36 
"COFFEE'" AND THE DECREASE OF 
POPULATION IN THE CENTEAL 
AND UVA PROVINCES. 
THE HOST OF liOWCOUNTBV DEPESDENTS ON " COFFEE ' 
■WHO MUST HAVE DISAPl'BAHED ^YHE^( COFFEE WENT. 
A well-infornltd correspondeDt thus indicates liow 
native population in tha ooffue distriois o£ tlie 
hilloounu7 must have melted away wiih tlio dis- 
appearaucB of their meana ot subsistonco, diiecl or 
indirect, in coffae. Not simply did the Kanuyan 
villagers suffer, Rod to some extent, being sold out, 
migrate; but a much larger host of lowcounlry 
boutiquekeepers, iu-ufioers, seivaiUs, carters, et hoc 
genus oinne had to move and return to the maritime 
distriols. We quote asfcdluws: — 
" It is clear that the damaj^e suffertd by the Iosg 
of coffee, i. c. the actual loss ot iuecuie to viUajjere, wiib 
far larger than the G jvenuneiit hns ever fully reahz.d. 
This bears very i-trougly on the latest foily of ' the 
philauthrops',' that the reduction in numbers in 
the Oeutriil Provicics b'uowu l>y the pas' census is 
due to Biles for grain tax. It is of course due to 
the lubS of Ciiffce which has produced the reraov;il 
from the Ueutral Province aud above all from the 
lines of the great lu^hways, to other parts all that 
large alien population wnich lived by coffeu, eiiatr 
by its growth or by its cr^iD-p^-rt. 
" And one proof is this, lu Kandy District pioper 
thtre are three K-ueuiahatuiayas' divisions, the 
collection oi the tax lu which has been alvvay-> oj ide 
without distraint ; iu fact v/bere the tax is born.' 
vtith s.sse, — Hati-pa'.tu, Pata Duujbara, aud Pjia 
Hewaheta, There ace thru; where there has always 
been difaoulty a'ld some, but, (x ept in tlie .Hfcoad, 
not muuy, fales, — Tuuipauii, U.la Durabara, and UAj. 
Palata. It should follow, if the .pUilantaropist is 
correct, that the populatiiou of the first three should 
have increased or at the worst remained ttationary 
— and thiit the populaticn of the last three should h-ive 
dirairiishtd. As a fact tfiey have all (except 1 think 
Tumpaua which has ujcreased) diminiahed in much 
the sacae proportion. 
" You have yourself Lit thp blot iu pointing at 
Matalo Din; rict, where the fax has always been 
collected wilhoul dithculty, but which has lost 13 per 
cent. Mnta.'e has iost more than Walapiina I" 
Yos, Miit'-.le lost the lowcouutry boutiquekeepers, 
servants, artificers, &c., &c., 'Aho were sujiporteJ iiy 
the coffee enterprise. But of course, the diiniuished 
popuhitiou will c;.utiuue to be traced lu certain quarters 
to the " oppressive " rout of rino lands. 
KAINFALL AT LABUGAMA. 
For five years on Labugama estate : — 
Rainfall 
From lat J^iouary to 31st December 1886 148-57. 
Tlie highest fall during this year v^iis on 
May Ibth ... ryb'i 
From M Jauuary to 31st December 1887 161'22 
The hif^hcrst tall during thid vear was on 
April 27th ' . . 6-10 
Prom Isl Janiittry to Slbt D^c. tuber 1838 14'l-82 
Th(! highi-ht fa 1 durinj; this vear w/is on 
May 2G h " ... 0 01 
From 1h1, ,Jai,uary to 31st Di.'cembor 18ri9 171 au 
The liighchl (all during this year was on 
April Mih ... G-12 
From Ist .Linuafy to 31st Decembe 18'J0 148 09 
The hiylioit fall during this ye.-tr was on 
.Mf-.y "2»th ... G-O J 
From Iht .li.nuiiry to 22fid May 1891 G284 
Tlie liigbcHt fail during (his peiiod was on 
April 71 h ... 7-30 
[i-jo tfiat the highest daily fall is credited to 
18iU.— Eu. T. A.] 
BAEK AND DRUG REPORT. 
(From tha Chemist and Druggist ) 
London, April 30th. 
ANNATTO.— A parcel of J 2 paolsages bright Ceylon seed 
is held for ^i per lb., an offer at 2id being declin«d ; 
another lot of damp seed soU at lid per lb. 
Cinchona.— The large supply of 233 bales Guayaquil 
bark was nearly all disposed ot v.'iili lair comietition, 
209 bales selling at soaiewhat irregular, but cn the 
whole steady, prices : good silvery and mossy quill 8id 
to 94d ; medium to bold browu ditto 5d to 7d ; mossy 
chip.s 6d to oj-d ; brown ditto 3d to i^d ; split in thin 
chips 3d down to Id per lb. Of flat Calisaya 6 serons 
damaged sold at 91 to Is 2d; 74 packages flat damaged 
i'arthageaa bought in at 8d per lb, only one lot, very 
badly daruaged, selling at 4d to 5d per lb. The ioUow- 
iug figures refer to the exports of ciuchona bark 
from Java during the eight mouths between July Ist 
and February 28th : — 
J89U-91 18b9-90 1888-89 1887-88 1886-87 
lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. 
Private ) 
plantations > 4,838,965 3,012,i^.S0 3,244,870 2,001,171 1,125,310 
Anjst. J 
Govt. I 
planta- \ 404,015 394,7'iO 529,110 490,653 480,777 
tioi;S, Amst. J 
Total 5,273,610 3,407,410 2,773,980 2,491,824 1,606,087 
THE SALE OF FINE TEA. 
We are pleased to find that our recent articles on this 
subject have been largely reproduced by the grocery 
press iu A'nerioa, and have ehoiteJ general expressions 
of approval. Ttio same advice that we have given to 
English grocers — v z, to sell as fine a quality of goods all 
round as they possibly cau — is also ijiven by our conlem- 
porai'ifcG to ihe grocers of America, and almost exactly 
the same line of argument is useti. Thus the Cai/adia/i 
Grocer, after reputilishiog an article from this journal, 
waercin our reaJers arc advised to avoid iowpricetl 
rubhish and put.h higher class teas, says : — 
The above will answer qaita as wel for Amerioau 
grocers. Last year the imports of tea were large, but 
the declared value of the 89,249,443 lb. imported was 
little over 15 cents per pound! This does not indicate 
a very high grade of tea, aud reveals one reaso nwhy 
our people prefer coffee or beer, for the two latter 
have become national bev6rage.s, we uiing about eixteeu 
gallons per capita of coffee, and twelve guflons 
per capita of beer pet annum, to about sis gallons 
of t( a. There are both profit and satisfaction iu 
h.indling fine tea. It makes trade. Customers as soon aa 
their atteution is directed to the matter, wil discover 
that there are pronouuced differences in flavour and 
come to appreciate the delicate liagrance of a fine leaf 
iDttead of as now, being satisfied with any sort of an 
infusion so ^oug as it is warm. People will soon learp 
that a high-priced tea is veiy little more expensive 
than a cheap tea. Tue Oeyl n factors impress ni>on 
their customers thattheifmouey can go as far in S 1.25 
tcii as in a 50, -cent tta, that ie, good tea can be cheap." 
This country should use 240,000,(IOOib. annually 
instead of 80,000,000rci. but that day will not come until 
the average value per pound ot the imports of tea is 
raised from 15 to '60 to 40 cents per pound. Fine 
tea becomes a subject of tea-table gossip, aud sets 
tongues a wagging tbe s*me today as in Ben Jonson'a 
time. Hence to build up a paying tea trade the dealer 
should abandon ihe sale of poor, inferior, or low- 
grade tea." 
Tais is sound eommon-sense, and may' be studied 
with advantage not oiily by the groc ers of America 
but also by those in th s country. The public, after 
all, do not like low. priced, inferior goods, and are 
generally induced to purchase them only by the absence 
of anything better. If they are offered the chance of 
buying really fine tea aud other goods of a similar 
character, thoy do not, as a rule, stand out for the 
aalte ol a few pence per pound, but prefer the superior 
commo dity. Grocers should most carefully study their 
ti^sto iu this respect, and strive to supply only one 
class of goods, viz. the best.— Grocer. 
