614 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 1 March 1, 1904. 
PASSARA PLANTEES' ASSOCIATION. 
Tea Pests. —A Sub-Committee was appointed on the 
subject, but fortunately there has been little for it 
to do. At its instance. Mr, Green, the Government 
Entomologist, attended a meeting of your Association 
and gave much valuable information as to preventing 
the spreading of shot-hola borer and other insect 
peats, when they appear. Shot-hole borer has, your 
Committee understands, been detected cn one or two 
estates in the district, the Superintendents of which 
are acting on Mr. Green's recommendation and 
trust the precautions taken will prevent its spread 
Your Association supported Mr Green's suggestion 
for legislation to prevent tea plants, &a, being sold 
from estates affected by Shot-hole borer, but it was 
not in favour of the burning or burying of prunings 
on affected estates being made compulsory. 
Tea Acreage and Crop. — The acreage under culti- 
vation is as follows : - 
1903. 1902, 
Tea in bearing . . 9,786 acres against 8,844 
Not do .. 655 do 1,357 
10,441 10,201 
An increase of 240 acres. The-estimate crop which 
includes 90,(100 lb green tea is 4,280,800 against 4,032,500 
or 437 lb per acre against 455. 
Rubber. — Your Committee are able to report that 
the planting of this product has been continued during 
the year, especially in the neighbourhood of Monara- 
gala, where the growfli of this tree is most encoura- 
ging ; but so few trees have as yet been tapped, that 
it is not possible to give any reliable data of what 
the yield per acre is likely to be. 
Cacao. — The cacao crop this year has not been a 
large one, though it blossoms freely. Your Committee 
hope that your Association will succeed in prevailing 
npon Government to send Messrs Bamber and Carra- 
thers, to visit the estates on Monarayala to advise 
the planters what can be done to bring about a larger 
pe centage of the blossoms setting, and your Com- 
mittee feel hopeful from the remarks made by some 
of the Scientific Staff, that the result of those gentle- 
men's visit will prove beneficial. The cacao is looking 
vigorous and the attacks of canker have not beensevere. 
(Signed), J, B. Cotton, Chairman. 
CEYLON IMPORT DUTY ON TEA. 
No 021409. Colonial Secretary's Oface, 
Colombo, 27th November, 1902. 
Sir, — Referring to the correspondence on the above 
subject ending with your letter of 9th May, 1903, I am 
directed by His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor 
to forward to you for the views of your Chamber the 
enclosed copy of a further letter received from Messrs 
Crosfield, Lampard & Company, together with a 
copy of an extract from a report thereon by the 
Principal Collector of Customs. I am at the 
same time to inform yon that Sir "Vi est Ridgeway 
was of the opinion that the proposal made 
by Messrs Crosfield, Lampard and Compfiny 
deserves very careful consideration, as the possible 
solution of what may prove to be a troublesome ques- 
tion.— I am, Sir, your obedient servant, (Signed) A G 
Clayton, for Colonial Secretary. 
The Secretary, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, 
Colombo. 
To His Excellency the Governor of Ceylon, Sir 
Jo3EPH West Ridgeway, g c m g. k c b, k c s i. 
lie granting a concession for blending in bond 
IN COLOMBO, 
Sir, — Referring to the correspondence dated Novem- 
ber 6lb, 1902. addressed to yon by our London Firm, 
Messrs. Harrison and Crosfield, on the above subject, 
we understand that no opposition would be offered by 
the Planting Community to the granting of Blending 
facilities in Colombo, if it were known that all that we 
ask is to have facilities granted simi ar to those now in 
existence in London, i.e. — To be allowed to import 
free of Duty, Indian and other growths of tea to be 
blended in a Warehouse of our own under the super- 
vision of a Customs Offtcial, returning to the Customs 
Authorities particulars of the constituent portions of 
the Blend exactly in the same way as we now do in 
London. And that when these teas are re-exported, 
the packages should be plainly maiked indicating dis- 
tinctly their contents. If your Excellency can lend us 
your support in this matter, we are convinced the 
result will be to the material benefit of the Colony 
as a whole. It will at once go a lone way towards 
removing the feeling of antagonism existing in the 
minds of Indian planters, who considered the present 
duty levied cn their product by a Sister Colony 
inconsistent with the general desire for closer relation- 
ship within the Empire, and it will tend towards 
making Colombo the largest tea-distributing point in 
the world. There is another strong reason for 
granting Blending facilities in Colombo, which 
has not been previously referred to, and that 
Ceylon, The large Foreign and Colonial trade which 
Ceylon Tea has today is much more largely due to the 
activity of the Thirty Committee in advertising its 
merits abroad, and the way its sale has been pushed 
by Colombo Merchants than to anything else. The 
merits of Indian tea are more generally acknowledged 
todiy than they have ever been in the past, and in 
many countries where a year or two ago the teas were 
practically unknown, todn-y they are preferred ii 
Ceylons. We ourselves still believe that as a beverage 
the best results are to be obtained by judiciously 
blending Ceylon and Indian tea together, but if the 
policy is continued of forcing buyers abroad to import 
the two growths separately, the superior keeping 
qualities of the Indian growths will become more 
generally manifest, resulting in their much increased 
use to the detriment of Ceylon. — We remain, &c., 
(Signed) Crosfield, Lampard & Co- 
lt is not possible to utilise any of the Government 
Warehouses for Blending operations. Vide my prede- 
cessor's letter No. 85 of I5th April, 1902, paragraph 3. 
2. I understand, however, thee Messrs Crosfield, 
Lampard & Co., propose to have their own Warehouse 
which would be a bonded Warehouse under Customs 
supervision. 
3, From a Customs point of view, I see 
no objection to the proposal. The Warehouse 
wonld be on the same footing as other existing 
bonded Warehouses outside the Customs premises. 
There would be two sets of keys, one in the possession 
of the firm, and the other of the Customs locker, 
without whose presence the Warehouse could not 
be opened. 
4'. Messrs. Crosfield, Lampard & Go. wjtild pay his 
salary and give security as in the case of other Pro- 
prietors of bonded Warehonses. They would be res- 
ponsible for the amount of tea removed from the 
Customs premises. Thus, if they imported 100,000 lb 
of Indian tea and conveyed it to their bonded 
Warehouse, they would have to account for 
that amount; A record would have to be kept of 
the quantity of imported and Ceylon tea taken into 
the bonded Warehouse, and .luty wonld have to be 
paid on any deficiency in the amount exported. 
6. It might perhaps be made a condition attached 
to the granting of a bonded Waraboase tor blending 
purposes, that only Indian tea should be im. 
ported for this purposes This would meet one of 
the main objections of the F.'anters that rubbishy 
China teas would be imported into Ceylon to be 
blended with a small quantity of Ceylon tea, and thus 
made saleable, possibly displacing a considerable 
amount of of pare Ceylon tea. 
