2o6 
THE  TROPICAL  AG  RICUL'l'U  RlST. 
[Sept.  2,  1895. 
451.— To  Charles  Smith  of  39,  Albert  lio»(i,  Peikhams 
Lon  loa,  EnpUnd, Commission  Agent,  for  improvement, 
in  sheets,  counter-panes,  quills,  curtains,  shrouds  aud 
ottier  lise  r'i  le  f r pro'rction  ag  inst  fl  es  m d > ther 
in'KHit.*.— May  ii,  id95. 
46ti. — To  Williim  Jackson  of  Th  rngrove,  M.iu'  o- 
field,  Aberdeen,  North  Britsio,  for  iinproveme'ils  in 
appiiatus  or  mscliinery  for  disentaniiiing  o:  Sf'p.ir.ting 
t)aleav  s that  get  interwjven  or  united  to  each  other 
in  the  proc  8>  of  rolling.— May  14,  1895. 
454.— To  Mir.  Sultan  Moheedcea  of  Madras,  for  an 
invention  for  sultan  water  lifts  and  buckets. — June 
1,  1895. 
453. — To  Henry  Occil  Fellowes  and  Wi'liam  Robfrt 
Cr.zier,  merchants,  both  of  L'*adenhall  Buildings,  1, 
Leadeuhall  street,  In  t'  e c'ty  of  London,  and  Henry 
Ferguson,  Eog'nei  r,  of  00,  R.n^lagh  road,  Leytonstone, 
late  of  10,  Cleveland  Terrace,  Rtnelaghroad  Ley  tons' one, 
in  the  city  of  Es'ex,  England,  for  imorovement'S  in  the 
extract  on  *nd  ir  piratioo  of  the  fibr»s  of  Rhea  and 
other  gr-s'es  and  fi  >rous  vegetables.  — June  1. , 1895. 
452. — To  Edward  Robioseu  of  4,  Castl  nau  Gar-lens, 
Btrner.  London,  England,  merchant,  for  apparatus  for 
drying  Tea,  Brain  and  other  m s'anoest — June  5,  1895. 
117.— To  William  Oow,  of  13,  Hoad  Lane,  in  the 
city  of  London,  England,  Tea  broker,  for  improvemen.s 
iu  apparatus  for  treating  *.e»  leaves. — June  3,  1895. 
E.  Noel  Walkek, 
Colonial  Secretary. 
Colonial  Secretary’s  Office, 
Colombo,  August  4,  1895. 
INDIAN  PATENTS. 
Calcutta,  Aug.  8. 
Applications  in  respect  of  the  undermentioned  in- 
ventions have  been  filed,  during  the  week  ending 
3rd  Aug.  1895,  under  the  provisions  of  Act  V of  1888 : — 
For  Improvements  in  Apparatus  for  Rolling  Tea 
Leaf  and  the  Like. — 238  of  1895. — William  Jackson, 
of  Thorngrove,  Mannofield,  Aberdeen,  North  Britain, 
Engineer,  for  Improvements  in  apparatus  for  rolling 
tea  leaf  and  the  like. 
For  Improvements  in  Tea  Leaf  Withering  Racks. 
— 240  of  1895. — Edward  Bulteel,  tea  planter,  at  present 
residing  at  Kalacherra,  in  the  district  of  Cacnar,  in 
the  Province  of  Assam,  and  Henry  Joseph  Kersting 
Green,  Engineer,  of  .SO,  Clive  street,  and  14,  Garden 
Reach  in  the  town  of  Calcutta,  for  improvements  in 
tea  leaf  withering  racks. 
Specifications  of  the  undermentioned  inventions 
have  been  filed,  under  the  provisions  of  Act  V of 
1883:— 
For  Improvementa  iu  Tea-rolling  Machinery. — 197 
of  1894. — Lawrence  Herbet.  Sutton,  of  Panitolla, 
Lakhimpur,  Assam,  Engineer,  of  the  Jokai  Assam 
Tea  Company,  Limited,  for  improvements  in  tea- 
rolling machinery.  (Filed  2(ith  July  1895,)— Indian 
Emjineer. 
♦ — 
PLANTING  AND  PRODUCE. 
Teamen  and  Growers  in  China.— Consul  Mansfield, 
in  his  report  on  Foochow,  says  that  to  the  teamen, 
or  native  traders,  the  1894  season  has,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, been  a fairly  profitable  one,  while  the 
growers  are  said  to  have  done  only  indifferently  well. 
As  regards  the  latter,  even  if  they  have  profited  but 
little  on  the  sale  of  their  produce  at  the  new  low 
scale  of  prices  now  ruling,  the  fact  of  their  having 
made  any  profit  at  all  goes  to  show  how  large  their 
gains  must  have  been  in  years  gone  by.  The  foreign 
shippers  felt  themselves  heavily  handicapped  early 
ill  the  season  by  the  dejiression  of  trade  both  in 
Europe  and  Australasia,  but  through  being  able  to 
Imy  at  low  prices,  ami  helped  by  some  iniprovonicnt 
111  the  consuming  markets  later  in  the  year,  the 
season  has  not  been  altogether  an  unprofitable 
one  to  tlieni.  Prospects  are  not  bright  as  far  as 
they  can  be  judged  of  at  the  inoineut.  So  far  from 
there  being  any  chance  of  an  alleviation  of  the  im- 
uostit  which  weigh  so  heavily  on  the.  trade,  it  is  un- 
derstood that  there  is  to  be  au  Increase  in  the  lUtiu 
duties  as  a special  war  tax.  Then  there  is  a serious 
continual  falling  off  in  the  deliveries  of  China  tea 
from  the  London  bonded  warehouses,  and  the 
Australian  markets  have  been  taking  year  bj'  year 
less  C'.Uiia  tea.  Certainly  the  export  figures 
show  our  trade  with  America  to  be  steadily  improv- 
ing, but  as  yet  that  continent  is  only  a small  customer 
for  Foochow  Congous.  No  definite  information  is 
yet  to  hand  with  regard  to  the  increased  likin  pro- 
posed to  be  levied  on  tea  coming  down  from  the 
interior.  Should  the  rumour  prove  true,  every  pos- 
sible effort  will  be  made  to  induce  the  Chinese 
authorities  to  recoguise  the  fact  that  the  trade  cannot 
bear  increased  taxation,  and  that  the  result  can  only 
be  iu  the  long  run  diminished  supplies  and  propor- 
tionately reduced  revenues. 
Question  of  Quality — Much  is  said  in  the  home 
papers,  says  the  Consul,  about  the  inferior  quality 
of  Chinese  tea  shipped  to  England,  and  recommend- 
ing improvements  m this  direction.  The  fact  is, 
however,  that,  speaking  generally,  it  is  only  the 
lowest  grades  that  find  a ready  market  for  mixing  with 
the  higher  priced  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  in  what  is 
known  as  the  “shilling  canister.” — The  higher  priced 
teas  of  good  quality  frequently  show  losses  which 
shippers  can  ill  afford  to  meet.  The  great  bulk 
of  the  teas  now  sliip])ed  from  Foochow  are, 
therefore,  tlie  commoner  kinds  at  a value,  roughly 
speaking,  of  from  Tl  its  to  ill  9s  per  picul  (133  l-illb). 
Before  this  tea  leaves  the  port  it  has  to  pay  in  likin 
and  export  duty  about  10s  ltd.,  which  is  out  of 
all  proportion  to  its  cost.  The  tariff  duty  of  2'5 
Haikwan  taels  (say  8s)  per  picul  was,  when  the 
tariff  was  drawn  up  in  1858,  supposed  to  repre- 
sent an  average  ad  valorem  duty  of  5 per  cent.  At 
the  prices  now  ruling  for  the  leaf,  the  duty  on  finest 
quality,  which  is  only  exported  in  small  quantities, 
is  over  this  5 per  cent,  estimate,  while  the  common 
tea,  which,  as  above  stated,  forms  the  bulk  of  the  ex- 
port, pays  about  30  per  cent,  ad  valorem  for  export  duty 
alone,  without  taking  likin  or  inland  taxes  into  con- 
sideration. The  profits  made  by  those  engaged  in 
the  business  are  now  so  small  and  precarious  that 
this  heavy  impost  is  slowly  but  surely  undermining 
the  whole  existence  of  the  trade.  From  Chinese 
accounts  the  coming  season's  crop  promises  to  be  ex- 
traordinarily good,  but  the  movements  of  the  Japanese 
fleet  in  the  neighbourhood  of  F’ormosa  have  caused 
something  like  a panic  among  the  native  merchants 
here,  who  are  afraid  to  send  their  money  into  the 
country  for  the  purchase  of  tea.  It  is  difficult  to 
foretell  what  the  effect  may  be  on  the  trade  during 
the  season  now  approaching. 
Free  Insurance  and  P.vcket  Tea. — This  is  the 
latest  plan  for  pushing  the  sale  of  packet  tea.  The 
Lindoo  Valley  Ceylon  Tea  Company  state  that  for 
the  future  every  packet  and  every  fancy  tin  of  their 
Ceylon  blends,  from  Is  6d  to  2s  8d  per  lb.  will  con- 
tain a free  insurance  policy  against  accidents  up  to 
the  limit  of  A'bO  for  three  pounds  £20  for  one  pound, 
flO  for  half  pound,  and  £5  for  quarter  pound.  In 
addition  every  quarter  pound  packet  will  contain  a 
coupon,  every  half  pound  two  coupons,  every  pound 
four  coupons  ; and  when  the  consumer  accumulates 
104  of  these  coupons,  they  can  be  exchanged  for  a 
yearly  policy  of  £1,000  against  fatal  injury  or  per- 
manent total  disablement,  and  £500  for  permanent 
partial  disablement 
A Tea-Testing  Contest.— We  learn  from  the 
Canadian  Grocer  that  quite  a novel  depar- 
ture in  the  way  of  entertaining  instruction 
for  grocers'  picnics  and  like  gatherings  was 
introduced  recently  in  Minneapolis,  at  the  gro- 
cers’ picnic.  It  consisted  in  a tea  testing  contest, 
whereby  over  fifty  grocers  tried  their  ability  to  gness 
tlic  price  of  different  kinds  of  tea  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  an  expert  from  some  wholesale  tea  liouse. 
•“The  tea  testing  contest  given  at  the  grocers’ )>icnic 
of  Minneapolis  brought  out  some  strange  evidence 
of  ignorance  in  the  value  of  teas  in  the  men  to 
wliom  a good  knowledge  of  teas  would  mean 
a good  many  dollars  in  the  eonrso  of  a 
year,”  says  onr  Canadian  contemporary.  “ The 
throe  BauiploB  of  tea  to  bo  lestod  wore  valued 
at  2o  ceuts,  2fi  cents,  aud  19  ceuls  respoutiveb'* 
