388 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. , [Dec. 1, 1903. 
A NEW TEA-BUYING FlKM IN COLOMBO. 
FOR BUSINESS WITH TURKEY. 
Russian tea businesses have been added to 
in Colombo one by one ; but we do not recall 
any case hitherto of a firm opening at this 
very central market for tea business with 
Turkey-and Turkey only, Mr. M. Landau, 
who has been in Colombo about six weeks, 
and has been accommodated so far with the 
Oriental Boat Company, iintil he secures a 
suitable office in the Fort, has been making 
preparations to get to work. He is a member 
of the, well-known firm of M. Landau and 
Sons, and has himself been stationed in 
Shanghai for four years where the firm 
handled about 10,000 lb, of tea monthly. Mr. 
Landau, who has come here with his family 
to settle down for good, has not yet been 
buying in the local market ; but hopes to 
commence before very long. He says there 
is considerable fondness for Ceylon tea in 
the Turkish dominions, and good prospects 
of its extension. The present high prices 
in Colombo, however, are not quite to our 
visitor's liking and it is the lower grades that 
will most probably suit Turkish requirements. 
The exports to Turkey up to October 17th this 
year are 21,588 lb. as against 30,608 lb. in 
1902. Next year should see these figures 
largely increased. M. Landau is a Swiss by 
birth, hailing from Geneva, but it is 20 
years since he saw his native country. We 
wish him all success in Ceylon. 
THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA. 
INTERESTING INTERVIEW WITH THE 
REV. J C HARRIS OF JOHANNESBURG. 
CONDITIONS OF LIFE IN THE NEW COLONIES 
—THE LABOUR QUESTION — FUTURE PRO- 
SPECTS, FOR SETTLERS AND OTHERS — 
LORD MILNER AND THE NEW COLONIAL 
SECRETARY. 
The Rev, J C Harris of Johannesburg, 
who has been 12 years in South Africa, has 
kindly accorded our representative an inter- 
view on affairs in that country. 
" How is the country settling ? " was the 
first question, 
" Things are settling down wonderfully, 
considering the great upheaval. As far as 
the Transvaal is concerned, the problem with 
most has not been settling down, but 
" settling up." Pre war debts, and war- 
time loans, rents for houses and shops 
which could not be occupied, over-due bills, 
deferred interest, &c., these and similar 
matters have kept the lawyers busy. But 
now matters are being re-£idjusted and 
people are getting on their feet again. The 
period since the declaration of Peace, has, 
however, been a very trying time. Business 
has been slow, the railways have been 
cramped by military requirements and 
money has been very " tight." Of course 
all these difficulties would have vanished 
before a " boom," but for various reasons 
the long-expected boom has not come off." 
TQE WANT OP LABOUR. 
" Why not?" 
"The chief reason is lack of labour. Many 
of the mines are still closed down, while 
the richer and larger ones which are work- 
ing are some of them employing less than 
half the " boys " they want, and (conse- 
quently the "output" is kept down, and 
development is retarded. The Labour Pro- 
blem is the crux of the wnole question. 
The mines must have native labour, and 
the Kaffirs do not seem to be available. A 
special Commission has now recommended 
the importation of Chinese labour, under 
certain restrictic ns. That report was practi- 
cally a forejjOne conclusion from the first " 
" Was there much opposition to the in- 
troduction of Chinese ? " 
" Yes, a very strong section of the commu- 
nity, including many of the tradesmen, 
and I suppose all Australasians most 
fiercely opposed it. They contend that this 
is only a d^dge of the capitalist houses 
to make higher dividends ; that Kaffirs 
can be got ; that the capitalists have re- 
fused to accept Kaffir labour when 
offered, and have "choked off " the Kaffirs 
by reducing their pay. And they point to 
the curse of the Chinaman in Australia and 
New Zealand. Some of the men have talked 
wildly about shooting the Chinese if they 
come. ' Is it for this we fought,' they ask ? 
' Did we suffer and did our kinsmen die, 
to hand this country over to the Jewish 
Speculator and the Heathen Chinee ? ' " 
CHANGE IN FEELING TOWARDS CHINESE. 
" And the other side ? " 
" Well, the other side contends that the 
country's progress is being retarded, that the 
mines are idle, all because we caunot get 
labour. They urge that with proper legisla- 
tion the Chinese peril can be averted or 
reduced to a minimum. Six months or so 
ago, Johannesburg was almost solid anti- 
Asiatic, but the growing dulness of trade 
consequent on the deadness of the Share- 
market, pi?oduced a wonderful change. And 
if trade is bad, and money slack, other con- 
siderations disappear. Most men do net come 
to the Transvaal for Health, or Religion, 
but for Money, and most of the mine owners 
and mineworkers alike would get labour 
from the Bottomless Pit, if they could and 
if they felt it would make things "boom." 
THE FUTURK. 
"But what of the future of the country?" 
"I fear that consideration does not enter 
very much into the minds of very many of the 
British people there. Patriotism pales before 
Pocket, because only a small proportion of 
the people mean to stay in the country. As 
soon as they have "made their pile" they 
mean to clear out. I speak, of course, of the 
mass of the miners in the TransvaaL Indeed, 
at present they are not to be blamed ; for the 
cost of living is so great that a married man 
cannot live there unless he has a big salary. 
You can quite see the political peril which 
faces us. Not alone from Bond intrigue, 
nor chiefly from the lingering enmities of the 
war, hut chiefly our menace lies in the lack 
of public spirit and the political inertness of 
the British themselves." 
"And the Dutch?" ' 
" This does not apply to them in the same 
