112 
THE TROPIOAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1891. j 
PEOGKESS IN "WEST HAPUTALE:" 
"THE DARJEELING 01' CEVLON " ; A TEA COMPANY 
WANTED : ALL THE PKESENT PROPKIETOES 
TO BECOME BHAHEH0LDEH3 ? 
We are indebted to a oorrespondent who supple- 
ments the recent notice of this district that appoared 
in our columns with the following further in- 
formation : — 
"la reading a correspondent's notes from West 
Haputale in your Overland sheet, I see he passed 
without mentioning Lentran iand Caliender, flourish- 
ing tea estates both owned bj Mr. Dun^mure, 
who has established a tea factory in the centre 
of the Valley. On Wellatenue tco Mr. Margary 
is opening land in tea. There must be well on 
to 700 acres of tea planted in ihe Kalupahana 
Valley out of a total of three thousand acres avail- 
able in private lands. It would pay betoer to make 
it all into a Company with om factory if some- 
one would take the matter up. In addition to 
being near the railway, the district has the 
advantage over the old estates iu other district, 
in being all virgin soil, with ample fuel supply, 
and if properly managed the tea at that ele- 
vation should command a better price than the 
average. There is undoubtedly a fine field for a 
Company. Some of the present proprietors sank 
their capital by paying an average of B60 a acre 
at the Government land sale in 1880 ; ana when cin- 
ohona failed, tea was only in its infancy, whereas 
now it is proved to succeed in the witid, which 
after all is much the same as in the rest of Hapu- 
tale. There is a prejudice agaiuet Kalupahana, 
but it is the healthiest climate in Oeylon, and will 
yet grow the best tea. It runs to 7,000 feet in 
some parts where the climate and lay of the land 
has been compared to Darjeeling." 
THE COLOMBO PUBLIC TEA SALES. 
THE FIGUBES FOB THE HALF-YEAR. 
The public sales of tea in Colombo for the half-year 
clused with yesterday's heavy auotiou, and we kave 
pleasure in supplying our readers with the figures for 
the hix mouths, and the comparative totals for the 
latter half of 1890. This is the first year in which the 
season is being reckoned from January to December, 
instead of — as in the old coffee days from Oct. to Sept. 
The progrtss in the quantity of (jeylon tea placed 
in the world's markets are well-known to the 
■public; but the figures helow show that the lea trade 
of Colombo from the beginning of 1891 has tnade even 
greater progress compared with the total exported. 
The quantity offered in the local market in 1885-6 was 
about 20 per ceut., while the following year it fell to 
17 per cent. iSmce then, we believe it has not reached, 
or at any rafe not exceeded, the 20 per cent., until the 
present occasion, for out of about 33,000,000 !b. of tea 
which by the BOth inst. will have been exported from 
Colombo since the 1st Jan. last, about 6,776,000 lb., or 21 
per ceut, will have been offered iu public sale by the 
brokers of Oeylon. This is doubtless a great increase 
on the previous six months, but we are inclined to 
believe that it is a sign of greater confidence in the 
local maiket which will continue. From July to Decem- 
ber last inclusive the number of packages offered and 
sold were 67,550 and 46,164 respeciively as against 
•96,804 and 69,488 for the present six months. As to 
the number of lb. they can be easily calculated through- 
out, at the average rate of 70 lb to a chest or package. 
The following list, the finures of which we have obtained 
from our brokers, are for the half year concluded 
yebierday, and represent the number of packages offered 
and sold. It will be seen that Messrs. Forbes and 
Walker still hold a very secure first position, while 
from the indications of tho last qaartcr more 
eipeoi&ll;, tbo »«zt tbtee flxm, which tit,Hud imls 
dose together, are engai^ed in a keen competition for 
second place, or will be dnriug the coming half-year.— 
The figures conceini,ig Messrs. Uenham's sales are 
necessary to make the totals. 
Blessrs. Forbes and Walker 
„ Komerville & Co. 
Mr. E.John 
Messrs. A. H. Thompson & Co. 
„ E. Benham & Co. 
offered 
40,847 
20,010 
18,314 
17,279 
354 
sold 
pkf's. 
34,887 
13,156 
12,532 
9,227 
186 
Local "Independent." 
Totals ... 96.804 69,488 
PLANTING IN PERAK. 
We are very pleased ,to hear of the good work 
being done in the Straits Settlements by old Ceylon 
Planters. From a letter just received from Mr. 
Thomas Fraser, we quote as follows : — 
1 suppose you have heard of the very favjurable 
terms the Perak Goveinmant is offering land for, viz : 
blocks of 5U0 acres, of which any applu ant can have 
two and select where he likes, ai ii53 an acre and 
no quit rent and purchase in perpetuity. The Govern- 
ment however may impose an advalort m duty of 2| o/o 
or any part of it, should they wish to do so on the 
crop exported. 
People at home are turning their attention to it 
and a very consi-ierable aoi eage haa already been taken 
up on these terms and there is plenty of capital to 
open it. 
Our coffee, Arabian and Liberian, are both doing ex- 
ceedingly well. The latter has certainly found a home 
here as it never did in Ceylon. Tea is also doing re- 
markably well and there ia any quantity of iand to be 
h'id suitable for its cultivation and cheap. I am sur- 
prised that some ofyoui old coffee planters have not 
come over to take up land and so purticipate in the 
liberal terms now being offered by the Goverament. 
WESTWARD HOI— THE COMMISSIONERS 
FOR PERU. 
We have a letter from " Old Colonist " dated 
3lBt May from on board the S. S. " Etruria " off 
QueenstowD, Ireland — the precursor, we trust, of 
many chatty notes to follow. We quote his news 
so far : — 
Here we are so far well and hopeful, the spirit 
indeed being very willing. Boss has had " La Grippe," 
but I hope a few days on the Atlantic will set him 
right. We may have a few days in New York. We 
are to visit Trinidad, but whether we may find it most 
convenient to do so in going or comini; 1 do not know 
yet. This great YanSeeland liner of somewhere about 
8,000 tons is no doubt a smart affair, but there is a 
qttiet dignity about life on board the good old P. & O. 
which 1 have never found elsewhere at sea. Dear old 
" Logic '' came down to see us off yesterday and stayed 
till the bell rang. Very kind of him. How well he 
looks I When I am asked " Who is the happiest man 
you ever met ?" 1 '11 think of " Logie.'' I wish he had 
been going along with us. You wiU probably see him 
soon en route for the Straits, Most kind letter from 
another old colonist, W. Dontian of Belfast today' 
Wants me to go to South Africa when I return ! 
I presume it will be January 1892, before we can 
emerge from Peru, Brazil or Bolivia ? 
The Amazon Steam NA^^IGATION Company has 
sold ita hundred steamers, and all its wha,rves, 
landings, and wharehousea to the Brazilian Cor- 
poration, known as the Empreza de Obas Publicas, 
for £850,000, making £350,000 by the transaction. 
This transaction renders the great rubber-carrying 
trade , of the Amaaoa a BrflSiliafl jnoQoply.— Z«- 
