Sept. 2, 1901.1 
THE TEOPlCAi 
AGRICULTURIST. 
183 
at cost, or under. He could not ap;ree with 
Mr Kulhevford in his opinion that Ceylon 
liad praotically reached its inaxiniuni pio- 
(luction. Ceylon, if prices improved, could double 
its yield by manuring, so the question was 
a wider one than that of excessive areas of new 
land coming into bearing. With reference to 
green tea, there was an enormous Held for their 
energies in America a^id Canada; bat he re- 
gretted to say, while they talked of combination 
between India and Ceylon, the former had started 
to undersell tlie latter in trreen teas, and this, he 
understood, arose from India giving a higher 
bounty than Oeylon. This state of afit'airs should 
not be allowed to go on. 
Mr. Jas. Sinclair said he would like to know if 
any one present could authoritatively say there 
was a combination among dealers or whether the 
low prices of our teas were solely due to excessive 
supplies. 
Mr. Magou (Williamson and Magor) gave it 
as his opinion that what importers sufteied 
from was the want of combination to give the 
trade the quantity required at the proper 
time. At one time of the year we 
throw thousands of chests at them, and sell re- 
gardless of price. At another time >ve have 
nothing on the market. He thought if an Asso- 
ciation could be formed to "carry" the tea it 
would be a good thing, and he also thought it 
was necessary to have such an Association. He 
believed, it the great mass of importers came to 
chis conclusion, then he was sure the money 
would be forthcoming. 
Messrs. Macleod, ]3ryans and others spoke in 
favor of something being done, if not exactly on 
the lines proposed, in some way that would limit 
the oll'erings to the buyers. 
It was finally decided to appoint a Committee 
of eight, four representing India and four Oeylon, 
to c<msider the whole question and report. 
BRAZIL'S ECONOMIC POSITION. 
TOO MUCH COFFEE. 
The production of coffee in Brazil is so severely 
felt, says Mr. Consul Ehind in his report on the 
financial economic situation in Brazil, that a strong 
opinion has gained ground that a 20 per cent, 
reduction in output is necessary and that compul- 
sory destruction of the crops to that proportion 
should be insisted on. 
It is stated that the world's production of coffee 
now attains 16,500,000 bags per annum, while the 
consumption is only 14,500,000, the excess of 
2,000,000 bags being attributed entirely to Brazil ; 
and it is felt that this surplus should be done away 
with. 
Happily, other action of a more practical nature 
has, in the meantime, been taken to relieve the 
agriculturists, in the form of reducing the railway 
freights and conceding extension of time for fore- 
closure of mortgages on agricultural estates. The 
improvement iu the valuation of Brazil's fiduciary 
currency by the recent funding operations is in- 
contestable, and the appreciation attained, in com- 
bination with the system applied in the collection 
of duties, more than balances, from the importer's 
point of view, the additijnal gold taxation now 
imposed. In demonstration of this fact the follow- 
ing table may be instructive. 
. It IS intended to show the relative cost 
in milreis of a parcel of goods invoiced at 
£o and paying duties to the amount of 30 
nalreis at the higher exchanges of the 
pr8.sent tune, as compared with the local cost of 
a similar value at the time when the Fundin- 
L.oan was arranged. ^ 
pi- -fw 
-o's^"l^)?lS IZ ]l Til 1 
l.-i I i.2 £6 00l)_ ,0 22 500 25 16 2C0 134 700 
On a transaction, therefore, as here imagined 
there would be, at the rate of 12id per milreis' 
a reduction of 95P0O reis in comparison with 
the conditions prevailing in 1898. 
Unfortunately the necessity for increased taxa- 
tion has shown Itself simultaneously with a c,eat 
ocal depreciation in the value of the national 
produce, which depreciation, strange as the state 
ment may seem, is in great measure due to the 
enhanced sterling value of the carrencv It is 
witliin the country has naturally to be liquidated 
in paper currency, the exports, which represent 
the n.arketable wealth of the community, are 
valued according to the sterling value on con- 
suming markets. 
Thus, a bag of coffee which, when exchange 
S)>., IS still worth there only the same amount 
11 excnange be at 12d, but locally the 30s represents 
60 milreis when exchange is at 6d and only 30 
nulreis when exchange is at 12d. With the rise 
of exchange, therefore, the local value will have 
diminished by ,30 per cent. This is exactly the 
position of coffee at the present time 
Altogether it is a trying time for Brazil, and 
there is a general absence of prosperity amoi.cr.st 
"Nigema and its Trade "-is the subject of a 
paper m Murray's " Monthly Keview " from which 
we quote :— 
Practically speaking, the exports of Nigeria -irB 
confined to palm-oil and kernels. A littll rubber 
comes out-there will be more some day, thou" h at 
present Lagos holds the monopoly-but to all intents 
and purposes a httle nut accounts directl/ o *! 
directly lor the white man's presence in Nieeria It 
grows beneath the curving fronds of a palm ii 
clusters which, although it is not a very good simile 
resemble a pineapple, and when detached it lookS 
a plum pamted scarlet and saflron. Under the thin 
ffl\nT^^- T'. °* ^^^"'^"^ S^-^^^'^' «W«h is scraped 
off, and boiled to extract the fibre, and the result is 
palm-oil, indispensable in many manufactures and 
f " *° ^"25 ^ ton- Then here remains 
a thm-shelled nut, which is cracked, and .t two 
back kerne 3 thrown into baskets, to be shipped bv 
thousands of tons to Europe for oiVextraction It is 
a simple process, for it must be remembered that 
the tribesman, who makes no attempt at cultiva- 
tion, merely gathers what Nature lavi'shly provides 
humlV'liF/°'^T['^ ''''' puncheonrcost a 
human hfe. the possession of favourite native 
markets is periodically fought for, petty robber chief 
erctTli±Tw 'i^'^-'^r'^'-? do^n stream or 
ex<.ct illegal blackmail, until an expedition is sent up 
against them, while the mortality among the white 
men who purchase the oil is very heavy ^ 
