236 
tion to Indian Te», on a sca'e which may ultimately 
compare with the fcope and talent dispUyed by those 
intereet^d in pushing Ceylon Teas in this country. The 
weakest part in the Prospfctus ia the abrenee of nny 
rtatietics or data, showing the actual reenlts and rate of 
improvement in the saleP, since the start, at the Paris 
!|^xbibitioD. To those outsiders, if any, who might be 
tempted to subscribe, this omiesiou might bo ominous, 
as it would, of course be the first thing looked for. I 
hear that the hairy dust is now being removed from the 
sorting rooms in some Oeylon Tea Factories by mFatis 
of small sized Blaokman Fans. — Indian Planters' Gazette 
THE WRECK OF THE QUININE 
COMBINATION. 
In onr issue of July 18th we expressed^ the belief 
that the last word bad not yet been said in the die- 
pnte between the Auerbach and the Brunswick quinine 
factories. Our anticipation proves comet, I't we 
have this week received a commuuicatioii from Mr, 
HagoAndreae, the president of the Auerbich factory, 
in which he maintains the correctness of the pre- 
viouB statements, and affords us one or two more 
glimpses into the history of the combination negotia- 
tions, which we will chronicle ben-, iiot only for the 
sake of the historical interest which tbey po.sstss, 
but also becaose tViev may indicate the outlines upon 
which future attempts at combination building will 
probably proceed. In the first place, Mr. Andreae 
explains that, though the figure of 50 marks per 
kilo, was correctly meutio' ed by the Brnii.>wiek 
works as the proposed combination-price for sulphate 
of qninine, that figure was constructed of purely 
imaginary elements, the figures in the " protocol," 
embodj in;; the basis of the combination, b(-\t>A only 
intended to illustrate the proposal of the promo- 
ters of the ring. The wording of this pait of the 
" protocol " is as follows ; — 
§ 7. A certain amonut shall be added thereto for 
cost of prcduotion (this amount to be added.) 
§ 8. A profit (to be agreed on) to be added to 
this fignre und sum total to form the mibimum 
selling price. 
Example: 
Price of sulphate in bark, according to 
paragraph 5 233 per kilc. 
Cost of production 15s per kilo. 
38s per kilo. 
(Including all chargf 3, freight, &c.) : — 
Profit agreed upon ... 12a per kilo. 
Minimum selling price 50s „ 
The figures, says Mr. Andreae, should be taken in a 
purely embV matio sense, in proof cf which he points 
out that the amouLt of 15s per kilo, is so much in 
excess of what all quinine manufacturers know to be 
the real cost of production that it coul.l cot possibly 
have been meant to indicate the aotunl intentions of 
the would-be combiners. 
In our article of July 4th we specially took excep- 
tion to this estimate of the cott of the prcductiou of 
quinine as an exaggerated one. It further rppears 
from Mr. Andreae's letter tba th^' " proti c 1" was 
handed by the Aurrbach to the Biuuswick repre- 
sentative, not in London, but at Frankf. rt-o/M., the 
seat of HI ollifcT (f th) fi ur Ce man fac'oiie*. The 
seleotioT of Frankfort as the meeting place of the 
oppo iiig interests not unnaturally tuggesis that, on 
the German fide, the Auerbach and Frankfort fac- 
tories were the two firms mo t anx'oui to bring th" 
Di-gotiatiotjs to a si cc-pssful 1 sue. But the Erun. wick 
directors were ob'u-Bte from thu ou'set. At 1 lie 
Fr»nl(lort meeting thi'y <]eclHrt'<i ihat lui consider- - 
tions would in-Jnce th m t > suorifice th-ir freedi iii 
of action, and at a subsi ei.t slug- ol th procefi'iiigs 
they hlt,(jg(-llicr refuhtd 'O iitinJ ll)o ci.ufei enc s, 
while the l.' i.don af^out of lliu Bi u' swick fa .U^ry 
selected tb<i vi-ry moment when the not'otitiiions 
approachid a ciitichl stage, in the mirtille < f .T iiiuary, 
to deprcBB the quinine market by offering tbn drug 
right and left at reduced prices. If Mr. Andreae is 
correct, the position of the Brunswick works was 
on© of antagoi ism to the planting interests, while 
11)6 other n ai/ufacturers desired, if possible, to 
include all the planters — and certainly the princi- 
pal producers in Java and Ceylon — within the pro- 
jected combination. In his letti r to us, Mr. Hugo Aa- 
dreao claims that all the quinine manufacturers, except 
the Brunswick works, adopt his sideof the question, 
and n'^ree that it would have been folly to endeavour 
to cstaijlish a combination which left Ihe planters 
outfcide — i. e., in opposition. 
Ill oHiPr vfordc, Auerbach, according to its apologist, 
invilel ttie motley uiuliiplicity of iutt-resis to seek 
salvation beneath the ample folds of the grand old 
ooiiibination umbrella, while Brunswick insisted upon 
figuring as the man who remained true to one parly 
01. ly, and that party was himself. " To leave out the 
planters," thus argued the majority, "will be to en- 
courage them to form a combination of their own, to 
establish a quinine factory in the East, and to bt come 
their own mauufacturerp," Sut h a step has been in 
coiitemplhtion bfafore, and, were the growers to let 
about its realisation in a determined manner, it is 
quite pissibla that the scheme m'ght be worked suc- 
cessfully. But up to the present the planters have 
shown no more capacity for orgai.isation th»n the 
quinine maiiufecturers themselves. 
With regard to the view (set forth by the Brunswick 
works as the main reason of their withdrawal from the 
negotiations), that it would be impossible to provide lor 
the absorption of the surplus production of bark by the 
oombioation, Mr. Hugo Andreae asserts that the com- 
bination ijromoters hoped to obtain the adhesion of tbu 
principal planters to a scheme for the reduction of the 
output of bark, while they were prepared, if no olber 
way out of the difficulty could be found, to buy up and 
pu aside such a proportion of the stock of ba,rk as would 
prevent the question of over-supply becemming apre^s- 
in^ one for tome time. The president of fcbe Auerbach 
factory believes that the establishment cf a union among 
th'^planters would have been a difficult, but by no moans 
an^impossiblo, undertaking, and he holds that, if the 
larger producers could have been got togeihcr, the 
smaller ones might have been .safely left aloi e if they 
chose to remain outsido. But among th9 manu- 
facturers no outsider could be allowed if tha scheme 
were to succeed. 
It is only just to reiterate that the preceding 
observations are based wholly upon the view taken 
by the Auerbach factory, and that further communica- 
tions by other parties to the negotiations might place 
masters in a somewhat different light. Bat, at any 
rate, we cannot afifect sorrow at the failure of the 
quinine interests to form a great organisation which 
would have absolutely controlled the market and 
readercd 8uceee8ful campetition pr.'ictically impossible. 
So far as the revelations we have pub'ishe.d ei.able 
us to judge, there is now no prospect whatever of 
the establishment of i-uch an organisation. The com- 
bination of the quinine producers appears to be en 
object more difticult to attain than the union of the 
Australlas, the abolition of standing armies, or the 
completion of the Channel tunnel, and it is not 
extravagant to assert that when the latter schemes 
st all luive hnoomc! facts ot ancient history, the quinine 
pei>]ilf' will still be in dcubt whether to look east or 
west for the master mind ihat shall consolidate them. 
— Chemist and Bruygist, July 25tb. 
A Short Bbaziijan Coffee Ckop. — A Washington 
ilispatch says that the latent estimate placoa the 
Brtzilian coffee crop for 1890 91, now coining into 
market, at 2,200,000 bngs. Notwithstanding the 
hith prices the daily receipts do not average. over 
3.U00 bags. Should the present diporganizition of 
labor continue it is believed that the cofiVe crop 
for 1891-92, now placed at 8,000,000 or 9,000,Ooo 
bags, will not exceed C.000,000 or 7,OOl),000 bags.— 
BracUtreeVs, August let. 
