March 2, 1891,] thE TROPIOAL AQRlOULtURlSt. 623 
many restrictions in the way. There were so many 
serutinies, and then uieless men were passed. The 
licensed recruiters interfered with his man, he bo- 
lieved. He was tall handed at Michaelstowe, with 
K^antan Malays. At Drumduan the tindal could get 
plenty of men. The rate paid 23 to 24 cents a day was 
very high; it was wealth to a Tamil, but the remedy 
was to let the market settle itself, importing plenty of 
free labour. 1 his could not be done on a large scale but 
by degrees, as in Ceylon 40 years ago. Everybody should 
get his own men aud not crimp then the rate of wages 
would settle itself. Government contractors offered 
a premium to high wages, paying $9 a month. 
The coolies liked Government service because they 
got nothing to do ; that was laxity he supposed on 
the part of Government. He objected to Sunday 
labour but sometimes it was unavoidable. He objected 
entirely to the system of Government inspection ; 
it gave the coolie an idea that the Government official 
was a superior. The estate was put into a ferment 
and the coolies were perpefuslly tunning to him with 
all sorts of complaints. That was partly owing to 
the manner of the inspection aud partly a factor of 
the system. Any accounts to be rendered and books 
examined to see that the cooUts were properly paid 
he did not object to. Would not restrict the number 
of women on an estate ; they could do work with the 
men. The rations his men got were 10 kati every 
Saturday, for five days work. For 4 days five kati. 
On this they could save 10 kati a montu, i. e., they 
lived on $1-80 a month. Was quite sure they could 
live well on this. In some respects Oeylou 40 years 
ago could be compared with the Straits : they were 
beginning in a small way then as we are now. The 
place must be advertised in India and people would 
then come over. He objected entirely however to 
Government recruiters, who did a lot of misohiet. 
In reply to Mr. Maegregor, Mr. Mackenzie said it 
would be more expensive getting them here than in 
Ceylon ; paying for the tindil’s passage and the men 
he got, and then 25 cents a day pay. Tea would 
not bear the expense ; coffee would. He employed 
nearly all Kelautan Malays at Michaelstowe. No 
planter should employ a man who could not ijroduce 
a discharge from his last employer. The Public 
Works Departments and contractors took away a 
lot of men ; a contractor could not be bound 
down not to take men away from estates but 
Government ought to import its own men. He did 
not object to a contract but “ 36 mouths was very 
like slavery.” Three months wtro sufficient and 
if a man had not paid off his charges let the man 
who wanted to crimp him pay it off. He did not 
think a high rate of wage would have much effect 
in increasing the regularity of the coolie working. 
If a man began to save lie was willing to work harder 
to add to his hoard. His Kelautan men at Michaelstowe 
average 17 to 18 cents a day ; they were much better 
than Javanese. He thought large numbers could be 
induced to come down. He had a few Javaueseon 
fixed salaries. There was nothing in the shape of a 
Planters’ Association in Johore ; he had tried to form 
one but it fell through, the distances were great. 
In the ease of Tamils the tindal kept his accounts 
with the men carefully ; there were very few com- 
plaints of this. The men signed a promissory note 
to the tindal but no agreement. A monthly contract 
would be sufficient, if the coolie had to produce bis 
discharge ticket before getting fresh employment. 
The commission tlieu adjourned. — S. F. Frcus. 
ADVERTISING GEVDOX TEA. 
The tea planters of Ceylon are certainly indebted 
to Messrs. Charles Maokwood_^& Co. and their 
manager Mr. Wilson Smith for'a capital advertise- 
ment of Ceylon tea in the universal notice which 
has been taken in the home press of the sale of 
Galbodde tea up to 87s and llOs per lb. Here are a 
few specimens of tho notices. The Oonseryatiye 
(jlobe B»js 
That wonderful tea which was sold the other day 
at £4 7s a pound has changed hands again, it appears, 
at £5 103 a pound. A profitable transaction that ! 
In this connection, we may observe, a correspondent 
writes to protest against the imputation of extrava- 
gance levelled against those who drink this tea. “Why, 
in the name of common sense,” he asks, “should fault 
be found with us if we choose to drink tea that 
costs us eighteenpenoe a cup? No oue attacks wino- 
bibbers who pay double that for a glass of some rare 
vintage.” 
The Eadioal Star again ; — 
Tea at £4 7s per Pound. J. S, Holloway, 29, 
Mincing-laue, writes : — A short time back you made 
mention in The Star of a special lot of tea that sold 
in public sale at £1 lOs fid per pound, ToJay( Tuesday) 
a parcel of golden tips, containing 16 pounds in all, sold 
at £i 7s per pound. Never since tea has been known 
has such a price been given. It came from the well- 
known Galleboddo Estate in Ceylon. A hands me pro- 
fit has since been offered for it. 
The Chemist and Druggist has the following notice: — 
Exxeaoiidinaey Tea Prices. — The highest price by 
far ever realised for tea in London, and probably any 
where else, was paid this week for a small parcel of 
15 lb, flowery orange pekoe, from tho Gallebodde 
estate, in Ceylon. This parcel was sold by public 
auction amid a scene of great excitement at the price 
of 87e per lb. in bond. The highest price ever known 
previously was paid a few mouths ago for an equally 
small consignment of Ceylon tea from tho Hethersett 
estates, which then realised 30s fid per lb.— a price that 
has probably stimulated the Ceylon planters to send 
over tho present parcel. A sample of the tea, which 
we had occasion to inspect today, shows it to con- 
sist mainly of very small tips of a colony resembling 
that of pale Turkish tobacco The tips, have been evi- 
dontlytseparatedfrom the larger oody of black leaves of 
the tea by the process of pre/ssiug a piece of flannel 
upon the bulk. By this method tbe tips in question, 
being covered with a fine down, adhere to the flannel, 
while the smoother black leaves remain behind. 
It would, of course, be possible to obtain an almost 
similar tea from any fine golden-tipped Pekoe on the 
market, and the price obtained for this particular lot 
was quite a fancy one, and it avill probably not be 
maintained, by any means, if the Ceylon planters were 
fo send over any large quantity. It is said that part 
of the consignment, if not tho whole, has passed into 
tho hands of the United Kingdom Tea Co, (Li ited] 
of 21 Mincing Lane, and it is added that som® of it 
has since been resold at tho extraordinary price of 
llOs per lb. From China tea no such quality as 
that sold this week could have been obtained, but some 
of the better grades of Java tea contain a large pro- 
portion of silvery tips, which might be separated by 
a similar process. The finest teas have hitherto been 
used, as a rule, we believe, in Russia, Persia, and 
Morocco. Some twenty or thirty years ago the finest 
flowery Pekoe from China was regularly shipped (q 
K ussia either via Persia or via London, but since then 
that tea has gone out of fashion among the Russian 
consumers. 
And Colonies and India remarks : — 
Oeylou tea is certainly booming. At the London 
Commercial Tea Sale Rooms, in Mincing Lane, tho 
other day, a consignment of tea from the well-known 
Gallebodde Estate, which experts in the tea trade 
describe as being the finest tea ever growji, was put 
up for sale by auction. The bidding for this unique 
tea caused unusual excitement in tbe sale rooms, and 
after being carried on with unprecedented competition 
between the principal firms in the wholesale, ten trade 
the lot was at length knocked down at the amazing 
price of 87s. a pound, a figure which has never been 
anything like approached in the annals of the tea 
trade. The eventual purchasers of this tea were the 
United Kingdom Tea Company (Limited). The tea 
03 of the most extraordinary quality, the leaves being 
if tho brighest golden colour, in appearance almost 
resembling small pieces of gold. Untiring o«re and 
, attention must have been bestowed on its growth, au^ 
