May 1, 1899.] THE TEOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
767 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
We give prominence to the t'ollov>'ing cir- 
cular letter from Mr. Piaeo to the tea 
planters of the island interested in the dis- 
posal of their Cess Fund : — 
IN EE aiE. MACKENZIE'S MISSION. 
To THii Tea Planters of Ceylon. 
Gentlemen,— 
In some quarters it is rumoured that this gentle- 
man's ertorts are deemed unsatisfactory, and that, 
in consequence, the campaian in the United 
States should be discontinued! 
In prosecuting your claims for recognition in 
the markets of the United States, you have al- 
ready made two fatal blunders ; and it is your 
bounden duty to avoid making another. Who 
among you is in a position to measure, or to 
accurately forecast, the results of his efforts ? Do 
you fully realise the stupendous opposition, diffi- 
culties, and prejudices that he has encountered 
and contended with? Are you thoroughly fami- 
liar with American methods and tlie difficulties 
attendant upon introducing a product that is not 
"wanted by the trade ? Have you ever considered 
the position of the wholesale dealer in tea, in his 
relation to your sta])le? Has he not got an es- 
tablished busincss-that gives him fair returns; and, 
would it not be suicidal to relinquish or change 
it, in order to handle and create a demand for 
an article that there is no sale for ? 
Have you succeeded in educating the Russians 
up to that point where they like and will have 
your tea? Whose business is it to impart this 
education ? 
Look at these questions in a spirit of fairness 
and equity, and then say— on Vthose shoulders 
the burden of making your staple known and 
creating a demand for it must rest? Has your 
experience of advertising, as it is conducted in 
the United States, been of a character that will 
enable you to determine its success or failure, 
or when to discontinue it; or the best methods 
to adopt in pursuing it? Do you know what the 
experience of the American successful advertiser 
has taught him, and what he now completely, 
wholly, and thoroughly believes in? Are you 
able to determine the result of a discontinuance 
of the campaign in the United States? 
The foregoing mav, in your estimation, possibly, 
be worthy of consifleration? 
My reason for coming before you — once more — 
is to have you pause in order to weigh the matter 
in all its bearings, and, before coming to a de- 
termination to di.'icontinue Mr. Mackenzie's mis- 
sion, to consider what ell'ect such a measure 
would have on the /W/?nv' prospects of Ceylon tea 
in the United Stales of America. — I remain now, 
as I ever have l)een, your humlile, faithful servant, 
R. E. PINEO. 
We sljo\ikl have liked Mr. Pineo to have 
indulged rather less in general statement 
and to have ail'orded a little more practical 
information on a subject with which he 
must be familiar. As it stands we do not 
know that his letter will he of iiinch help 
to the tea planteis or to the ''Tliii-ty Com- 
mittee." A\'hat we should like lo know is 
whether Mr. PiutM) thinks that private sub- 
sidies to certain American tea iirms should 
be continued Iw yond the piesent year, e\en 
in retm'u l'(n' advertising vouchers, while 
other large tea iii'iiis— such as Tetley's — do 
their advertising both of Ceylon and Indian 
teas without troubling th(> (.'ess h'ur.d 
Secondly, has the lime not conu' for enter- 
ing into direct advei'tising contracts in 
favour of Ceylon teas only and friiniing s\u'h 
notices so as to benefit all who may 
choose to hold sncli teas'^ It is on 
joints such as these ' that we should 
ike to have information at this time. If 
the policy of private and partial subsidies is 
to be coutinuetl, we can quite see that the 
Thirty Comniittee " umst continue to have 
its Agent or C'ounnissioner on the spot, to 
transact the necessary business and to wjitch 
over its interests; hut if the expenditure 
were now confined to advertising contracts in 
the best available media, we think it possible 
that, after a series of these wei'e concluded 
stamped and delivered, the "Thirty Com- 
mittee " could thereafter do its own Ibusi- 
ne.ss with America. We have, however, 
for ourselves, arrived at no positive 
conclusion on the subject. We Avant 
" more light " ; but we confess that Mr. 
Pmeo does not do nuich to enlighten us 
in his letter today. Perhaps the first practical 
step should be to ask Mr. Mackenzie him- 
self for a special Report on "the situation" 
as he regards it, now that his colleague Mr 
Blechynden seems to he retiring. In this 
Report the Commissioner would no doubt 
give a sketch of the policy he w ould propose 
for the immediate future and his reasons for 
its adoption or continuance. No one in 
Ceylon, we believe, has meditated a change in 
present arrangements before the end of 1899. 
MR A. E. WRIGHT BACK YVMll THE 
STRAITS. 
Mr. A. E. Wright returned by the ss. 
' Caledonien" recently, ^after a month's 
absence, during which he visited Singapore 
and thence passed to Kwala Lampnr 
and Kwala Selangor, in which latter dis- 
trict he left his son (Mr. Alfred C 
Wright) in charge of his Tilok Pel estate! 
a coconut and rubl)er plantation. There are 
half-a-dozen jilanters (including Messrs. Tanner 
and Tollemache) there enga^red in coffee 
coconuts and rubber, the district being 
about a mile from the sea (always 
cool) on flat land, with rich soil. Coffee pros- 
pects are not brilliant and a good deal 
has been abandoned even by Ceylon men ; 
hut coconuts are very promising.' A Coco- 
nut Oil Factory has been started; hut, so 
far, enough of palms are not in bearing to 
keep it 111 full work. The i2Towth of the 
coco-palm in some of the native gardens 
IS very fine, as might be expected from the 
exceptionally rich soil and abundance of 
moisture. 
TEA CONSUMPTION IN RUSSIA. 
About the middle of last year we showed, 
on the authority of ;i Shnr-hai lYade Coin- 
imttee's Report, that Russia (in Europe and 
Asia) must altogether be importing (and 
consuming) 110 million lb. of tea in jdace of 
the 92 million lb. (of consumption) given 
oliieially to Mr. T. N. Cliri.stie when be visited 
Rus-sia. In a local paper "Times" we have tho 
following paragragh : — 
UUSSIa's AXNUAL tea IMl'OHT. 
SAIU TO AMOVST TO l-10,(M)(),0tX) I'Or.XDS. 
By the courtesy of Messrs. Stclierl.atchofVTiho- 
koH' & Co., we are now in a jjosiiion togivethe 
junount of llio Russian tea imiiorls for tlu- pa.st 
tlu-ee years, as set forth in Ch i iiri/ Vrrslinch, 
a weekly niai Ket paper ))ul)lislu'd in' St. J'etei-s- 
buig. lOxchuling brick tca.tlie amounts were given 
us as follows :— Ibas, 5-l,tHJO,000 lbs. ; I8U7, 5O,UOi),0lX) 
