333 
relative formally registered iu January this year, , 
who thus can ]pay the duty &c., as well as any 
merchant. I, hotpever, am still the soul of the 
business. 
A short outline of our activities will show you 
whether, in view of the fact that Ceylon Tea is a 
foreign and unknown article as compared with 
Russian and must therefore first win for itself the 
general confidence, the quantity which has so far 
been supplied by my brother-in-law may not be 
regarded as satisfactory. 
In January 1890 1st Despatch 50 about 
August „ 2nd „ 150 
December ,, 3rd „ 400 ,, 
UeginniugJanuary 1891 4th „ 1,000 
July middle „ 5th „ 1,700 „ 
Now being sent 6th tiOO ,, 
lb. 4,400 
To these I hope many more despatches will follow 
with increasing rapidity. If you look at these figures 
and consider that only an outsider and not a regular 
dealer in so comparatively short a tima has succeeded 
so well, I think you ^ill acknowledge that it is not 
necessary to be a regular merchant in order to be a 
successful Agent. 
liut as far as the trade connections are concornsd 
these will also in coarse of lime arise, especially as I 
have only to do with ouo branch, and can tlierefore 
devote more attention to that. Ai:other ad^aniage 
on my siJo vThich the deakr has not is this : 
that I am iudepsLdent and there is no need for 
mutual favours as is the case between mem- 
bers rf one fraternity or profession. I have arranged 
with a number of persons to supply an unh'miteJ 
number of pound packets which will be sold to others, 
and as tliey and their friends fiud out the excelieuce 
of the tea, the sale vvill greatly increase. ln_ oue 
department of Govemmeat where there arc some 15,000 
employ e-', besides day labourers ; bo it will take some 
time before I can get tho p.rticle known to them all. 
I httve further tsken sttps and altaiufed results 
through persoual represeu'.ations in various official and 
public ofhce', with different Unions, Banks and In- 
pnrance Societie?, finally with a large business house. 
All this work has cost me at I aat 100 guldens from 
firet to last. It will cost still more yet to introduce 
tho tea t) separate corporations to make tho ac- 
quaintance of a great many more employees, and all 
the expenses I must meet, including that of number- 
less samples. Oce Union hire has vtry kindly allowed 
me the use of their paper free for the inatrticn of 
articles and advertisements; also my circuL.ra with 
description of ti a and directions for its prejiaialion 
cun he sfut with that paper while the arliole is 
recommended by the paper itself in separate para- 
graphs of the iournal. Since June this year I have 
been elected memler of the Central Committee of 
this Urd'in and at their meetings several times in a 
month, I meet representatives from differtnt parts 
of Austria. If I wish to put my advertisements in 
both papers it uill cost 20 g. a month, a round sum 
for postage. If I bad to send it Eoparately the 
postafie wfuld be 5 kr. per piece, but these Uuioua wdl 
do it free, only Government make this postage chniye. 
Hut who is to p.\y all this ? not I — as I give the tea very 
cheaply. And only to eprtad it can I venture to do 
so, and f^ r the came reason my brother-in-law cannot 
undertake tho expenses. 
Whon I have got a great number of customers on 
my side, for which I may want about 2 years, then 
I will come forward with my advertisements. After a 
(greater number of ( flicials and acquaintances have 
becomo accubtomed to tho foreign Ooylon tea, then 
will no tea dealer or " Delicatesfeu " dealer have 
anything to say against it ; but then will tho time 
(■omo when tlie;e will have to provide themselves 
with a supply of Crylon tea, 
I oduld, dtar sir, also tell you in greater detail in 
whit ehice-', cti'., I have already got a footing, but 
this wouhl bu of no interest to jou. But I will tell 
you tliat my su|.p!ien of tea have hitherto t'ono to 
Viouim, Lower Austria, Bol.emit), Mi ravia, Galicia, 
Haugary, Upper Austria, Tyrol and Vorarlberg, hIso 
that; some business houses through other channels 
have been supplied. In the town of Meran (Tyrol) 
is a mineral wafer cure; one confectioner hac taken 
it up. I should like also to have Karlsbad, but 
I know uo one there. 
That I have- enough to do to get tea introduced 
on all sides, even though in smtill quantities, you 
ill acknowledge. Besides the employees already 
referred to (perhaps 15,000) there are also others 
perhaps 20,000 more added to these, professors, 
teachers, doctors, ministers of religion, friends o£ 
these employees, and you will see how many I may 
say. If one considers tha'; the coat of sending cut 
circulars that has to be met every month is uudertaksn 
by one single person, one will come to the conclusion that 
this cannot be just or right rone will much rather in- 
cline to the opinion that insofar as the business 
opens up and promises to the Tea Planters' Union 
of Ceylon a rich field in Australia, the latter should 
render the material h;lp needed. 
If in consideration of all the trouble and work I 
have had and efforts put forth, which ia many 
direction have provtd fruitless and useless, tha 
membets of the Tta Fund Committee would now 
consider whether they could allow me a fixed sum 
half-yearly, I' am sure they would reap 10 or 100 
fold profits thereby. 
Say if they could give 600 to 800 guldens equal to £50 
to £66) a year, I should then devote myself with all 
my strength and onerpy to the matter and should 
be able to thow "colo8"al " sucoeta such as already 
has crowned my efforts in another branch of work, 
I beg you eir, to consider the matter and to give 
the Tea Planters' Committee your opinion as quickly 
as posfible that they may soon arrive at a decision. — 
I am &o., 
I am not at liberty to publish this gentleman's 
name yet : he must be known for the present as 
the. relative of Mr. Osswald; but it can be judged 
that he is certainly taking a special interest in 
Ceylon tea, its distribution and sale ; and although 
Only "the day of small things" is indicated by 
the 4,000 lb. he mentions ; yet I am sure the Tea 
Fund Committee will agree that this Vienna 
resident is deserving of some special support on 
his own account. A free grant of tea — say 1,030 lb. 
— would probably do more to encourage him than 
a money payment and I have asked him in reply 
to say whoso nama should be given to the Com- 
mittee, if iris own cannot bo used for the present ; 
or whether Mr, Osswald should still be the 
medium. As regards Aus'ria generally, however, 
tne iicld is so wide and the people are so well 
disposed, that I do not think attention should bo 
confined to one agent. In Vienna alone, with ita 
enormous population, there is encouragement to 
work in a much more public way lor CeyloB 
tea. I am hopeful that the regular tea dealers 
may at onoa be stirred up to import the new tea 
— several promised, as the result of our interviewing, 
to send for samples and prices ; others to try a 
small quantity for their customers at once, I 
think the Exhibition of Samples at the R. I, 
Austrian Commercial Museum under the care of 
Baron von Scala and his Secretary Mr. Eohn, 
coulel not fail to draw the attention of business 
men and other visitors ; while the question of a 
Sales Koom and Ceylon Tea Bar for free distri- 
bution (in the cup), as a temporary measure, 
may or may not be considered worthy of under- 
taking. In any case, after the samples are sent 
to the Commercial Museum, and there ia time for 
dealers to provide themselves as promised, I 
think Vienna ia quite ready to te placarded <a la 
" Van Houten's Coooa") with " Buy" or Drink the 
new tea" — "Pure Ceylon Tea," or some suoli com- 
bination— perhaps the last, "Echter Oeylon Thee" 
would answer as well as any. This plaoarding 
would not cost much I fancy, and oou'd be arranged 
(or through Mr. Osswald, or his relative, 
