§96 
tHE TROPICAL AQRlCULTURISf. [June i, 1892. 
in North-Ohina last year ; which was about Sh. TIs- 
29 per picul, instead of— as he puts it— Sh. TIs. 16. 
The cost to the teamen moreover must have been 
considerably more than TIs. 29, as they are supposed 
to have lost heavily. As to the low exeharge, etc , 
this of courfe benefits cur rivals equally with our- 
aelves.— I am, etc., "Chaa-szb. 
23rd March. 
To the Editor of the North -China Daily News, 
Sir, — It was with great pleasure I read the article com- 
municated to you underthe beading of ".Sermo Sinensis." 
If the "Sermo Sinensis" has done no other good, it 
hs8 at least led people to talk over what will soon be 
the " business of the hour." I think it would be a great 
pity to let the matter drop now, and some good may 
perhapa be expected from the great teaman's co- 
operation. The statistics in your correspondent's 
article were only too correct, and it is an indif- 
putable fact that, if the China export falls off this 
Beason, China as a tea producing country is irrevo- 
oably doomed. I noticed thnt your correpp^nileiit 
egtimatea the Ceylon export next year at 80.000,000 lb. 
I believe it will be nearer 100,000,000 lb., and if so, 
it makes the position bo much the worse. The China 
tea trade has now come to a critical ppriod and ir.- 
Btead of as in former years meeting with no competi- 
tion, it has now to contend against British colonies 
with no taxation and is therefore handicapped. That 
internal levies are likely to be established I quite 
agree with the "Napoleon of the lei trade" is 
most improbable, but that export duty vamt ba 
done away with, there is no doubt, or otherwise the 
China tea trade is finished. — I am etc., 
23rd March. Tea Merchant. 
To the Editor of the Nohth-China Daily News. 
Sir,~The opinion of the " Napoleon of the tea 
trade " in China is doubtless of ioestimable value 
to would-be tea-buyers in forecasting the " plo3p"x " 
of the coming season, but a more important factor 
upon which to base cue's action is the opinion of tl e 
dealers at home. 
This, as far as my information goes, is unanimous 
that the British public does not want China tea at 
any price, an opiuion, at first fight, hardly coneoaant 
with the fact thnt seventy million pounds of China 
tea were delivered in London last year, which, de- 
ducting the export of twenty-five million pjiindp, 
gives an actual home (loosumpiion of forty-five million 
pounds or nearly one quarter of the total of the t°a 
actually drunk in Great Britain and Ireland. In the 
year of grace 1891, the total consumed, of all hinds, 
was 200,000,0001b. The Home c )nsnmption of China 
tea in the preceding year, 1890, wa^ fifty-fivo million 
pounds out of a total of 194,000,000 lb. or in per- 
centages: — In 1891, 22^ per cent of the coas-UTupticn 
was China tea; in 1890, 28 per cent; and Iq 1889, 31 
per cent. 
Thus roughly speaking, one-fourth of the tea drunk 
in England is still China tea, and this appears to Iiave 
been taken mainly on account of its cheapness for 
the purpose ot "blending." Messrs. Shepard & Co., 
the well-known Minciug Lane brokers, write in their 
Annual Tea Circular, published in January of this 
yaar : — "A.s regards good common to medium Blacks 
received the last few months, though laid in on 
apparently favourable terms, the heavy supply and very 
low level of prices current for good common to fair 
Indian and Ceylon Teas, especially the latter, have 
weighed down the value of anything in China Congous 
Belling over Gd. per lb." Messrs. Shepard further 
Btate " There has been a more general and wide.snread 
effort on the part of dealers throughout the count y to 
revive an interest m fine China Congou, which is being 
pressed on the notice of consumers at and un-^er 24. 
per lb." 
In the face of such low prices and of such nn- 
pr6oed(!i)ted efforts the only resnlt wo see is a steadili/ 
dv)indliii<i cmtxamptioii.. With an antioii)atcd produc- 
tion this year in India and Ceylon of 200,000,000 lb. 
Mr. Awai'a antioipation of " a very largo busineFS in 
all t'as costing from TIs. 7 to Tlfl. 17 " if realised, 
will, I hold, only result in forcing down prices still 
lower iu London. 
Happily for the native tea-niau, the only one other 
large black-tea consuming country, l^uasin, still sticks 
to the Celestial leaf and, as long as that market re- 
mains as it is, tbe Chinese may continue to pack tea 
for Rnssian consumption under existing conditions, but 
as long aa their trarle is handicsppod with diff'^rentlal 
imposts in favor of India of twenty-five per cent, (and, 
given the preference of the " masses " at home for 
strength with coarseness asaijainst delicacy with weak- 
ness), DO efforts of producers end phippfrs can succeed 
in pl.'iciDg China tea on ihe London market in any 
qaantitv with the hope of p. pr'filahle result. 
The moral of which is that, as long as the Export 
Duty remains in force, the China tea trade with 
England is doomed, and hence producers and shippers 
should perseveringly devote all their efforts to the 
removal of this burthen. To pursui? their trade under 
its weight is but to go on from year to yfar "flogging 
a dead horse " until nothing of the carcase is left. — 
I am, etc. A. J. L. 
24th March. 
—X.-C. Herald, March 25tb. 
THE COST OF CEYLON TEA. 
To the Editor of the Nohth-Ohina Da ly News. 
Sir. — With reference to the r orrespondence appear- 
ing in this moroiog's is^ue of your paper on the 
tuhject of the China Tea Trade, may I be permitted 
to m»ke a few remarks, with a view to compurifon, 
touching the cost of production of tea in Cejlon, 
having recently visited the Island, where I had an 
opportnoity of gainirg en intight into the working 
of a tea estate. Assuming, as state'l by "'OhEa-eze", 
the (iverage price paid per picul in North China last 
year to have been Shanghai Tie. 29, and the cost to 
the teamen 'Ms 30 as th°y are stated to have lost, 
the cost per lb to the teaman would be aboat 22g 
cents* or 10|d. sterling with exchange at 4=., this being 
the actual cost of bringing the fir^ished article irto 
tbe Market- 
Taking this into consideration the following figures 
may be of interest fo yoar readers as furnishing pome 
idea of tbe necessary expenses incurred by a tea 
planter in Ceylon, in order to eauble him to place 
his tf a on the London marke'. 
Cultivation 5 cc: -f per lb. of made tea. 
Pluckii g 5 „ ,, „ 
Maniafactnre in- 
cluding fuel, tea 
makers' pay, cost 
of packages tea 
lead, etc ^\ ,, „ 
Salar'ea and con- 
tingencies 7i „ „ „ 
Bepairs to Factory \ ,, „ ,, 
Transport to 
Colombo \\ ,, „ ,, 
Froight^and selling 
charges 10 „ „ „ 
Total ... 36 cents at Ex. Is4d = 5fd. 
The cost of plucking varies, according to whether 
the planter wishes to pluck fine or coarse; if the 
latter, which means plucking five or more leaves insttad 
of three or iour,]: the coolit s are enabled to bring in 
a ^ery much larger quantity of leaf at the end of 
thft day's work. The manufacture being done entirely 
by tn ichin<Ty, the 0( s', whatever Ihe quantity of leaf 
to be mmufiiclnred, rc mains the same, and as roughly 
sprnking 4 lb. of green ieaf=l lb. of made tea. it 
folioKS that thi larger the quantity of green leaf, 
the lets is the cost per lb. of made tea. 
* Of a dollar.— Ed. T.A. 
t Of a rupee-— Ed. T. A. 
\ Ordinary plucking is confioetl to the bud pnii two 
■ eav<!5.— Ed. T. A. 
