April 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. 
677 
industry is outvSide the scope of the Society. 
Nevertheless, it is practically settled that there 
will be an additional section of the show of this 
nature not perhaps strictly under the Society's 
auspices. 
The accounts for last year showad that the 
Heneratgoda show cost the Society R2,, 303 .35, of 
which R2,2o0 was contributed by the residents and 
K5.3 was paid by the Society. After the 
meeting most of those present inspected the 
stock garden from which the schools are 
supplied with plants and seeds for their gardens. 
DO CEYLON GREENS SOUR? 
A FACT. 
American Buyer on the Prowl.— Why 
do Ceylon planters and merchants damage 
the reputation of Ceylon green tea by ship- 
ping to United States a large proportion of 
stuff which is more or less sour when it 
reaches its destination ? They are ruining 
the prospect of future business, instead of 
gaining a firm footing in what might be a 
splendid market. 
Colombo Innocent. — Can you explain, if 
your view is correct, why Colombo merchants 
have made contracts to purchase whole crops 
of estate greens, this year, at 38 cents to 
40 cents averages, rates which have never 
hitherto been touched ? 
American Buyer.— Yes, I guess I can ex- 
plain easily, 
Colombo Innocent.— What is the reason ? 
American Buykr.— A set of d-d fools. 
Don't know their business. They will burn 
their fingers. — Cor. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
JAPAN TEA IN AiVrERICA. 
" The immediate effect of the outbreak of war 
between Russia and Japan has been to stimulate 
baying in Japans,'" sa) s the Canadian Grocer of 
February 12. " Offers were accepted on Monday 
that were scorned on Suturday. There is a general 
firmness here, and advancing prices in New York and 
Chicago. The future is causing considerable speculation. 
The fact, thaL Japans are already very high here is 
thought by some to preclude the possibility of any 
considerable further advance, and this might be 
regarded as conclusive were it not for the fact that 
Japans occupy a very considerable place in the United 
States. Speculation is more rife there, and considerable 
advances are not unlikely. It follows, therefore, that 
there being no duty on Japans entering the United 
States from Canada any advance across the line must be 
reflected in our market, as holders would find it profi- 
table to sell to American buyers. The extent to which 
the effect of the war has already been discounted 
is also a factor which must be considered. Should 
Japan be seriously menaced by Russia there is little 
doubt that the United States markets would witness a 
very material advance in Japans, but, from the opening 
indications, such an outcome is not at all probable. 
Looking at the situation from all sides, therefore, it 
would not appear that conditions warranted any 
alarming advance in Japan tea at present. Should 
the war be prolonged, and workmen withdrawn from 
the tea gardens to such an extent as to prevent the 
proper care of the next crop, that would be another 
matter." 
TEA TAX AND THE PLANTER. 
We printed recently some remarks of the Pall Mall 
Gazette which preceded the publication of Mr J L Den- 
sham's letter to the " Englishman," These comments 
of the Pa// Mall GaMtc have since called forth a letter 
from Mr A Gordon Dicksoa, of 52, Grace Church, 
f^treet, who writes to that jouraal as follows ;— " The 
jT llicaticn afMr J Lane Densham's letter on thia 
subject in your yesterday's issue comes at an oppor- 
tune moment. The present is undoubtedly the time to 
bring prominently before the heads of the Government 
the unsatisfactory position of this British industry, 
which is, in a large measure, due to the rising of the 
duty (as a war tax) from 4d to 6d per lb. Your remarks 
which preceded Mr Densham's letter are entirely from 
the point of view of the consumer, and the poor planter 
and estate proprietor does not seem to enter into your 
consideration of the question. You state the tea duty 
is undoubtedly the moat ideal item of indirect taxation 
we possess, and it is impossible to raise the same 
amount of money by any method that would be lesa 
felt by the consumer. Yes ; this is quite right. Every 
one in the tea industry is agreed that it is the impor- 
ters and producers that have paid this extra tax, and 
not the consumer. For the sixteen years previous to 
1900 the consumption of tea in this country increased 
at the rate of 4| million lb each year. In the last three 
years consumption has been practically stationary. 
The followirg are the figures :— 1901, 255,900,000 lb ; 
1902, 254,500,000 lb ; 1903, 2.55,400,000 lb. The natural 
increase in consumption for these three years should 
be at the rate of 4,000,000 lb, but instead of showing 
an increase in 1903, the figures show a slight falling-off 
from 1901, Another grievance of the poor tea grower 
is the increasing quantity of China tea which is finding 
its way into this country. This has not, perhaps, any 
direct bearing on the question of a reduction in the 
present duty, but it is a very simple example of 
the benefits which will result to the tea-producing 
industry by the adoption of Mr Chamberlain's fiscal 
policy. In the past we have not complained of the 
competition of China tea in this country, but recently 
a large quantity of this article which was refused 
admittance to America by the United States Customs, 
on the ground that it was unfit for food, was shipped 
to London, where it met with a ready sale. This is 
not playing the game. With a preference on British- 
grown teas there should be brighter days in store for 
the industry." 
In printing Mr Dickson's letter the Pall Mall Gazette 
makes the following comment: "Mr Dickson seems 
to ignore or confuse the difference between market 
fluctuations and the effect of an import duty. It is 
universally admitted that, whatever may be the case 
when an imported article enters into competition with 
a product of the importing country, the whole of the 
duty is paid by the consumer on such articles as tea 
which are entirely produced abroad. To say, therefore, 
that it is the importers and producers who have paid 
the extra tax is simply ridiculous. That wholesale 
and retail prices of duty-paid tea have not advanced 
exactly the amount of the extra tax has nothing to 
do with the question. If the market had been rising 
instead of falling, consumers would have had to pay 
not only the additional 2d, but the higher price of 
the tea itself as well, and the fact that the opposite 
process has been in force since the duty was raised 
has not relieved them from any portion of the burden, 
even if they have not paid a fraction more for their 
tea. The reasons for the fall in prices must be per- 
fectly well-known to every one in the trade, and are 
mainly over-production and the forcing of very inferior 
teas on the market. Perhaps the latter accounts to 
some extent for the temporary inelasticity of consump- 
tion, or the hard times may be compelling people to 
take a little more out of their brews." 
As the Pall Hall Gazette has already expressed the 
view that the duty on tea is an " ideal '' form of in- 
direct taxation its defence of the tax follows as a 
matter of course, and Mr Dickson's contention tha? 
the grower and tea garden proprietor are the victims 
of ttie tax is summarily dismissed. The question 
whether the producer or the consumer pays the tax is 
one of those points in economics which, if settled to 
the entire satisfaction of the theorists, will leave the 
practical man of the same opinion still, and tea 
growers will continue to hold their own views on the 
subject. The whole question how far a tea duty is a 
burden pr a Ijlessing in disguise tnay divide opinioq 
