May 1, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
733 
AMERICAN VS. ENGLISH MACHINERY 
IN CHINA. 
Apropos of the frequent annonBcements going the 
roands of the newspaper press, anent the capture of 
machinery orders by American firms in markets 
which the British manufacturer had previously domi- 
nated (certain ideutical reports being frec[uently 
repeated ad nauseam in the same jonrnais in different 
forms), it is refreshing to gat a glimpse ef the other 
side of the question, and to find that one, at least, 
of the representatives of oar chief staple industry 
requires not the admonition to " wake up." An old 
established firm of English Flour Mill Engineers have 
just secured the contract for the supply and erection 
of a large flour mill on the most modern system in 
North China. More than one firm of American 
makers were competing for the work, and, although 
they claimed to produce by their process better 
qualities and higher percentages of flour, the English 
firm in question was able to satisfy the buyers as to 
the superiority of their machinery, and its ability to 
produce qualities and percentages equal, or superior, 
to the Americans. This English house takes the 
eontract at a price below any of the American houses, 
and has undertaken to ship the whole plant in ten 
weeks from date of acceptance of order. The firm in 
question is Messrs. E R & F Turner, Limited, of 
Ipswich, who, some months since, shipped a similar 
complete flour mill to China, the order for which was 
also secured in competition with America, 
EXPORT OP JAPANESE TEA. 
(To the EtWtor " Howe and Colonial Mail,)" 
Dear Sir, — TliP, producers of tea in India and Cey- 
lon are now endeavouring to copy the Japanese in 
their methods of manufacturing unferniented teas, 
and they may also take a lesson in another direction 
from the clever and capable people who have forced 
themselves so far to the front as to have become allies 
of Great Biitain itself. Growers in Japan have as- 
certained that quality, not quantity, in production 
of tea is what pays, and it is a very significant fact 
that the exports have fallen from their maximum 
point in 1891 to the extent ot 20 per cent reduction 
in 1900, but the valuation of the smaller quantity 
in the latter year was fully ,30 per cent above that 
of the larger in the ftirmer year. 
The moral is a plain one. If India and Ceylon 
can keep down their quantities, improve their quali- 
ties, and gain an increased 30 per cent on the 
selling values, the crisis in tea production will soon 
be a memory only. 
Japan tea in the United States and Canada has 
fairly well held its own in consumption because of 
tlie very great attention and careful preparation 
given to the production for its principal foreign 
market, and all this in spite of the libellous and 
misleading advertisements regarding it formerly 
widely circulated in the interests of India and 
Ceylon tea. Those really did more harm to the 
latter than to Japan teas in disgusting the regular 
traders, who were trying to sell both, and they have 
done further harm in inducing the Japanese mer- 
chants to advertise very successfully the purity and 
merits of the tea they produce and sell. Indian 
and Ceylon teas, if of fair quality, well made, and 
sold at reasonable prices, should be their own best 
advertisements. — I am, sir, yours, &c., 
John McEwan. 
10 and 11, Lime Street, E.G., March 6th, 1902. 
Hugh CliflFord of the settlement r.t u ^ 
Islands. This real Vikin " saet L 
Orkneysinthe A-t years"of nS ftea th 
tury, A chance whaling ship nnt n^l 
lesser islands in searcli of sailors'^and twn"'^" ° 
brothers were, taken on boar 1 't^.el flthp""''''"'^ 
no other possible way of findin. for tl P,i '' 
ing in the world. The scene is thin > 
Northern China, where the whale. s fil2r^'^^[ *° 
casks, and is there boarded «n 1 1 1 water- 
and without disturbance^ r bin oT''^ '"f ^'f "'y- 
ing to John Company. The reason nf n- 
cal proceeding is then exp ained ( n ? P.""^"' 
the other ship's navigatlnl offii f^'aler,^ 
cholera, and s'^bstituJfs f^, to TfoK 'T} °* 
somewnere. Finally, the Orknlr Jad ^^^'^^^d from 
was handed over-he had a car^,. h V^"''^*? 
-and the young Vikinrwork d hVsl?''''?^'^°° 
accident through perilous seas HH f ^ 'y^^hoat 
Calcutta. War^n Hastings hea'd'th^T ''^"^'^^'l 
gave the hero of it a naval ■ ^- ^^"'-V' ^nd 
Ross rose rapidly, and wa. assS^'f 
in Java, and shared his cldef\ mT. ^^^^^s 
Uie island to the Du elf HacUhe^^^ 
Foreign Office in London frm h I , '° ^he 
seals of RafHes's desJatclL S ^ ..^''^^ ^'^^ 
likely that no retrocession ZtT^ 
Through the years oThiracti "e'^S tfevr "T^.- 
longed once more to return fn w ■ '^^'^ 
North from whence he came Tl Z''^?'^ 
ship, whose building he bad In * 
discharge of his arrels of '"^Pe^itended, in 
Malays, and set sZ fo ^^''T"^ '"^'^^ 
thither he came unon n / i way 
love with the place^°aL 1?°''^' became in 
Northern kinsfolk'wirto*.eth?" -M^^f^ 
the ancestors of th J preieftt hl> 
of the first George E"was «^' -i"''- 
while he wrote a great loTk hi P'"'°^?P'J"'. '^nd 
idleness. He died and h^. ^ tell into 
and who had been educated in 
him. He had all tho , ^^o^Iand, succeeded 
genius of the lounier of ZiliW fT'^"^""^ 
ceeded in making his peoVle 
perous, and happy^ Thou'h^M„ ?o P™^" 
have abandoneffiyga^^iS^^'^,'"^^^^^ "^^^ 
neat and tidy. We L va „t though Asiatic, are 
wonderful stm y onlv tlf '-^ t^is 
too. and Mr ClffToid has tolrl h romantic. 
Spectator, March 8 '^^'^ ^vell.-^ 
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COCOS 
ISLANDS. 
It would be hard to match for qualities of 
lomance the story told in BlacJcxoood by M^r 
92 
NEW SELANGOR COMPANY, 
he Kaiang Coffee and Rubber Co Tim;*- i . 
been registered in London, S, £23^^00 
to acquire three estates in 'ili *^^.yOO capita , 
West' County Ksta e 'an.tn^hn?''' t'l" 
&Co.; theVnfomE Sln^; r'*?^^^^ 
Estate. The business ot th:^ '^'l? Weld's Hill 
include growing ln.l .TlolTt^P' P'' 
rubber, and fruit ard iim<,np„f f ' ''^^la- 
The first directors a e Mesirs '^"w'p"'"^^^^«• 
A Allen, E Field and F R W- T T; Prosser, A 
March is. '^'^"''^'^^^ Straits Time^, 
MINOR PRODUCTS REPORT. 
is also reported that the market °"'P°'- I* 
and ^hat cpa.ide.aW. V"SeV^.t^t;^«-^^,^| 
