246 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct. 1, Ib^t^. 
nor all that it was hope3 it would have doue, it had 
Sliil bceu of somf- use, aud h-; thought that by 
degrees it would gain a larger and gieater import- 
ance in the eyes of the public. The feeling of those 
who had conducted the woik of the Association for 
yetiis past was th;ii it was time almost for souib of 
them to stand by, an i to allow new aud younger 
blood to come in with fi'esheL' ideas. 
Mr. J. 1<). Stuart seconded the resolntioii, and 
speaking with regard to the Currency Committee, 
(!fec., said that unfortunately the committee was unable 
*■) take any evidence from the Indian repreBentatives 
this month, but tlio Indian representatives hoped 
that they might be heard in October. The point 
that he had eimoavourcd to put forward in the memo- 
r.indum he had sent in to the committee was that 
they could not e.xpect to tiet any great benefit 
from a low exchange, but thit unless they were 
put on a footj.jg with other Bilvor-using 
countrieii such as China, they would be severely 
handicappf.d in opening ou: foreign markets. 
A low exchange wjuld of course have the effect 
of reducing the cost of tea to tliemselve-i, but 
on the other hand it would have the effect of 
opening out new tea to a still greater extent than 
had already been dune, and that would be a very seri- 
ous matter to tlie existing tta gardens. A letter iu 
the Calcutta EmjUslinian of July 7 pointed that there 
were only two ways of meeting the difficultien before 
tea growers arising from the large supphes of tea — 
one by the curtailing of supplies, and the other by 
the opening out of new markets. As regarded the 
curtailing of supplies, all connected with Indian tea 
were not lilcely to agree to reduce their output aud 
to stop extensions. Ho noticed from the report of 
two large coiuptnics that during the years 18ll7-'.)8 
they hat" put out or had contemplated putting out 
over 10,000 acres of tea, and if people would keep on 
extending to this enormous extent the markets could 
not hope for any relief. As regarded the open- 
ing out of new markets there were certain 
suggestions made in the latter of the Cali-.uHn EtujUsh- 
man which would no doubt be considered by alT con- 
nected with the tea trade. One of them was as to 
the consumption in India itself, a very important 
fact being that 7,000,000 lb. of China and Ceylon tea 
are imported into India and consumed t!)ere. There 
were no doubt many present who had endeavoured 
to dispose off — tea among the natives of India, and the 
great difficulty they had always met with wa'; how 
to sell it to them cheap enough, for although the 
natives were very glad to drmk tea if it was given 
to them, they did not like to have to buy it. Within 
the last year or two (as the article pointed out), 
although the individual quantities of tea sold were 
small, the aggregate consumption had been increasing, 
A good many of the members of the Association 
once invested in the Indian Tea Supply Company, 
which had a capital of one lac of rnpees. That com- 
pany went ou losing money every year, but had 
S.'jjOOO rupees still to lose in its mission tor the ciis- 
pusal of Indian tea to the native s, and if they could 
replace the 7,000,000 lb. of tea imported from China 
and Ceylon by Indian tea, that would be a )me help. 
With regard to Russia, they would, perhaps, have 
noticed in Messrs. Gow, Wilson, and .Stanton's 
circular that the dii'ect exports from Colombo 
to Rttssia had increased from 178,000 lb. last year to 
1,198,000 lb. during the first six mouths of the pre- 
sent year. This was an increase which they would 
do well to follow up if they could sec their way. 
Ano her suggestion was that Thibet might be opened 
out. In 'that country brick tea was used, and the 
Calcutl&, Enriliihmfni quoted tho opinion of one 
travellor to tho effect that it vras nearly all brick 
and very little tea ; still, the consumption woiiLi help 
the trade in disposing of some of their lowest quanti- 
ties, if tho country could be opened out. Five or 
six years ago, when ho was in Calcutta, he was con- 
sulted by the Government with reference to a treaty 
which w.as then being made with China for the open- 
ing out of Thibet, and it was finally agreed that for 
frve years the Government of India would not press 
i 
for the Import of Indian lea into Thibet, but tlia.t at 
the end of t.hat time they Bhould be free to 
send tci into that country. The attentioD of 
the Caxiiltd Afcsocialiou bboula be ca,lled to ihe 
fact that that time had now about sriived. They 
wanted, of course, also to opea marketa in otlier parts 
of tho vioild, foi wliile Ceyluu esportrd 20 per cent, 
of her p.ofliice to foi oign co'untrits India only exncrled 
10 per cent. If they could establish the " open noor • 
w;ith BurroandiUK couulrifts and press forward ext«D- 
sions as sKccessfully as was being done by the uiiHsioii 
which was noft being directed to America, they mixbt 
by degrees carry through that very important part 
of their work, which consisted ia opening out of new 
markets. 
THE U6t OF Mt'l.ll. CHLal'S. 
Mr. Lcckie asked if the Association had got any 
further with tiie steamship owners io the luitler of 
tho metal cheats, 
The Cuai.mau said they had hiard nothing more 
about 11. but the Absociation was quite prepared lo 
maintain the richts of any members of the Asso- 
ciation to use the meial chests. 
The Secretary ; that the Association had protested 
against the assumed right of the shipowners to 
decline to pay ullage ou metal chests, and the ship- 
owners had never replied to the protest. 
Mr. Leckie : Uow do we stand in the matter of 
ullaee ? 
The Chairman said they were waiting until a 
specific case came up before taking action. 
Mr. Leckie said that when he saw Mr. Westray 
some time back, that gentleman explained that the 
difficulty with the ship owners was that they were 
afraid that there were a great many claims held 
back, and that if they met any claims th»ir posi- 
tion would be very much prejudiced in the future 
The Chairman said he understood that the ship- 
owners were finding that the use of metal chests did 
not increase their liabilities at ai!. The Association 
had told the shipowners that they conld not accept 
their view, and they were now waiting until the 
question was farther raised. 
Mr. Leckie said that his own claims were trifling 
amounting to only 301 lb. on l,0'.ts,582 lb. Therefore 
so far as he was coucernod, as be had told Mr' 
Westr.ay, the pretension put forward by the shipowners 
was a monstrous one. The position of the Association 
should be positively dtfitied. 
Mr. Wallace said that if Mr. Leckie would send in 
his claim to the committee of the Association thev 
would go into it. ' 
CROP ESTIMATES.— THE OPEXIKG OUT OF THE HU8S1AN 
MARKET. 
Mr. Seton called attention to the report of 
crop estimates, which he believed was occupy- 
ing the attention of a good many members of 
the Association both here and on the other 
side, and asked the Chairman to state what 
were the ideas of the committee with regard to the 
future. There was an idea that the original estimate 
which was wired home was rather a useless thing 
and It had been suggested that it would be a good 
thing if the Association in Calcutta were to revise 
the estimates received from the managers and com- 
municate a reliable estimate to the Association here 
somewhere about the month of August. With reward 
to the opening out of new markets in Russia, it was 
stated in the report that the committee propased to 
devote a certain proportion of their surplus funds to 
that purpose. For a great many years he had ven- 
tured to urge that this Association should devote 
more of its large funds to the development of Eus'^ia 
which he regarded as an equally important market 
with America, if not more so. 
The Chairman said that with regard to the esti- 
mates of the crnps it hf>d been resolved that with 
a view to ensuring greater accuracy, the Indian Tea 
Association should arrange to procure special estima- 
tes from managers, to be submitted by the end of 
June, aud published immediately afterwards, and that 
no estimate should be published before that time 
