46 
[July i, 1891. 
tho requirements pointed out hy Mr. Mitchell 
A3 regards our Tea industry generally it is evident 
that many people in the old country are beginning 
to think that ii in not oi;ly destined to thut up 
China, but to beat India handsomely in the race ot 
competition. Our London corresponaent brings for- 
ward two Companies which ho finds reported together 
in the London Timts and he makes out that thsy 
may be taken as typical and that they show Ceyloh 
is by fcjr the better adapted for a tea growing country 
and that our credit ought to rise accordingly. 
There is something in this and more might be 
made if our largest Comijany — and the biggest 
Tea Company in the wjild, tha Ceylon Plantations 
Tea Co. with its J 5 per cent were quoted in com- 
parison with the largest and best of Indian Companies. 
We do not say, o£ coiTde, that so striking a 
contrast could be maintained in the case of all 
Companies working respectivtly inCeyion and India. 
iStiil, we shuuld have no difficulty in citing 
sinking juxtapositions many times over were 
we called upon to do so. No doubt the coin- 
cidence of the quotation by the London Times will 
arrest the atientiou of many of the enormous 
number of the rouders of the leading journal, 
and it may fairly be concluded that deductions 
highly favourable to Ceylon credit will be made 
upon the facts disclosed. At the same time 
and the collection of but a comparatively small quan- 
tity of which absorbs theshuotaof plsinte throughuut a 
very lurKO area of grouud. Our representative was 
shown a sample of the stuff sold, which looked rathor 
like a tobioco mixture thau tea, there baing nothing in 
the nature of the ordinary le;if, but the whole having the 
appearance of a short-chopped fibre, some of the in- 
greditntj boing golden, and others of a darktr 
hue. The golaen was explained to be the superior 
article, aud a comparison with a sample of what was 
previously sold at the n'.xt highest price justifitd ttio 
advance m the figures, the gold being in far larger 
proportion in yesterday's supply. Wo learu that when 
tea of similar character fetched over £10 per lb. a 
few weeks ugo.tbe Sultan of Turkey desired to purchase 
an ounce, which was sold to him for a sovereign, and 
that to sundry others who take an interest in ouriofi- 
ties of the kind, small quantities were sold at high 
rates. It is anticipated that in the present cate there 
will be a similar demand in certain quarters, and it 
is thought probable that the greater part of the lot 
will fiud its way to the Chicago Exhibition. We fear 
that persons who may purchase the Mazawattee Com- 
pany's tea will not be able to detect in it any infusion 
of the £25 lOs per lb. supply. It will be found on 
calculation that that price represents nearly half the 
weight of tho tea in gold. 
Tne recent weakness of the tea market is attributed 
to the heavy supplies coming from Ceylon, the know- 
ledge ot which has depressed Indian teas gsnerally, 
in addition to which the tailure ot Messrs. Adams 
and Bell, an old firm of China tea merchants in the 
Oity, with liabilities estimated at £200,000, has had 
a oisturbing effect on the market. — Financial Times, 
May 8 th. 
THE CEYLON AND INDIAN TEA 
ENTERPRISE. 
The Hon. W. W. Mitchell writing to us under 
date 7th May, says: — "The tea market has given 
" way a little, buyers being frightened apparently 
" at the large shipments of Ceylon tea, the result 
" Of the heavy flushes consequent upon the abnor- 
" mal rains you have had. Estimates of the shipments 
" during April have been anything from 5i to 7 
"million lb. and it is a pity that accurate returns 
" are not issued more promptly, I know the diffi- 
''culty there is in getting steamers' manifests 
"ooaipleted, but the Chamber of Commerce might 
♦'devise means of procuring more expeditiously than 
''at present, information that a good deal of im- 
•'portance is attached to on this side. Mr. S. 
" Etwood May, the President of the Ceylon Planters' 
*' Tea Co. in America is here on a visit, and has 
•' met the Tea Committee of tho Association and 
" impressed them very favourably. The support 
"given by the Planters as a body, has so far 
been very meagre, as witness the resoiuiion passed 
"by the Association in January last, and he would 
"like more of an ' endorsemeat ' by them, Ceylon 
" should make a good demonstration at Chicago, 
"and it gocs without saying that no better channel 
" could be found for doing it than through the 
" Ceylon Planters' Tea Co. I hope the Tea Fund 
" Committee will be liberal when the occasion comes, 
•' seeing that they have never given a cent towards 
"the introduction of tea into America." 
We give prominence to this information in addi- 
tion to that in our London Letter, because un- 
doubtedly the great practical question of the day 
bbfi.re Ceylon is (1) how to facilitate the sale of 
her teas m Mincmg Lane, and (2) how to extend 
the demand in new countries and in America 
more especially. We may therefore feel certain 
that the Tea Fund Committee and our tea planters 
generally will view favourably any proposals com- 
ing to them W'tb tuo approval of the businesernen 
on the Loiniuitteo of the London Association, while 
thi Comujitiee of the Chamber of Commeioe 
Will no doubt 699 whftti Oftu be done to meet 
that public attention has thus been drawn tc the 
superior position occupied by Ceylon as a country 
wherein to invest in tea cultivation, the succeed- 
ing issue of the Times coutaiued the announcement 
of the fact that our teas had been sold in Mincing 
Lane for a price somewhat exceeding a guinea an 
ounce ! We, out here in Colombo, can discount the 
weight of this last announcement. We know very 
well that it relates to a mete tour dt force, that 
the circumstance is altogether outside of practical 
commercial results. The British puolic, however, 
will not be so readily able to recognise this, 
although the trade must De fully aware of it. Two 
succeeding issues of the world-read metropolitan 
journal — along with praitically the whole English 
press— tiave therefore contained an advertisement of 
our plantiag enterprise which must be productive of 
satisfactory effect. For the generality of people 
will not stay to consider the conditions under 
which this and former abnormal prices have been 
obtained. We have seen how ignorant have been 
the Conductors of home, journals as to these con- 
ditions, and we may be quite sure that the conclusion 
of the great mHjority of those who have read the two 
annouacemenis referred to will be that, not only does 
Ceylon grow tea of a value such as has never 
been heari of, but that the results of a finan- 
cial kind are close upon three times as good in 
Ceylon as they are in India 1 
Itis anticipated, at home, that benefit toCeylonmust 
follow upon this. Home capitalists, have of late been 
exceedingly cautious in their investments, and they 
have required strong inducement and very complete 
assurance to lend money on colonial enterprises. But 
the Budicient inducement and assurance, it is now 
thought many moneyed men at home will find in 
the case of the Ceylon tea enterprise. It 
remains to be seen whether the further transfer 
of estates from proprietors working — in some 
cases at least — with borrowed money, to individual 
or Company purchasers commanding capital, is 
likely to follow. There is no doubt slill room for 
amalgamation and the thorough equipment of 
central factories serving a large acreage. But mean- 
time, anything to strengthen the credit of the 
staple industry of Caylon is an advantage and 
as eiteh wo welcome the wide aud favourable adver- 
tising of our teas and tea culture, this maii 
presents. 
