176 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. 2, 1901. 
at the cost of the quality. This operation 
again, by lowering the quality, had the 
of maintaining and accentuating the 
prices. It is not intended here to tender 
effect 
fall in 
advice to producers in respect of thpir own busi- 
ness, or to join in the lively controversy on the 
merits of ''coarse" plucking versus "fine" pluck- 
ing. It is only intended to record the conclusion 
that, when prices fell because tea was produced 
in excess, the fall induced directors to endeavour, 
by further increasing production, to continue divi- 
dends to shareholders, and that this endeavour 
to increase quantity was inevitably attetided by a 
reduction in quality, the combination ( f the two 
bringing about a further fall in prices. The ob- 
vious iiifeience is that the remedy is inefficacious, 
and that the quantity produced must be propor- 
tionate to the consuming capacity of the market 
which the tea enters. Either the n;aiket must 
be enlarged, or that area in which tea is produced 
at the greatest cost, whether by reason of tbe nature 
of the soil or of the remoteness and inaccessi- 
bility of markets, must necessarily be abandoned 
and some of the existing tea estates he thrown 
out of cultivation. The extent to which the sup- 
ply of Indian and Ceylon tea has exceeded the 
demand is thus presented by the well-known Lon- 
don brokers, Messrs. Gow, Wilson, and Stanton, 
in a recent circular (lb) ; 
loiports. Consumption. Excess. 
1895 .. 233,834,519 227,806,249 C 023,270 
1896 .. 253,141.438 246,6"7,478 6,538 960 
1897 268,865,989 261,875,872 6,990,H7 
1898 .. 276,437,473 279,031,828 ^2 594,355 
1899 .. 302.590.293 288,695,931 13,894,362 
1900 .. 334,072,942 314,230,316 19,842,626 
It appears from these figures that the quantity 
thrown on the market during these six years has 
exceeded the demand by over fifty million pounds, 
and that the excess of the last two years has 
been quite remarkable, amounting to 33f million 
pound.'. As the firm who issue the figures justly 
observe, there is in this excess supply " abundant 
reason for the present severe depression in price." 
If nine-tenths of the Indian and probably a 
similar proportion of Ceylon production are 
sent to the United KiuKdom, and if the ex- 
ports increase as they have done from year 
to year for the last ten years, it is not 
easy to see how a further fall in prices can be 
avoided. There is no circle of people in the 
United Kingdom to whom the advantages of 
drinking tea are unknown, and it is probably 
not going in any way beyond the facts to say 
that every person in the British islands who 
desires to drink tea can and does obtain of it 
as much as he or she wishes to consume or can 
safely consume. It is indeed likely that some, 
women especially, drink more tea than is good 
for them. No material expansion of consumption 
can therefore be looked for amongst the population 
of those islands beyond that which is the conse- 
quence of waste when the article consumed is very 
cheap, and that which follows the annual increase 
of population, but the rate at which the population 
increases is far slower than the rate at which the 
production of tea increases. For a material 
increase in consumption, therefore, the Indian 
producer must look to the further exclusion from 
the British market of the remnant — some 35 or 40 
million lb.— of non-Indian (or Ceylon) tea still 
taken in that market. He must also depend upon 
the capture of markets other than that of the 
.United Kingd^nit Some progress has been made 
in this direction, but it is not flittering to our self- 
esteem to find that in this campaign the pioducers 
of Ceylon have made much more headway than 
Indian producers. The following figures are quoted 
from a circular issued by Messis. Gow, Wilson, and 
Stanton last month, in which they printed a table 
to show th" expansion in foreign and colonial 
markets of Indian and Ceylon tea : 
Indian. Ceylon. 
1896 .. 19,226,789 23,222.434 
1897 .. 22,440,687 29,074,498 
1898 .. 25,892,985 36,353,6J3 
1899 .. 29,651,933 38,778.595 
1900 .. 33,566,241 49,255,833 
It appears then that the increased consumption 
of Indian tea in markets outside the British 
islands between 1896 and 1900 was over 14 million 
pounds, but the increase of exports from India in 
the same years was over 41 million pounds. The 
principal consumers in these markets are : 
million lb. 
Australia . . . . 9'58 
United States and Canada .. 6*96 
Turkey and Persia . . . . 7-71 
Germany and Knssia ... 5'58 
South Africa ... ... 1*27 
The owners of Indian tea estates, while striving 
to gain possession of sucli markets as these, also 
rec gnise, somewhat late in the day, the im- 
portance of creating a market in India and in the 
countries across the Indian frontiers. They have 
sent a small venture overland from Quetta to 
Seistan, and are considering arrangements to place 
packets of tea for sale in the bazaars of Indian 
cities, at railway stations, and other places where 
consumers are likely to be found. As these ar- 
rangements will be undertaken by an enterprising 
and substantial mercantile firm in Calcutta, there 
is reason to anticipate that the business will be 
done in a manner to deserve success. 
The exports of tea have expanded without a 
pause since 1893-94. 
tt) 
{000 omitted) E 
1893- 94 .. 126,332 .. 6,58,58,355 
1894- 95 .. 129,099 ... 7,55,57,447 
1895- 96 ... 137 710 ... 7,66,48,887 
1896- 97 .. 148.908 ... 8,12,45,480 
1897- 98 ... 1.51 452 .. 5,05,86.2^3 
1898- 99 ... 157 471 ... 8,04.48,038 
1899- 1900 ... 175,038 ... 9,09,21,120 
1900- 01 ... 190,805 ... 9,55,09,301 
Last year's exports were directed as follows :— 
(000 omitted) 
United Kingdom -. .. 166,171 
Australia . . . . . . 10,439 
Turkey, Asiatic .. 3,240 
,. European .. .. 618 
Persia .. ... .. 2,429 
Canada ... .. .. 1,725 
Hongkong ... ... ... 1,143 
Germany . . ... . . 838 
Eussia .. ... .. 772 
These are direct exports as declared in India 
and do not include re-exports from the United 
Kingdom. 
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