830 THE TROPICAL 
To the Editor. 
TEA IN AUSTRALIA : 
CUSTOMS INSPECTION AND " COOLIE" VERSUS 
WHITE man's packing. 
Melbourne, April 9. 
Dear Sib,— Since^. writing to you hist I 
have been able to ascertain that the super- 
vision of tea at the Customs will be niucli 
the same. The Health Officer still exercises 
the same power, but unless tea is absolutely 
unfit for human consumption, I believe, the 
quality passed may be very low. Theprominent 
aspect of the subject, in fact, seems to be 
the prevailing impression that an inferior 
description of tea will now be foisted on 
Australia. It is therefore for (Jeylon to look 
to what tea is sent here, and be careful never 
to have her name associated with any of the 
scandals which are predicted to crop up at 
the Customs here ere long as stocks diminish. 
You are doing well in urging this, in season 
and out of season, particularly at present, 
jis I have noted that Ceylon is chiefly aimed 
*at, in Hi mass of letters which have been 
appearing in the local press, in regard to 
what they call " the grave injustice done to 
Australian tea packers and blendei-s by the 
cancellation of the duty on packet tea." 
The Labor members are nuich blamed for 
their oversight, in %\hat was undoubtedly 
their move, and though I do not think you 
need anticipate any alteration of the free 
decision in regard to hulk teas in the Senate, 
I am so imbued with the feeling that the 
Barton Government is imder the thmnb of 
the Labor Party that, if the packet people 
once get the Ear of Trades Hall, " Coolie 
packed tea" will soon cease to be on the 
free list. I enclose you some letters and send 
papers on this and other political aspects. — 
Yours faithfully, ONLOOKER. 
The Australian tea impoi teis lind their interests 
have received little consideration at the hands of 
the representatives in the Federal Parliament. 
The abolition of the duty places them in a veiy 
uncertain position, whilst it entails a heavy loss 
on their duty-paid stocks. One section of the tea 
trade will benefit materially, and that is the 
retailer. Possibly tlie consumer may get a tea 
better by Id per lb. for his 1/3 or 1/ today, but an 
additional 2d per lb. proht goes into the pockets of 
the distributor, which is very much to liis liking, 
notwithstanding all Mr Watson's talk. Neither 
tiiat gentleman nor his friends know much of the 
trade, and in their efforts to get a free breakfast 
table have played into tiie hands of a small section 
of the community, which will absorb almost the 
entire remission in duty. The tea packers are in 
a worse position. All the rubbish which is 
])ackcd in Ceylon and Indian markets, to which 
attention wai called some time back, will now 
lind its way to Australia, and the coolie will oust 
the local while packer from his employment and 
thus fill the ranks of the unemployed. Tiie Labour 
leader in the end wjij) (irobalily be cursed by 
those whom lie thought he was serving. Packet 
stiould by a,ll mt^ns be dutiable, and it i,^ 
AGPJCULiaRIST. [June 2, 1902. 
regrettable that Ministers did not recoanise the 
urgency of the situation with as nnich readiness 
as they have .shown in other directions by bringing 
down recommittal.':' for favored industries, 
THA IN PACKKT.S. 
From tiiTie to time the grave injustice done to 
Australian tea packers and blenders by tlie can- 
cellation of the tluly on packet as well as bulk 
tea has been pointed out in "The Age," yet 
singularly enough none of the supporters of local 
labour has stirred a finger to place a stn-ill pro- 
tective duty on^the former, made up by coolie 
labour and packed in wrapper-^, &e. , which have 
no duty. The question of packet tea must be 
kept altogether apart from bulk tea, which the 
House has in its wisdom or otherwise made free. 
The total quantity of tea imported into Austra- 
lia annually is estimated at over 30,000,000 lb., 
and of this quantity it is computed that more 
than 20,000,000 lb. are sold in h lb. to 12 lb. p.aekets, 
eiiii)Ioying local labour. The result of the Federal 
Government's decision has been to endanger this 
inclustry,and coolie-packed teas are being ordered 
freelj'. Under the proposed tariff a protective 
difference of Id i)er lb. was made between duty 
on bulk and packet teas. The trade in Melbourne, 
Sydney, Adelaide and Queensland are all protest- 
ing against the action of the Government, the 
Melbourne petition reading thus : — 
Melbourne, 10th April, 1902.— In drawing attention 
to our cause, -we wish to give assurance that the ques- 
tion of whether tea ought to be free or bear a duty doea 
not form one of the points of our contention. Until 
reeeutly the different tariffs existing in the various 
colonies served to make these markets so small thit 
they acted to some extent as a protection to the local 
tea packers against aggressive competition from the 
employers of Asiatic labor, but latterly even then it 
was becoming apparent to ua that the cheap black 
labour must in the end beat us out. With the inaugu- 
ration of the Federal tariff, oirr market became one 
easier for our opponents to work ; and we fear, un- 
less some assistance is given us, the disadvantages 
under which we labour will compel us to remove our 
packing operation to where wo can take advantage of 
this cheap labour. At the present time there are here 
representatives from Ceylon canvassing for orders, and 
using as their main argument that they can undersell 
locally-packed teas, because of the advantages they 
have of cheap labour, and that they avoid payment of 
duty on the materials used in the containers. We pay 
wliite men's wages, which is estimated to be about 1/ 
to every penny that colored labour costs for similar ser- 
vices. In addition to this almost every article we use 
in our business of tea packing is subject to an import 
duty, whilst those whojcompete against us have no such 
handicap. Wrapping paper, twine, printed matter, 
timber for cases, weighing rdachinea, scales, dynamos, 
gas engines, blending machinery, starch tor paste 
making, (fee, are subject to duty, and these are the 
principal items in use. We therefore feel justified in 
asking that some counter-vailing duty be imposed on 
all packages of 12 lb. and under containing tea. 
CACAO IN THE WEST INDIES: THE 
WITHERING OF YOUNG PODS. 
Trinidad, B.W.I., 9th April, 1902. 
Sir, — I noted in your January issue that the 
author of tlie article on cacao diseases said 
that information on the withering of young pods 
would be acceptable. I gathered some such in- 
formation some time ago in response to questions 
which I sent to several planters and managers 
