July i, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AQRSGU LTURiSt, 
45 
a good 8nd sufficient labor supply. With an losutEcient 
labor force on au estate, weeding contractors get 
careless and fjll behind with their work; coolies reiuse 
to, or declare their iuability to, <!o a f -iir day's work, 
and the daily ouc-luru of a small labor force is less 
in proportion to the number of coolies on the estate than 
when the force is sufficient. A rnanjtgerso feels his posi- 
tion at stuke, and the serious coasequsnceB arising from 
an insufficient labor force, that it becomes very hard 
to do to others as J ou would otlurs do to you m the 
matter of coolies. It requires no argument to prove 
that an insufficient labor supply is frtqiiently the 
cause of loss of -jrop, coarse plucking and neglect of 
cultivation, and expsrieuce has taught many that 
unless estates are in th'i imaiedia'-e neighbourhood of 
Sinhalese vilbg-^s it is quite a delusion to hope for 
aid from the Siobalepe. 
"I believe seve-al thousand more coolies could bo 
procured for service in Ceylon if all the advancea 
sent to the Ooast were u*ed for that objsct. At pre- 
sent probabl}' not one half our moaey so sent is 
given to the coolies. Under the Ltbour Fund Com- 
mittee Echeme, we would know e.'factly how many 
coolii-s to expect for the money issued, and only maua- 
(fers or agents of estates who contributed to tlje Libor 
Supply Fund would be entitled to indent through the 
Secretary for coolies for their estates." 
Of course, all are agreed as to the importance of 
a sufficient labour supply; the point is as to the 
best mode in which it can be procured. 
TEA :— FOOCHOW NOTES. 
{Fooclwio Echo, 9th May.) 
The opening prices in Hankow are we understand 
from fifty to hundred per cent dearer than last season I 
Nicgchow TIs. 85 and Oania Tls. 63. 
It is reported that the price of t a iu Pakling is 
double that of former years ; audit is doubtful whether 
it will benefit the tea growers or the tea hongs, and 
Fo'-eigu buyers will do well to judge the quality 
which is reported to be of good flavour. 
By the end of next week, we uuderetand, a con- 
siderable amount of new tea will be down. A lot 
would have been placed on the market this week had 
it not been for the bad weather we have had for 
some time. 
TEA FOR THE TEUTON. 
The subjects of the Emperor William II. must stand 
ready. 'Jerman-- i« --'-n' f be invaded, — but by a 
friend. The Ii dian tea plantei has fixud his specu- 
lative eye upou l r-.^u. i. u>i, and an organised ad- 
vance into the country of the beer-king Gambrinua 
is coutemplated. So, at least, we gather from the 
iollowiug extract from an BugHsb contemporary :— 
The tea, which ooufists of three specially-selected 
blends Ih put np in attractive little packets of |lb, Jib. 
arid lib. (Germ'<u weight), the labels of which set forth 
in two languages tlio virtues of the contents, and bear, 
moreover, clearly printed on each, cireful instructions 
for tea-making, together with net weights and retail- 
ing prices. The latter we bflieve, have been fixed at 
4, 5 and G marks per | kilo, which, in Germany, where 
6 marks is quite a common price for quite a common 
tea, should prove an attraction in itstdf. The services 
of a Hambnrj? firm have been secured as a sort of 
general agency or distributing centre for the Ger- 
man Empire, and we underBtand that a contract has 
been entered into for a terra of years, which includes 
several valuable provisions. Among these is one by 
which the agent agrees to purchase a fixed minimum — 
— and yet not a very small— quantity of thp, tea in 
each year ; and by another, to establish at least one 
depot for the sale of the new article in every town 
of over 20,000 inhabitants, and not leas than twenty 
such dppota within the first year. 
To Englishmen, who, certainly since the days of Dr, 
Johnson, have been distinguished as a tea drinking 
nation, there is something rather funny in appealing 
to the aesthetic tastes of nearly fifty millions of people 
by coaxing them with '^attractive httle pacHets,"' 
while the " clearly ptiute-c . careful iastruotions for 
tea making " almost constitute a reflection on theland 
of metaphysics and Ui'iversities. The Gerninns will 
be delighted to hear that tboy ore " au eminently 
teachable people," for this, according to the article 
in question, id one of their attributes. There is, how- 
ever, no doubt that the Imlian planters are right, lha 
quantity of te^ consumed in Germany is annually 
atiout 0-09lb per head ef the population. When one 
thinks of this from a tea planter's point of view the 
enormity of lha offence is at once apparent. — Madras 
Mail. 
HIGH-PRICED CEYLON TEA. 
WORTH NEARLY HALF ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD 
— £25 10 PEll LB. 
The Indian tea eale-room in Mincing-Iaco wa^ 
crowde d yesterday afternoon by an eager company- 
R»rely is so much excitement exhibited there. Not 
only was every teat filleii, but business men were 
jammed together like sirdines, right iiowu the gang- 
ways as far ae the doors. It was like the pit entrance 
to a theatre ou Boxing night. But the entertainment 
the crowd had come to witness was to be brief, and 
not particularly amusing. Nine boxes of " GoMeu Tip" 
tea, from the G^utmoro Estate, Ceylon, were to tie 
sold by auciion, lu one iot, at per lb., by Messrs. Gow, 
Wilson and Stanton. The interest iij the proceeding 
waa baaed on the expectation that the price given 
would be a high one. A few weeks ago tea sold in 
Mincing-lane as a little over £10 per lb ; laat Tuesday 
ft pr.ckagH fetched £17 per lb. There was an im- 
pression that even this high figure would be surpassed, 
and that anticipatiou was amply realited. 
Mr. Wilson offioiaied, and inimediately he mounted 
the rostrum someone facetiously cried out, " Seven- 
pencr.-halfpeuny." Thoie was ut once a bona Jicle bid 
of " ten guiueaa," followed by a whistling expression 
of amazement at the magnitude of the start. It was 
arracged to raise the bidding at least 2s 6d at a time, 
and forthwith there was a cry of £10 125 6 J. With great 
rapidity the price was raised £13, £13 10s, £14, 
£14 lOs, £15, sixteen guineas, seventeen guineas, 
£18, £19, and twenty guineas, after which 
one gentleman, amid the loud laughter of tho company, 
immediately cried, "Twenty-one pounds," aud evidently 
did not peiceive till some seconds efterwarda, that; he 
had made an offer equivalent to ihe proverbial Irish- 
man's rise I f wages. Up to this point, the chief bidders 
had been Messrs. Cransion, of Glasgow (who bought on 
Tuesday at £17 per lb), Mtssis- Bales, Lapworth and 
Tyers, Messrs. Jobbius and Co. (all brokers), and the 
auctioneer himself. The latter was asked the name of 
his client, but refused to disclose it till the transaciiou 
had been compli ted. The reniaiiiiler of the bidding 
resolved itself into a duel between Mr. W laon aud the 
represBntative of Messrs. Cranston. Still without any 
hesitation on either side, bids wtru rtcarded at £21 5s, 
£21 IDs £22, £22 10s and £23. Then amid ctieers, the 
representative of the Glasgow? firm cried "£25." Mr. 
Wnson at once said " £25 lOj," aud the other side for 
the first time hanging fire, he demanded, "Any advance 
on £25 10s? " There was no response, and the hammer 
fell. It was then annoueced that the purchaser was 
the Mazawattee Tea Coaipmy, and after raising another 
cheer nearly the whole of the company dispersed, the 
remainder of the business exciting compuratively little 
int-rest. 
In the general sales, competition was even less here 
than it had been of late, and buyers were indisposed 
to bid quite up to recent rates, either for ludian or 
Ceylon growths. Teas over lid were most depressed, 
and showed in some instances a decline of nearly a 
penny per lb. Many readers will marvel why, in face 
of this position of the market, a particular lot fetched, 
the enormous and unprecedented price of £25 lOs per' 
lb. A representative of The Financial Times made 
some inquiries on this point alter the sale, ai d learned 
th, t the tea, while of a dei idedly superior quality, was 
procured rather as a cur osity than as au article of 
consumption. It is valuable because mre. It consists 
entirely of the tips of the new shoots of the plant, pro- 
curing which involves an enormous amount of labouj 
