March 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
657 
•^o a very large extent, if not altogether, the 
difference in value is due to the additional duty. 
The producers' position was that they were only 
getting their tea into consumption at a reduced 
price. He thought it was a fact that tlie 
consumer was paying very little more for his 
tea on account of the increased duty ; at a fair 
estimate the protlueer was paying from IJd to l^d 
per lb, on account of the increase, the consumer 
piying the balance, not perhaps so much in price 
as in quality, he having received tea of slightly 
inferior quality in some instances for the same 
money that he had paid before. It was impossi- 
ble to precisely indicate the cause of the fall in 
prices, but there could be no doubt whatever that 
the tea industry in Ceylon was in a very depressed 
state, and no fairer index of the condition of 
things could be had than the marked value 
of the companies' shares. Almost without ex- 
ception the Ceylon tea companies were capi- 
talised ou the fair basis of 10 to 12 years' 
purchase. They were agricultural Companies, no 
element of speculation entering into their opera- 
tions, and dividends had been declared upon the 
earnings of each year ; and the dividends had 
regulated the market value of the shares. He 
held in his hand a statement showing the market 
value of the shares in 60 Ceylon Companies' at 
various periods, and he found that in 1896 the 
aggregate market value of the shares was 
R23,0b0,000 ; in 1897, R 17,000,000 ; in 1898-9, 
R16,000,000 ; in 1900, R15,000.000 ; and in 1901 
below R14,000,000. That was the position at 
present, and he was afraid there was no prospect 
of any immediate improvement :in fact, apprehen- 
sions were general that 1902 would be financially 
one of the worst years the tea industry had seen. 
Last year a great many of tlie estates had paid 
no dividends, some had paid lower dividends, 
others had produced tea at higher prices than 
they bad sold it for, and results in the coming 
year would probably be still worse. However, 
this was not the position a? regarded the more 
distant luture, for which the prospects were 
statistically more hopeful. At the end of 1899 
the over-production was 14,000,000 lb.; in 1900 
the production of Ceylon and India together 
was 334,000,000 lb., and the consumption 
314,000,000, an over-production of 20,000,000 lb., 
raising the surplus at the end of 1900 to 
34,000,000 lb. In the following year consump- 
tion overtook production. The total produc- 
tion of India and Ceylon in 1901 was 
328,000,000 lb. against a consumption of 
337,000,000 lb. lu the case of Ceylon the 
improvement in this respect was perhaps even 
more marked. In 1900, against a production of 
148,000,000 lb there was a consumption of 
142,000,000 lb, but in 1901 the production v/as 
145,000,000 lb and the consumption 152,000,000. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer : Find- 
ing its natural remedy. 
Mr Bois : We hope so, sir. I think that in 
future the evil will be remedied providing 
nothing is done to reduce consumption. This 
is a reason why nothing should be done 
that would check the industry. Continu- 
ing, the speaker said he thought that 
in'^the coming year tea Companies would have a 
very hard struggle, and he hoped they would 
manage to weather the storm ; but looking a 
year or eighteen months ahead, if nothing were 
done in the meantime to further depress the 
industry he thought it would be found to be on 
a firmer basis. The two points they had guard 
against were over-production and checks to con- 
snmplion. Planters themselves were taking 
measures to restrict the output, and as regarded 
consumption he thought that if no extra duty 
was imposed consumption would probably 
increase in a normal manner, and that 
at the end of eighteen months they might find 
the industry in a better position. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer :— 
There is one point which no speaker has touched 
upon. If you can show that the increase of duty 
has checked consumption you would show there 
was something important in it. 
Mr. Bois:— It has not checked consumption, 
but our tea has gone into cousumption because 
we have paid the duty. Tue consumer has got it 
at practically the same price as before. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer :— In 
other words, your over-production enormously 
lowered the price of tea in this country, and if no 
extra duty was imposed tea would have been 
very much cheaper. I don't think you can prove 
that the extra duty imposed two years ago has 
injiiied it. 
Mr. Bois :— It has injured us to this extent, 
that consumption would undoubtedly have been 
checked had we not accepted a lower price for 
our tea. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer :— So 
far from consumption decreasing I think your 
figures show an increase, 
Mr. Bois : — It has been increasing year by year, 
and It has followed the normal course. VVe say 
it would have been decreased had we not accepted 
a lower price. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer :— 
I have understood that through bad plucking 
some tea was practically valueless. 
Mr. Bois .said he must explain that climatic 
conditions were largely responsible for this. He 
(the speaker) would not say that producers were 
blameless, but as far as possible they had now 
applied the remedy. In conclusion, he thanked 
the Chancellor of the Exchequer on behalf of 
himself and his colleagues, and tea producers 
generally in Ceylon, for his courtesy in receiving 
the deputation and in listening to what they had 
addressed to him. 
MR. A. THOMP.SO\ FOB THE BROKERS, 
Mr. Arthur Thompson said he spoke as a 
representative of the Tea Brokers' Association, 
and he was therefore one who should be fairly 
cognisant of the working of the trade in its 
various branches. He deprecated raising the 
duty, first on account of the disturbance it would 
cause to the ho.iie trade, both wholesale and 
retail, whose business was already seriously in- 
terrupted by the present duty. This must be 
the case with all dutiable goods, but the 
tea trade had been so upset by the late 
addition of 2d. per lb. that any further addition 
would prove disastrous, and this would be ac- 
centuated. In the second place, tea was no 
longer a luxury but a necessity of lite, especially 
among the working class. The present tax 
aniounted to about 80 per cent of the average 
value of the tea, and any increase in 
the duty would weigh most hardly' on the 
poorer citizens and would check the expansion 
of, if not bring about a decrase in, consumption. 
It was true that the late incfQase in duty had not) 
