Oct. 1, 1898.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 259 
Black Sea ports ; 446 lo Englaud ; 47 to Spain ; 
92 to Switzerlaul ; ami tlie i cmaiiuler to other 
places. At tlie close of 1S94, the priiicipi! depots 
had ill hond, the fo'.lowing quantities. Paris 351 
tons; Marseilles 165; Havre 16J; JJordeau.x 9; 
the re-t in other Custoriis Stores, At tlie same 
date there were 121 tons of tea in transit , chiefly 
for Swit/.i^rhiud, Italy, and .Spain ; of this (:otal, 
45 tons were from Enjjlish stocks. 
Tiie preseia import dnty oti tea is 3 fr. 5 cen- 
times |>er kilogramme ; say Is lid. per lb. It is 
free of octroi dues at Paris.' In ISOti, Napoleon I. 
decreed the import dnty on tea at 3 francs 
the kilogramme, nearly it.s present rate ; in 
]810, he raised it to 9 franc?. In 1814, after 
the Kestoration, the duty was lowered to 
3 francs, with fractional differences in favour 
of tea imported in French bottoms. In 182S, 
in order to encourage direct commercial re- 
lations with China, the French Government 
reduced the duly to Ih fr. \>ev lb., it caiiied in 
Fh-ench ships, but if transported by foreign bottoms 
and the tea. of other oricnn but Chinese, the 
duty wa.s 6 francs. English tea agencies con- 
tinue to be established in Paris, evidence that 
business is to he done. Some have shops, that 
deal also in coffee, others vend liqueurs and very 
many supply tea made by the cop. By the bye, 
in l(jii9, te.i'in England was "brewed" and so sold ; 
farther it; was taxed eight pence par gallon. The 
larger agencies have simply offices, employ local 
travellers, and inundate the public witli circulars. 
It must be a keen competition. The lowest 
jn-ice, for the lowest; grade of tea, is 2 fr. 40cen- 
tinics. The scale of prices is tlien graduated up 
to 10 and 12 francs per lb. About 6 to 7 francs 
per lb. is the average price paid by the niiddle 
class consumer. The members of the English 
colony in Paris generally club and order a chest 
of tea from London or Liverpool, ami subdivide 
as agreed upon. French grocers who sell tea, 
now'llo so invariably in packets varying from one 
quarter of a pound 'to one pound, they are not 
eiuipped to sell it direct from rhe canister, they 
have no scoop scales to commence with. The 
quality whiidi French grocers imsh is Souchong 
vhich' sells at 6 francs iier lb. Tea pos.sesscs the 
seduction that once tasted, the initiated likes to 
return to the temptation. But the masses are 
strangers to tea in France ; they can buy their 
favourite one pound of coffee roasted for a little 
over 2 francs, while the most superior colfee costs 
3 fr. 50 centimes per lb. These quotations are 
to be pitted against "fcea-dust" which costs 2 
fr. 50 centimes, and Souchong 6 fr. per lb. Therein 
lies the whole problem of the French tea trade. 
Ttie French Colonies produce no tea- Duiing 
the iVS'J Exhibition, a real John Chinaman, but 
evidently " smart," opened a pagoda-shop, in the 
Rue des' nations. France was then deeply_ inter- 
ested in her Congo colony. The CelesLial im- 
proved the occasion, he displayed on hi.s sign board 
an appTial to the French, to support their Colonies, 
and try his celebrated " Congo" lea. He made 
money. Mr. l-elcvre Pontali.s, who was a mem- 
ber (if the Pavia Mis-ion in lS9l)-91 has studied 
the hill-slopes lound the Delta of Tonkin, and 
pronounces them to be a region suitable for the 
culture of tea, as practised in Java, and Ceylon. 
Already, it produces a coarse tea, much in de- 
mand by the natives. There is an excellent tea, 
patroni/.uil by the Chinese residents, sold in Tonkin, 
that urows 'ill the vicinity of the rivers Noire 
and Mukong. Tlie Ipang l)rand is much in re- 
el uest. Tlnj tea imporliid from Cantoa aud io- 
kiew, arrives in the junks by tlie Red River. It 
is in the form of gnldtcs, or cakes wrapped np 
in dry banana leaves ; it is tea coagulated by 
va))our. The cakes are enclosed in packets of 
seven, and twelve paqucts or 84 cakes net 10 pia- 
stres or 40 to 50 francs. 'I'hese jiackages are 
stored in Hanoi, and other large towns in Tonkin. 
There is also another form of coagulated tea sold 
in " Cubes," 150 of the latter cost 12 piastres. 
M. Pontalis recommends to purchase Ipmg teas, 
where they are grown, and to sell them very dear 
at Hanoi, the Chinese v.'ould arrive to buy them, 
and Hanoi w(nild thus become an important centre 
for the Indo-China lea trade. 
THE FUTURE OF TEA IN CEYLON. 
A planter of much experience and who, as 
Inspector of estates, travels a great deal over the 
country, remiiuls us of a possible result of better 
prices and low exchange which is apt to be 
forgotten. He writes: — • 
'' I do not at all share the hope that exchange 
will go down and prices of tea advance ; for if either 
the one or the other were to hapi)en, it would lead to 
further planting and wc should be no better off. I 
would rather see things remain as they are until 
the flow of capital has been diverted into other 
channels ; ond once this hap|)ens it will take 
some time to bring it back again. Then, our 
Ceylon tea prospects will improve. 
" The doctrine that Ceylon tea has deteriorated, 
1 regard as a most dangerous one, as likely to 
still further cheapen (mr produce and give it a 
bad name, which, of course, all should try and 
avoid. Nor do I believe that there are any 
good grounds for thinking that Ceylon lea is 
any worse than it was. The yield on a great 
number of estates has no doubt increased, and 
quality suffers as a mailer of course if a niaxi- 
inum output is secured ; but this is not detciior- 
aiion as I understand the term." 
This puts the mailer in a very ])ractical light as 
regards the danger attending further extensions 
of tea planting, and certainly the larger the 
jjresent area under tea in India and Ceylon 
is found to be, the stronger, surely, the 
discouragancnt to further "planting. This is a 
view which may well be commended to the 
attention of certain short-sighted critics. Again, 
our correspondent's deliverance against the theory 
of " deterioration," preached chieliy in Mincing 
Lane, is compatible with the fact that increased 
crops and insufficient withering room or <lchcient 
power for macliineiy must inevitably mean unsatis- 
factory preparation and inferior tea. Ic must be 
very easy for each proprietor to find out whether 
his factory and arrangements are np to the 
proper standard, and, it not, improvement in 
that direction should be the lirsC object kept 
in view. Especially may this be pressed on any 
who are anxious to add, less or more to their 
planted acreage: are they doing full justice to 
what they have already planted, should be the 
hrst question. 
WANARAJAH TEA COMPANY. 
The sixth ordinary general meeting of the Wana- 
rajah Tea Company of Ceylon. Ltd., was held on 
the 26th Aug. in the offices of the Agents and Secre- 
taries, Messrs. Baker and Hall. Mr. A. Cantlay 
i;('cupied the chair and the otiicrs ])resent were : — 
A'cs.sr-!. J. W. Vanderstraaten, J. F. Baker, F. 
\V. Burt, Keith Rollo, 11. Creasy, and J. Pater- 
sou, Those represented by proxy were Mrs. J, 
