20 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July i, i8qo. 
The record of rainfall is kept from 1st April to 31st 
March of each year, the register for 1888-1889 being 
175T8 inches, and in 1889-1890 154T8 inches. 
With the exception of a small portion which is 
disposed of locally — or in Eangoon, the produce 
of these gardens is taken by the Burmah Commis- 
sariat Department of Burmah. The machinery 
at Goplakabang is Jackson’s Manual Tea Bolling 
machine — with a breaker and sifter. The factory 
is a pucka brick-building with a single roof and 
built with two wings as recommended by Mr. 
W. Jackson in his “Notes on Tea Machinery” pnb- 
lished by Messrs. J. Walker & Co., of Colombo. 
The climate of this garden has not proved so 
favourable to Europeans as that of Navy Bay. 
In the hot weather a little fog creeps down 
the valley during the night and hangs about 
the garden till the sun comes over the hills, 
and this fog wherever it occurs appears 
almost invariably to bring with it malarious 
fever in some form or other. It is proposed to 
extend operations on a rather large scale in the 
neighbourhood of Goplakabang, there being plenty 
of suitable land adjoining the garden, and the 
present outturn of the estates being considered 
satisfactory. The position of the Superintendent 
of this property is by no means one to be envied. 
He is the only whiteman on that side the harbour, 
and his nearest European neighbour lives at a dis- 
tance of seven miles of road and a mile of salt water. 
His men are all convicts— not under his control, 
but that of the prison warder who has charge of 
them in Government barracks. He — is so to speak 
— at the mercy of any runaway rufSan who may 
take it into his head to commit murder. 
Edmund Woodhouse. 
TRADE IN HIDES AND SKINS. 
Among tlie countries furnishing hides and skins to 
the United Kingdom, India takes the premier posi- 
tion, and the trade is yearly increasing, as the export 
of hides from Oalovitta ha.s trebled during the last three 
decades. A.s a fact, the trade in hides may be said to 
be monopolised by Bengal, while that in skins belongs 
to Madras, due to the fact that the toial number of 
horned cattle is greater in the area served by Calcutta 
than ill tbe area served by the ports of the Madras 
Presidency ; while tbe tanneries of the latter Presi- 
dency have gained a superior reputation in the dres- 
sing of skins. Hides and skins for export arc col- 
lected by the agents of the merchants who are in the 
trade, from all pirts of India, and in the year 1889, the 
number of hides irapiorted into Calcutta from the inner 
parts of India for export, amounted to a hundred and 
twenty lakhs . — Madras Times, May 23rd. 
^ 
TIIR SOGA^fA TEA ADULTERATION 
CASE. 
At Worship-street, yesterday Thomas Paget and 
Robert Pigott, trading as tea dealers at 36 Middlesex- 
street, Whitechapel, appeared to summonses under the 
Merchandise Marks Act charging them with having 
sold or caused to be sold certain tea to which a false 
1 ride description had been applied, contrary to 60 and 
.61 Vic., cap. 28. Counsel for the prosecution said 
that the prosecution was instituted by an associa- 
tion called the Oeylon Tea Growers’ Association. The 
article sold was tea in packets bearing the brand of 
“The .Sogama Estate.” Ceylon tea bore a high name 
for ijiiality in the market, and it was found that a 
great ipuiidity of inferior tea was sold as Ceylon tea. 
It was true there was an estate in Ceylon oallcd the 
Sogama estate, owned by a company . having offices 
in Olement’s-lane, City. The association, having as- 
certained that tea bearing the brand of the Sogama 
estate was being sold by certain persons, communicated 
with the company owning the estate, and these pro- 
ceedings resulted. He proposed to prove the purchase 
and the analysis of the article purchased, and he would 
show that the tea sold as “ Choice Ceylon tea, a blend 
of Ceylon and other choice growths,” was in fact a 
mixture of inferior China and Indian teas. Mr. Avory, 
connsel for the defence, said that he was prepared to 
admit that the defVndants applied the label and that 
it was not Sogama tea, but he could not admit that 
it was not Ceylon tea. Mr. W. J. Thompson, partner 
with his father as tea brokers at Mincing-lane, said he 
had had 30 years’ experience in the trade. He had had 
a packet of the tea submitted to him (packet produced), 
and having tested it he came to the conclusion that 
the tea was composed of Indian and China tea. There 
might be some Ceylon, but he thought not. Cross- 
examined. — He knew there was a Sogama estate, but did 
not know that there was a whole district called Sogama, 
He understood there was not. Tbe difference in value 
between Indian and China and Ceylon was about 3d. 
per lb. Some Ceylon tea could be bought at ll^d. 
per lb. He knew that the defendants were of old 
standing in the trade. Mr, Paget was an old friend of 
his own. He was not prepared to say that there was 
n 0 Ceylon tea in it. Re-examined. The packets pro- 
duced were J lb. packets, sold at 6d. He would not 
expect to find tea bought at lljd per lb. retailed at 
2s. George Stehn, manager of Wilson and Smithett’s 
tea department, Blincing-lane, said he had been in 
Ceylon and there was no such district as Sogama. It 
was merely the estate belonging to a company. The 
witness confirmed the previous witness’s opinion as to 
the tea sold being maiuly inferior teas of Indian and 
China growths. A witness named Leek, [W. M. Leake] 
in the employ of the prosecuting association, gave 
evidence showing that the packets were bought from a 
retail grocer who was written to and who gave up 
the name of the defendants as the sellers to him, the 
defendants being blenders of tea. The witness added 
that the defendant Paget called on him and said he 
would be willing to pay the Sogama company a royalty to 
be allowed to use the name on the label. Mr. Bushby 
asked whether such a course was usual in the tea trade. 
The witness could not say. Mr. Avory, for the defence, 
denied any intention at all to defraud. They had used 
the label inaocent y and were prepared to prove that the 
tea was fine tea of Ceylon growths with a blend of 
other growths. The defendant Paget was then called, 
and he said he had carried on business, since 1852. The 
tea in question was Oeylon and Indian tea, no China 
being used. It was blended from teas costing from 101. 
to Is. Id. per lb without duty. His firm had used the 
label without any knowledge that they were infringing 
any person’s right. Cross-examined, he said that the 
firm made two blends — the “ Sogama” and the “ Queens- 
berry.” He knew there was a “Q'leensberry estate” in 
Ceylon ; also that there was a “ Sogama,” for he had 
purchased their tea. He suppose! the owners of the 
Sogama estate bad some rights to the name. He was 
prepared to admit there was no Sogama in this tea. 
Asked why the name of a blender was not put on the 
packets the witness said that tea grocers did not like 
the public to know where they got the teas from. 
(“Shame” in court.) The witness was pressed as to the 
cost of the tea used in the blending, but he said he was uoi 
prepared to expose trade secrets. Asked what proportion 
of Ceylon tea was in the blend, he said he was not will- 
ing to answer and divulge a trade secie*'. Mr. Avory 
contended he was not bound to answer. Mr. 
Bushby said if the question was pressed it was un- 
fortunate that the witness should have gone contrary 
to the law. He and the public would draw their own 
inferences. The question was not pressed, Mr. Avory 
remarking, amid laughter, that if the witness had to 
state the secrets of the trade any grocer could make 
the blends for himself. Mr. Bushby, in giving judg- 
ment, said the label “ Sogama Estate ” tea distinctly 
misled the public, and that was a serious evil, which 
must be put a stop to. He imposed a fine of i'lO, and 
allowed 25s costs. Tbe court was crowded, and a 
