Feb. 1, 1902.] THE TKOPICAli 
of exterminating mosquitoes and consequently the 
diseases they carry. Already Dr Manson con- 
tinued the practical application of such measures 
had borne good fruit. Since tlie English occupied 
Havana in 1762 that city had never been tree in 
October from yellow fever and malaria. In October 
1900 there were twenty-live deaths from malaria 
and seventy-four from yellow fever, but in October 
of this year thanks to piotective measures, there 
were only nineteen deaths from malaria and none 
rom yellow fever,— X)aiiy Chronicle, Dec, 13, 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
Sir Bobert GifFen is an able man and a clever 
manipulator of figures, In some letters just con- 
tributed to the Times oa the financial outlook he 
makes some suggestions, one of which will certainly 
not delight tea planters. He begins by telling ua 
that we should complacently make up our minds 
that the national expenditure must in future always 
amount to £160,000,000, But Sir Robert see» that 
this extravagance would not be tolerated if it were 
borne by direct imposts, so he urges the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer to ease direct and increase indirect 
taxation in a way suggestive of the devil take the 
hindmost. He would reduce the income-tax to lOd, 
and later on to 6d, and would make up the £20,000,000 
lost to the Exchequer on account of this remission by 
imposing a tax of one shilling on the quarter of grain, 
threepence additional on the pound of tea, a half- 
penny additional on sugar, one shilling per load of 
timber, one penny per gallon of petroUum, and an 
e:i.tra three shillings per barrel of bser. In this way 
the Chancellors of the fatur* could revel in expense, 
inter alia, of the British-grown tea induitry. 
The Times commenting on Sir Bobert Giffen'g 
suggestions seems to approve them, for it sayi 
" There can be little doubt that the tea would bear 
a charge of 2d or 3d per lb more, and sugar an extra 
half penny per lb." This looks anything but cheer- 
ful for the prospect of any reduction of the duty on 
tea. The Daily Telegraph, on the other hand, says : 
" Two years ago, it may be in recollection, the duty on 
this product was raised from 4d to 6d per lb, and the 
result, put briefly, has been to cast the main burden 
of the increase upon the shoulders of the growers, 
whilst the public, for their part, have been paying 
for an inferior quality the price formerly asked for a 
better class of tea. On this subject the views of a 
prominent teafaroker may be quoted, ' It has been 
found,' he stated, 'that the producer has paid 
the bulk of the additional duty— in fact, from 
60 to 75 per cent in all. The public has 
shown itself averse to paying more for its tea 
than it did formerly, with the consequence 
that consumers have been content, for the most part, 
with an inferior variety, which brought about the 
inevitable result that smaller crops of the finer 
qualities have been grown. In short, people now 
drink tea at Is 6d the lb. that formerly cost not more 
than Is 4d.' The average price (wholesale), thie 
authority added, is 7id to 8d per lb,, which means 
that if the additional duty of 3d were imposed, tea, 
which is at present taxed to the extent of 80 per cant 
of its value, would be mulcted to the amount of 100 
per cent over and above its market price." 
A return ordered to be prepared last autumn by 
the House of Commons of the various duties levied 
upon imports by the colonies and other posses* 
sions of the ^United Kingdom has just been 
issued by the Statistical Department of the Board 
of Trade, This return presents a remarkably 
diversified tariff such as is calculated to drive a 
customs reformer wild. The publication of the volame 
was not delayed long enough to permit of the 
inclusion of the new Australian Federal tariff. lo 
the case of 
AGRICULTURIST. 547 
TEA 
the import duties are sufiSciently perplexing in their 
variety. Thus in Canada tea is admitted free. 
In India there is a five per cent ad val duty ; 
in Ceylon twenty-five cents per pound is charged ; 
in New Zealand two-pence per pound ; in South 
Africa six pence ; while in the West Indies 
the duty ranges from eight pence to one shilling, 
or five per cent ad val. lu British Guiana 
it is three pence per pound; in Mauritiue 
it is eigthteen cents; in Fiji six pence; in 
New Guinea 2d per lb ; while it is free in Hongkong, 
the Straits Settlement, and Malta. Under the new 
Commonwealth Tariff, not included in the return, the 
import duty on tea is 2d or 3d per lb and 20 per cent 
ad val 
The Americans are proud of their 
HOME-GROWN TEA, 
and we have referred to the subjeet of their aspira- 
tions with regard to it frequently of late, because 
some rather wild rumours on the s«bject of its im- 
portance have been current. Dr, Charles U Shepard, 
one of the pioneers of the enterprise, is rightly 
accorded due praise for the part he has played during 
the last ten years in carrying on tea planting opera- 
tions under difficulties. That there are unusual diffi- 
culties may be gathered from some particulars given 
in a recent number of the New York journal, Tea, 
Coffee, and Sugar, which says, referring to the gardens 
which Dr. Shepard controls : — " These tea gardens in 
February 1899, endured conditions seldom experienced 
in the South, when the mercury fell to two degrees 
below zero. The gardens had no protection from the 
weather, and it was feared they were ruined, but they 
have now entirely recovered. After the freeze the 
bushes were pruned liberally. Of course, this temporarily 
affected their productiveness." But the main point 
of interest to Indian and Ceylon growers is the pro- 
spect offered of tea growing becoming, in the United 
Slates, an important industry. On this point our New 
York contemporary is interesting, but not alarming. 
We do not think Indian and Ceylon tea planters 
need feel any anxiety at present on the score that 
this American home-grown tea will interfere with 
the development of trade in British-grown teas in 
the United States. 
A writer in the " Grocers' Review " says, in com- 
menting OD the 
TEA TKADE: 
"There is one point in which the trade seems to 1m 
undergoing a change, and in my opinion a change 
for the better. The grocer is willing to sell tea much 
smaller in leaf than formerly. As long as it is not 
' dirty, ' that is, laden with powdery dust, he 
seldom complains, however small in reason it is made. 
This is all to his advantage, as it enables the blender 
to use tea which would not otherwise assimilate in leaf, 
and allows a good proportion of thick, rich, broken 
tea, and manipulation by machinery leaves all the blend 
a uniform size. It is to be hoped that the day ii 
not far distant when ' tip ' and ' style ' may ha leas 
valued by the average grocer than at present, as there 
is not one householder in a thousand who regards 
these properties, if only the tea in the cup is pleasing 
to the palate. In maintaining the trade in a healthy 
condition it is the cup that will tell." 
In their monthly tea market report, just issaed, 
Messrs Harrisons and Crosfield, of London, review 
the course of the 
TEA TRADE 
during the past year. The most noticeable feature, 
they say, is the restored feeling of hopefulness con- 
sequent on the re-adjustment of the balance between 
demand and supply. In 1900 there was a surplus of 
10^ million pounds, which, coming on the top of 3| 
millions surplus in 1899, depressed the market and 
caused the tea-producing industry to become unprofit- 
able. Prices fell to an abnormally low point until 
March last, when it became known that some restriotioa 
