
tUe prospect of the Indian and Ceylon tea planters 
and make'' them anxious about t ie Currency 
settlement.— Ed. T.A.] 
Mr. Hughes said the other day that it would 
be a point of interest to discover whether the 
DSiTKRIOrATIOS IS' TK.i 
of lale (of which he felt assured) w.as due 
to careless manufacture. or the affec'ion 
of the tea-bush by decay, or exhaust <»n 
of the soil. On lliis question Dr. Morris's views 
were as follows :— The tea plant was loo haidy 
to be ijuicWly atlected by any deterioration in the 
soil. The Utter w.as always a slow process, and 
seeing how short a time the industry had been 
established in the island it could even if iiscer- 
tained for a fact, whicli it is not, hardly account 
for the reported loss of quality in the manufac- 
tured tea. It was more probable tliat, an usual 
with all products that come to be ni inufadured 
on a large i^cale, less careful attention had been 
given to each of the various processes involve*.! 
in the w<»rk of the factory and the field. Com- 
jietition, in the sha))e of Companies, was largely 
answerable for the depreciation in the quality of 
the manufacture. Dr. Morris iccalled how in 
the days of hatid-mads teas, when tea was 3s OtI 
ner lb., he used to receive 21 b. packets from 
Mr. James Taylor of Lo3lecondera, and sent tlieiu 
to various people s wdi as Mr. Tliiseltcn Dyer, Sir 
Josei>h Hooker and I'l ofeisor Huxley. It usually led 
to their writing foi more ol the aiticle, ami in 
the ease of Sir Josepli Honker to the thiowing 
wp of China teis through preference for the 
Ceylon. IJut in these days unless the pristine 
excellence of teas exported from Ceylon were 
restored, their advance in ihi homemxrketo would 
be a slow anil tedious business. If tlie planters 
would strive rather to im|)rove the product than 
acjelerate its production, (he outlook for the lea 
industry was b^' no mean dis:ipjiouitiug. Visitors 
to Ceylon were struck with the vitality of the 
work going oa and the hop.'ful lo:»k ol the estate*--. 
Only the oMier day Dr. Morris had had a visit 
from Mr. Freeman Mitford, C.ii., lite M 1'. for 
South AVarwickshire, auil of Batsford I'ark, Glou- 
cestershire. While on a trip to Ceylon lecently, 
this gentleman gained so high an opinion of the 
prosperity of ))lantations he visited in Dikoya 
that, before he left the island, he had invested 
in a share of an estate at Hatton. Dr. Morris 
invited me to visit Kew again before I sail, 
and he would then show nie round nuny things 
of interest. K. H. F. 
« 
Card.vmom CL'f/nvATiOM IN Cevlon— is well- 
known to be very prosperous, where it does 
succeed, altlnugh a good many fields in unsuit- 
able districts have had to be given up. Rut can 
any cardamom planter beat this return cour- 
teously sent to us for our Handbook by a well- 
known Ceylon V A. :— a field of about 80 acres 
4 to 5 years old last season gave 480 lb. dry 
cardamoms i)er acre. At a gross return of 4s per 
lb. or £96 per acre, tiiis ought to pay well ! 
One hundred and-fifty-years ago, the Dutch had 
to get in )st of their cardamoms Irom the Hau- 
wella and Matara districts— is the cultivation 
quite given up there by the naiives ? Altogether 
we now get 5,1.53 acres planted with cardamoms 
on i)lantations, chiefly in the Medemahanuwara, 
lliugalla and Matale East districts with less in 
Nitre Cave, Knuckles, Kelebokka, Hewahette, 
Kurunegala and B.idulla Our last export of 
5t0,0i0 1b. should be added to as young fields 
come into bearing. 
