858 
THE TROPICAL AORICULTURIST 
[ J UNE I, 1891. 
caught, in the stages c£ grilse and full grown 
salmon, in the waters of a Scottish Highlands 
river. Lake St. Clair is described as simply 
swarming with the trout which have made their 
way down the breeding streams into the Derwent 
and then up the great river to its mountain source. 
In the lower portions of the Derwent, especially 
at Bridgewater, very nice mullet abound which so 
readily take the bait that considerable bags of the 
fish can be secured in an hour or two of angling, 
♦ 
CEYLON TEA IN AUSTRALIA. 
We call the special attention of the Chairman 
and Committee of the Tea Fund to the following 
correspondence. We have never met Mr. Foulkes, so 
far 88 we can remtmuer, but all we have ever 
heard of his career while lessee of Lord Elphinstone’s 
estate, Gikiyanakanda, in the K^lutaia district, 
for many jears, has been in his favour. He and 
his friend and colleague, Mr. C. Knight, did not 
make their fortune out of Gikiyanukanda — we 
suppose they rath' r lost ; but the high reputation 
they both secured from all who knew th»m, and 
esp cialiy among the Sinhalese of the district, was 
something worth working for; When the bad 
times came, Mr. Foulkes went to Au-tralia where 
the good work he did for Ceylon at the little Tea 
Exhibition for the Colony will be remembered. 
He continued in Melbourne and has been for some 
years now, we b< lieve, working away under much 
discouragement, trying to create a demand for 
pure Ceylon tea ana to make a living for himself out 
of the article. Unfortunately his pecuniary returns 
so far have been very limited and it is under these 
circumstances he sends us the accompanying letter 
which we have been advised to publish as the 
readiest means of attracting the attention of the 
Tea Fuud Committee and the general body of 
tea planters to the case. But first we thought it 
well to send the letter on to Mr, Wm. Mackenzie 
as a gentleman who knows a little of Mr, Foulkes 
and his work and also of the importance of getting 
the Australians to drink pure Ceylon teas. We 
append Mr. Mackenzie’s rt ply and hope his generous 
ofier to Eustam one-fourth of the required guar- 
antee, will encourage a few more of the com- 
munity to come forward to make it up fully. 
In any case, we agree with Mr. Mackenzie 
that the ease is one well deserving the support of 
the Tea Fund Committee; for of the genuineness of 
the man and his work — and he an old Ceylon planter 
with a special claim on his brethren — there can be 
no doubt. We quote Mr. Foulkes’ letter as 
follows : — 
10, Palmer Street Fitzroy, Melbourne, April 1891. 
Dear Sir, — Having taken 8 great deal of pains for 
the last 0 years, in pushing Ceylon tea in the Colonies 
and for want of sufficient means being unable to 
continue the work, as I should wish 1 take the liberty 
of explaining' my situation to you iu the hope that you 
may find two or three friends in Ceylon, to put me in a 
position to carry on the plan I have adopted, which all 
must agree to be a good one, (or advertising the tea 
in Melbourne and neighbourhood. 
First, as to iiiy situation : I have been receiving tea 
from a gentleman in Cobunbo and on account 
of the heavy expenses incurred in pushing a 
new article amongst strung' rs, the profits on the teas 
sent mo by that gcntloinaii, have been entirely in- 
sullicioiit, wliorewilh to make both ends mom, and 
J iiBve iiicnrred u heavy debt (close on i'200) to 
him and just at the time 1 was beginning to ostabjisb 
a iiume, he was uiiablo to continue ids support. Had 
] bee-ii aide to go on I would buvo ero this reduced 
the oulslandings by at least 90 to dO per cent- 
My way of distributiiig is Unis I Imvo established 
ageiicies tbaving hsd at one lime nearly 2U0,) at shops iu 
a.'d around. M'-lbouruo, who sell tlio tea m packets, 
on commission (and of these I have still neatly 100) 
calling on them lortnightly to collect, and 011 account 
of my not having a supply of tea in leaden packets, the 
business is going backward, and I am sure that had la 
continuous supp y of the same quality, and same wrap, 
pi'rs, I should not only soon recover lost ground, but be 
able to considerably increase the agencies. 
The teas in boxes are disposed i f to householders, 
chi' fly to those whose acquainiance I made at the Ex- 
bibiion. 
Now as to the terms what would be necessary, iiamelv 
in that tor the first let of tea sent down,(£l00 wor h, as 
on a.coompanji g memo) i be adowed a tairly long 
credt, au.i that after that furtuer consignments be sent 
me in value, according with the amouut of remiitauoa 
sent by me Irom here, les.s Irom 10 to 20 per cent 
to go off the value of the first invoice. 
Everyone must agree that my method of distributing 
is a good way of advertising, and I thought lhat there 
could be no harm in placing my proposal before yon, 
thinkiog that yon might briug it be.oce one or two 
proprietors, or the Oommiitee of the “ Tea Fund.” 
Xlie objection may at first be raised that there is 
no cer ainty as to the date by which the first outlay 
of £100 would be repaid ; this, it would be nuwise of me 
to fix as a certainty , but I believe that in the first 12 
months I should be a de to dispose of 15.000 lb. weight 
of tea — to increase yearly — and imagine it 10 per cent 
only was deducted from the lemittances to defray this it 
would be cleared in 15 or 18 months. 
1 need not say that this method incurs considerable 
hard work, but I am thankful to say that I am in sound 
health, and fit for work, and am very loathe to be compel- 
led to lose the profits that can be reasonably expected, 
as a result of the hard work I have done already here, 
and the anxiety I have gone through, to say nothing 
of a considerable amount of money (£200) received from 
home I have personally spent as a pioneir. 
Surely, £100 invested by proprietors as I propose, 
would pay them as an advertisement, as it wouia co-it 
them but the interest on it for a short period, and I 
know what I have done already has without the slight- 
est doubt considerably' helped towards swelling the 
exports of Oeylon Tea to Australia of late. This 1 etaie 
unhe^itatingly without any braggadocio. 
Should the guarantee be forthcoming it would be pre- 
ferable for the Tea Fund Committee or whoever may 
act to purchase Tea of the “Chief Biand” which is well- 
known, provided of course there is no reason to the con- 
rary,the maiter of chief importance being that thereby 
a continuation of tbe same brand, as first sent 
aud as nearly as possible the same quantity of tea. 
Annexed I send memo, of what the first consign- 
ment of £100 worth should be, if you are successiul 
iu finding the support I ask for. — Yours very trulv, 
S. W. FOULKES.' 
Memo. £. 
Broken Pekoe superfine in boxes 10 lb each Id 
Pekoe in 20 lb and 10 lb (mostly 101b) 20 
Do. 1 lb leaden packets 10 
Do. 4 lb do. do. 10 
Pekoe Souchong | lb -15 
Do. i lb 5 
£100 
Mr. Mackenzie’s htter is as follows 
Thornfield, May 6th. 
Dear P. — I have read Foulkes’ letter, and can vouch 
for much of what be says, from my personal know- 
ledge of him when in Melbourne, and from what 
my brother has frequently written to me lately. 
I think this is emphaticallv a case for the Tea 
Fund, for which Mr. Foulaes has already woi’ked bard, 
I mean during the time of the Melbourne Exhibition, 
Grants <3n a very liberal scale have already been 
made to gentlemen pushing our teas in Germany 
B»*d Russia — and Mr. F. only wants a loan. He has 
a ju-mtss— the result of much personal exertion in 
canvassing — and it would be a pity his hard work 
should come to nought. Then the teas he sells t* 
small shopkeepers are pure Ceylon teas, which is 
hardly the case with those sold by any large importer 
iu Australia, hlcnduuj being uuiversal among such, 
