Oct. 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 277 
To the Eaitoj^. 
THE TEA CESS. 
Sept. I, 
Dear Sib,— The Indian Tea Association have 
declared that the Cess will not be handed over to 
themselves but to a special Committee. It is to 
be hoped that this Committee will have funds 
sufficient for the purpose, or they will come in 
for much of the style of criticism dealt out to 
Mr. Mackenzie. It will be a thankless task ; the 
problem they will have to tackle is to renovate the 
Indian Tea Industry with 4 lakhs of rupees or 
perhaps only 2^ lakhs according to the rate, \ or \ 
pie per pound, fixed on. I have sent a circular 
proposing' a 2-pie Cess, to be printed and sent 
to all the local Associations and to the London 
Association, and will ask you to print a copy of 
it in your paper. I can see no reason for doubting 
that the majority of proprietors can be persuaded 
into asking for a Cess of 2 pies per pound. I have 
carefully watched all the tea news, and it will be 
observed that proprietors do respond to any scheme 
which seems to be capable of ending the crisis 
but I have never seen that any attempt has been 
made to canvas for votes. 
The Indian Tea Association proposed a Cess 
over 6 months ago, and it is now being taken 
notice of, and would have been long ago, but for 
the want of some organisation to collect votes. 
Refusal is anticipated, but when the matter comes 
to "yes" or "no," there is no room for doubt, 
and many will assent who were supposed to be 
against the measure. 
The chief fact that I keep in view now is that 
there is a spirit of " union " amongst both Pro- 
ducers and Buyers. The million pounds sterling 
Scheme and the Secret Ssle Scheme show that 
those interested are aware of the actual necessity for 
combinsd acbion. There is a tendency to drop 
all endeavour to attain to universal combination, 
and to enter into Schemes for personal safety. If 
the Cess scheme is abandoned those who have 
money will no longer drag along the rest with them, 
but with a sufficient Cess all can advance together ; 
there is ample room still for our tea in the world, 
and I firmly believe that the majority will decide 
for combined action if the matter can be placed 
clearly before them and if they are forced to 
give a vote by a certain date. 
Who was tlie promoter of your Ceylon Cess? How 
long did it take for the idea to become " law ?" 
Was there much hope of success when the idea 
was first proposed ? Ceylon is compact^ whereas 
India is scattered and it is more difficult to bring 
about assent to any common measure, but the 
crisis is more severe now than at the time you 
succeeded in getting a Cess. Necessity is the 
mother of invention, and so there is hope for 
my invention. But for the short yield this 
year, both from India and Ceylon I be- 
lieve that the two pie Cess which I have ad- 
vocated since April would now be receiving more 
support. When in Calcutta, I called on the Head 
of one of the firms who are Agents for large 
Companies. I was given to under.'itand that they 
were mora or less content with affairs as they 
.'^^ood, that their gardens were paying, and that 
their people at Home were not keen on the Cess; 
but I find one of these " people at Home " spoke 
distinctly in favour of large measures at th«" 
London meeting of July 17th. a date fvery shortly 
after that of my interview. If I had had the 
resolutions expressed at that meeting, I might 
have received a different answer from the Cal 
cutta Head of the Firm. (I mention this as a 
reason why I really expect that the two-pie Cess 
may be adopted.) Again Messrs. Andrew Yule 
& Co., have taken up the Indian supply business, 
and it would surely help them greatly if Tea 
and money were available from a general fund. 
I have looked through the Tea Directory and 
find that Ceylon is chiefly composed of private 
owners, but India is practically all " Companies." 
It ought to have been easier to get the consent 
of Indian Prodncers, and I reckon that the reason 
why Ceylon got the Cess by general consent, so 
much sooner than India, is because the small 
Proprietors had come to the end of their tether 
and were forced to submit to a general endeavour. 
But the paot few years have been so disastrous 
to many Indian Companies (who practically benei* 
fited by the action of Ceylon) that common 
measures are now urgent to them. 
I cannot believe that a small Cess will remedy 
our disease, and so I urge a larger Cess and the 
fulfilment of the promise made only six months 
ago to withdraw 10 millions of Indian Tea from 
our markets If Indian Proprietors will consent, 
Ceylon will join. I now appeal to your Planters 
for one man who will give his heart and soul to 
obtaining a Cess of two pies per pound at least. 
We want a big fund worked by Experts ; in the 
letter by " One of the New Order " in yours of 
August 20th, he says: 
" The Committee is composed of the best men in 
Ceylon, bnt they are likewise the busiest and cannot 
spare time to go into details. So I think they shoald 
appoint a managing Secretary to devote his whole 
time to the collecting of information as to how and 
where funds have been spent." 
It one man could be appointed to collect in- 
formation as t© the public opinion about the rate 
of the Cess, I feel sure that it would reveal a 
strong current of opinion towards general combi- 
nation, provided the scheme proposed is sufficient. 
I put it before you that a Cess of ^ or ^ pie 
per pound is not sufficient, and that is 
proved by the experience gained from 
your Ceylon Cess and the voluntary subs- 
criptions from Indian growers. It is not possible 
to say decidedly that a Cess of 2 pies will 
effect the desired improvement in our affairs, and 
the proposal of one million pounds capital for a 
Syndicate to control the market shows that some 
men would consider this insufficient ; so it stands 
to reason that there are opinions varying from 
doing nothing, up to subscribing 150 lakbsof rupees, 
and all we have to do is to get some to go up 
and others to come' down to a general level. 
In yours of 14th August you are good enoiigli 
to say that my explanation is lucid and satif- 
factory, except that the reserved tea will be-' 
kept by the producers until wired for. "Hitherto . 
we understood that the tea was to be ready oij 
the spot to meet the demand." I beg that you 
will lay no stress on the details of my Scheme, 
All details are subject to circumstances. All ' 
that we want is a sufficient tund subscribed to ' 
by all producers and a promise of tea m'7( en re- 
quired. I suggested that, instead of storing the 
tea in one room, which would require enormous-- 
premises, the tea should be left with each pr^ 
ducer U7itil required. The only delay would thus ' 
