694 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICtJLTURIST. [April 1, 190:'. 
CHINA TEA FOR RUSSIA- 
It is stated that all tea coniiDt; to Vladi- 
vostock and Nikolaevsk is subject to a duty of 
•24 roubles the pood (50s. per 36 English pouuds), 
while it has been decided that tea coming 
overland, via Dalny, shall pass into Russia 
entirely free of duty. Obvioiiely this new 
enactment will create a very considerable amount 
of business for the Manchuriau Railway.— i and 
C Express, Feb. 28. 
PEARL TRADE IN AUSTRALIA. 
HOW IT 18 BEING HAMPERED : IN FAVOUR Off 
HOLLAND. 
Brisbane, March 3.— Mr. James Clark, whose 
firm, Messrs. James Clark & Co., holds the 
largest interest in the pearl-shelling industry, 
was interviewed today in connection with 
the recent visit of the Dutch warship to 
Thursday Island. He stated that the re- 
strictive laws of the Commonwealth, by pro- 
hibiting employers indenturing suitable divers 
from Japan, Manila, and the Malay Archipela- 
go, were already cramping the pearl shell busi- 
ness, and unless som« amendment is made to 
enable the employers to obtain sufficient 
suitable labour the industry would certainly 
be lost to Queensland. The best divers came 
from Japan, and before the federal enact- 
ment there was an agreement between 
Queensland and Japan permitting a certain 
number of Japanese to come here— about 200 
per annum— and if this supply was stopped 
they would soon be compelled to relinquish 
operations for want of labour. The Dutch 
Government had established a training station 
at Meranke, and was endeavouring to secure 
a transference of the head quarters of the 
pearling industry to its territory. Unre- 
stricted trading facilities were offered, and 
freedom for employnient of coloured labour. 
As a greater part of the fishing was done 
beyond the Queensland three-mile limit, the 
pearlers would be enabled to work practically 
on the same ground as at present. Mr. 
Clark's firm employs 550 men, and is quite 
willing to go on as formerly if the Federal 
Government permits him to obtain the neces- 
sary labour. Otherwise there is nothing for 
him, he says, but to accept the offer of the 
Dutch, and become a naturalized subject of 
that coxintvj.— 'Adelaide Observer, 
PEARL FAMINE IN LONDON. 
A REMARKABLE RISE IN THEIK VALUE. 
Pearls of f;reat price are inoie tli:in proportion- 
ately difficult to obtain just now, Moitover, iliey 
are likely to remain so tor some considerable time 
to come, It is not vhat a huly desiring to obtain 
a valuable set would be unaijle to do so — only the 
price would probably be a memorable one. Why is 
there this remaikable rise in pearls? There lias 
been no corner in them, thonyh as a matter of fact 
Americans have been buying extensively in the 
wholesale trade of late, but this was only as a 
buiinesw speculation. At a famous Strand jewel- 
lei's a Mornirnj Leader representative was told 
that for one ihiiif; the last yield of pearls had been 
» vei'^ pcuf oae, and ior another that pearls had 
been gradually increasin',' in value for the pa.st 
thirty years. " And particularly in the !a-it four 
or five years. And," it was sdiled, '-if I were to 
purchase pearls today I should reckon they would 
be 10 per cent, more expensive this i inie next year. 
Of course, if a customer wanted a set, they could 
always begot, though ] have never known the 
price to be so higli, and lam speaking for over 
thirty years. Still, thci e is undoubtedly a craze for 
them at the present time, and when the season 
commences there will be a bigger demand than 
ever, for Americans will have them at any price." 
—Morning Leader. March ,3id- 
A FIND OF BIG TEARLS. 
Twenty-five pearls, some as big as large-sized 
shots, were found in a mussel on Saturdar by a tisli- 
niongerat Sittinghourne. -ZJai/?/ Mail, March 3rd. 
FOR AN INDIAN TEA CESS. 
THE MEMOIIIALTO THE VICEROY. 
The following is the text of the Meraoriol that 
has been addressed to His Excellency the Viceroy 
and Governor-General ef India by persons, firms, 
and Companies owning tea estates in British 
India : — 
Humbly Shiweth— That yonr Memorialists who are 
very largely interested in tea cnltivation in British 
India, the gross total of which is now estimated 
to be some 520,000 acres. repreeenciDg a capital in- 
vestment of some twentv-tive million ponnds sterling, 
venture to approach Yonr Excellency with the fol- 
lowing representationp, in order, if possible, to enlist 
the good ofRcsB of Your Excellency's Government 
in aid of the efforts of the Indian Tea Association 
to raise funds by the impoeitiou of an export duty 
on Indian tea the proceeds to be devoted to the w»rk 
of pusibing the sale and increasing the consumption 
of Indian tea, in countries other than the United 
Kingdom. 
2. The conrae which your Memorialist urge 
should be adopted is one which has been followed 
for the last nine years in Ceylou, in which Colony 
ftn export duty on tea of 10 cents per 100 lb was 
levied in 1892, under the Oidinanre No. 1-5 cfl892 
of the Government of Ceylon, in order to provide the 
Ceylori planters with funds for the adequate repre- 
sentation of their Teas at the Chicag'i Exhibition of 
1893. The application of the f ande derived from this 
duty proved so snccessful that, in 1894, the tempor- 
ary duty of 10 cents per 100 lb. was by the Ordi- 
nance No. 4 of 1894 of the Government of Ceyion 
converted into a permanent duty, the rate being in* 
creased from 10 cents to 30 cents per 100 lb., which 
it was directed should be applied towards increasing 
the consumption of Ceylon tea in foreign lands in 
such manner as might from time to time be desired 
and determined by the .Toint Committee appointed by 
the Planters' Association of Ceylon and the Ceylou 
Chamber of Commerce, referred to in the last- 
mentioned Ordmaiice. The sum thus raised in Oeylon 
amounts on the average to very nearly B3 likhs per 
annum. 
3 In India, a voluntary levy for the same purpose, 
instituted and administered by the Indian Tea Associa- 
tion, is and has been in force since 1893, but the 
subscribers to that levy hitherto have not repre- 
sented move than about 75 per cent, of the Indian 
tea growers, and the sum collected has been con- 
siderably less than half that realised under the 
Ceylon tax. The ludian tea-indnstry therefore hai 
been compelled, through want of funds, to confine 
its attention mainly to the markets of North America 
while Oeylon on the other hand has boen able to make 
sustained efforts to satisfy and increase the demands 
for its teas not only in the Americao markets, but 
