THE 
8ome influeDtinl qoWo, and tbroughoiit Siatn, and iri I 
Bangkok especially, there exists a system, reeenjblicg j 
tUat of fiudal vassalage, by which each person, ac- 
cording lo birth, position, or descent, forms one of a 
claaa owing dependence to a particular master or 
over-lord, nnder whose protection he is, and to whom 
he devotes bis service. Most minute registers are kept 
of all such persona. Under ceitain oircumetanoeB tbe 
characior oi a ^uild is nearly approached when certain 
trades and handicrafts remain hereditary in a parti- 
cular class or department, such as, for ins'ance, in 
that of clerks and painters, potters, lacqnerers, soSd- 
smithg, inorustators, boatmakers, engravers, lewellers. 
Such persona receive sakriea ranginif from 6 ticals 
(12.i,) to 120 ticala (12^.), including food, according to 
rank or individual ability. 
When not eerving their over-lord they can employ 
substitutes on payment to tbe latter of a sum of 6d 
per diem. This system of vassalage, now so thoroughly 
engrained in the national life, has many drawbacks, 
but it would be difficult to say if its abolition would be 
productive of much good; or stimulate the Siamese 
artisan to tbe development of local industries. His 
wants are small, a wage of 10 ticala (1^ ; a month 
beina; ample to provide him with food, dress, and 
lodging; and if he be a man of means and ambitious 
of following the custom, which is now being more and 
more adopted, of wearing European artiuleJ of drefs, if 
be can purchase his requirements at Bangkok and 
other 'important towns on tbe main river rentes. 
Every ye»r Siam is becoming more dependent on the 
manufactures of Europe and China, and there is a fear 
that the few existing local industries will soon be 
eslioguiphed by foreign competition. — Straits Indepen- 
dent. 

PATENT TEA CHESTS. 
The following paragraph has reached us from 
Messrs. Andrew Poison & Co,, of Glasgow :— 
We hear from time to time of tei cheats being inven- 
ted to supersede the old wooden ones ; and we have just 
seen one which promises to do away with tea lead, 
nails, hoopirons, &c. 
The patentees think the cost will be only a little 
more than the cost of wooden cheats. Apart from 
being able to diepenee with the use of lead, nails, 
hoopirons &c, a largo saving will be effected in the 
factory. One cooly will be able to pack, (screw up 
and make all ready for shipment) a largo number of 
chests in a day. We cannot say onytliing more in 
the meantime as the patentees hope to have the chest 
in the market with full particulars shortly, A gentle 
man with large experience saw the chest today and 
says he thinks it is sure to be a success. Granted 
that tho chest is a succcfs, the only question ia 
that of cost ; freight to Colombo can, we have no doubt, 
be arranged with shipping compatiiea. Perhaps in, 
this way ; — We will take out 10,000 empty chests if 
you guarantee to send 10,000 full ones back by our 
ships, samre as the railway carries ahooks, &o. free. 
Concessions as great as this are done daily by shipping 
oompdnies." 

THE REGULATION OF SUPPLIES. 
To the Editor of the Home and Colonial Mail. 
Sir, — In your last issue you publish a very sen- 
sible letter on " Tho Kegulation of Supplies " of tea 
from a correspondent signing himself " Vis Unita 
Fortior," 
I beliovo, however, that when he writes " Remember 
that when it was soon ten months ago that the 
Indian crop was short and tho price rising, word 
was psesod round Coylon to make all tho tea they 
could — tho object being, of course, to imsten tli« 
displacement of Indian " — he is doing either more or 
loss than justice to tho foresight of tho tea planters 
of Coylon. 
It was well recognised in Ooylon that the groat 
iuoreaso in tbe shipments of tea in tho first half of 
this your was duo to tbu unuenal continuance of 
>v«t forciDg woathcr, >Yhlch, while largely iucieasing 
crops, added also greatly (o the difficulty of proper 
preparation of the leaf, nnd so caused much of tho 
tea shipped to be of inferior quality, 
It is possible, alfo, that Ooylon planters had been 
to aome extent predisposed to heavy pluokinj? by 
(he otate of the London markets during 1890, when 
the ranges of prices for tea-, whether of high or 
low quality, was comparatively small. 
Till I saw tho letter above referred to, I never 
heard it even suggested that Coylon men had been 
moved in thia matter by a wish to combine for tho 
purpore of damaging Indian ten in tho market. 
On tho contrary, tho principle that has hitherto 
guided them in ary corabicod action has most surely 
been that " Via Unita Fortior" still holds good as the 
rule of the two great tea producing interests of the 
Empire. — I am, Sir, yours, &o., Wm. Martin Leake, 
Secretary Ceylon Association in London. 
4, MiBcing Lane, Deo. 14. 
CEYLON TEA. 
(From the Grocer.) 
In our last issue waa published the usual monthly 
atatement of the movements of tea at the Tort of 
London, which ahows the same marvellous expan- 
sion in the supply of and demand for Ceylon tea 
that has obaraoterised the trade in this article 
from its very commencement, about ten years ago. 
Doriog the first eleven months of the present year 
the landings, in round numbers, have been nearly 
55,000,000 ib., against about 37,120,000 ib. in 1830, and 
28.444,000 lb. in 1889. The deliveries in the same 
period, it ia an extraordinary fact to observe, have kept 
pace fairly well with this rapid increaae in the imports, 
and have amounted to 49,203,009 lb., in comparison 
with 34,880,600 lb. laat. year, and 28.277,000 ib. in 
1889 ; p.nd the business still goes on expanding as 
fast as the crops grow larger every Beasou. Another 
remarkable circumstance, is, that while tbe receipts 
of Oeylon tea here have been augmented by cloie upon 
18,000,000 lb., those of ludiau have not been rendored 
heavier by more than 8,693,200 lb., or barely half 
so much. End instead of a very substantial gain of 
14,323,000 lb. in the clearances, as shown by the (Jeylou 
description of tea, Indian sorts actually exhibit a defi- 
ciency of 1,979,500 lb. for the past eleven months- To 
satisfy these increasing requirements of Ceylon tea, it is 
reasonable to infer that there must bo a constantly ad- 
vancing rate of production, and it ia therefore highly 
satisfactory to note that the entire crop, as ganged by 
the estimated shipments to the United Kingdom for 
1891, will in the aggregate reach 64,000,000 lb., or 
20,000,000 lb. more than in the previous season. 
Having thus spoken of tho quantity, we will now 
proceed to offer a few remarks on the quantity of 
Ceylon tea imported into this country ; and first, it 
must be understood that, without creating tho least 
prejudice against either the growers or distributora, 
exceptionally large crops of any kind of produce— 
toa or anything else — are not always identified with 
superiority of condition or out-turn. Consequently it 
is no libel on the general character of the article to 
say that among the importations of Ceylon tea thia 
year have been numerous samples of complete rubbish, 
which would not have been tolerated or received by 
the trade aa tea in the smallest sense if they had been 
offered as invoices or breaks of Indian or China, and 
itia the magical name of Ceylon alone that has enabled 
importers to dispose of the said tea when other — 
and, in the opinion of some persons, more excel- 
lent — kinds have been long on tho market seeking 
buyers in vain. Without at all diminishing tho popu- 
larity of Ceylon tea, wo may further state that, 
CO common baa been a deal of tha supplies put forward 
of lite that pekoes havo been selling down to 6d per lb. 
and under, pekoe souchongs as low as 5d broken pekoo 
at 7d and even less, and orange pekoe at only 7d 
besides broken sorts at the severely reduced liguro of 
4d per lb. At such cheap and popular prices suroly 
tUoro ia a most powerful stimulne to an uoatiuted con- 
aumption, and a ready means for securing prt fitable 
returua on the ospital invested by the wholeaale dealers 
aud othtirs, 
