THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Ocr.  I,  i8q5. 
380 
Byte. — Weather  dry  for  last  four  months  to  22nd 
ult.  Coffee  banking  up,  rains  last  week  of  month  and 
picking  in  fair  progress.  Branches  breaking  with 
weight  of  fruit  all  over  the  estate.  Crop  May,  piculs 
r2'12,  June  piculs  14'83,  .July  piculs  23'f)8  parchment. 
Barge  intrease  expected  for  August. 
The  May  crop  was  sent  to  Singapore  for  realization, 
and  from  thence  the  parchment  portion  of  it  was  for- 
warded to  Selangore  to  be  husked  from  whence  came 
the  following  report  upon  it  : “ the  parchment  was 
the  finest  “ as  regards  colour  that  I have  seen  in  the 
Straits.” 
Samples  of  Byte  April  crop  sent  to  London  were 
reported  upon  by  Mr.  Czariiikow  the  well-known 
coffee  broker  as  of  fair  quality  and  valued  at  about 
8.5/  p.  cwt.  for  clean,  as  against  G2/3  the  quotation 
for  ordinary  Brazil  (”  fair  Channel  Bio”)  on  the  same 
date. — North  Bonteo  Herald. 
♦— 
CINNAMONS  : 
EXTRAOBDINAKY  PRICES  FOB  CERTAIN 
MARKS  IN  THE  LONDON  QUARTERLY 
SALES. 
The  new.s  to  hand  by  tlie  mail  of  Aug.  oOLh,  lielp.s 
to  explain  so  much  of  Reuter’s  telegram  to  his  con- 
stituents here  on  tlie  last  Cinnamon  sales,  as  was 
mysterious.  The  quarterly  sale  took  pi, ace  in 
London  on  the  26tli  ult.,  and  the  great  news 
agency  telegraplied  an  advance  of  2d  to  .‘Id  jier 
lb. — at  the  previous  salein  M.ay  tliere  w.as  an 
advance  of  1(1  to  lid;  Imt  added  “ reported  large 
.advance  fictitious.”  As  it  was  itself  re])orting 
an  advance  in  price  sufficiently  large  to  delight 
the  heart  of  growmrs—  the  average  price  for  years 
having  ranged  in  pence,  instead  of  in  shillings 
— one  was  puzzled  to  know  what  was  fictitious. 
It  could  not  he  the  news  wdiicli  it  was  then  wiring 
out  to  its  constituents ; for  then  it  would  he 
serving  tip  imagimirj/  .and  misle.ading  news, 
instead  of  correct  information,  for  which 
.alone  commercial  men  would  care  to  p.ay.  The 
“ Ex.aminer,”  in  a ii.ar.agrajih  which  we  pub- 
lished in  our  issue  of  the  28th  ult.,  surmised 
that  “ .adv.ance ” was  a mistake  for  “shipments”; 
and  th.at  what  Reuter  telegraphed  was  that  the 
large  shipments  reported  from  this  side  being 
believed  to  be  fictitious,  buyers  operated  freely, 
and  hence  the  .a<lv.auce  in  price.  The  exiilanation 
was  ingenious ; but  we  felt  it  coulil  scareely  be 
the  correct  one,  1st,  because  Reuter  generally 
telegraphs  facts,  and  not  surmises  in  London 
regarding  crops  in  the  Colonies  ; and  2nd,  bec.ause 
the  shipments  of  cinnamon  from  here  have  been 
large  this  season— certainly  they  have  not  been 
small  as  compared  with  past  years,  and  those 
here  knew  better  than  Reuter  that  there  was 
nothing  fictitious  about  our  table  of  exports. 
We  preferred  to  sus])end  our  judgment  on 
Reuter’s  mystery.  Tlie  Sale  Lists  to  hand  by 
the  mail-steamer  which  came  in  on  Monday, 
fully  explain  the  mystery.  The  news  telegraphed 
by  the  responsible  agency  was  an  advance  of  2d, 
tlie  advance  which  it  warned  its  constituents 
against  accepting,  as  being  fictitious,  w.as  the 
much  larger  advance  which  the  Sale  Lists 
or  Catalogues  exhibit.  The  line  cinnamon 
which  generally  fetches  about  .3.3  per  cent  above 
the  otdinary  kinds,  was  represented,  .so  far  .as 
we  can  see,  only  by  two  well-known  marks,  A. 
S.  G.  P.  (Colua  Pokuua)  and  A.  S.  W.  S.  (Wester 
Seaton).  Tlie  spice  of  these  two  estates  sold  at 
rates  ranging  from  TOJ  for  fourth  quality 
to  Is  (5d  for  firsts — s|)lendid  prices  having  regard 
Tb  those  which  have  ruled  for  ye.ars  jiast,  and 
showing  an  .advance  of  2d  to  3d  per  lb.,  or  there- 
abouts, on  the  prices  which  the  same  m.arks  or 
similfir  fetched  at  the  May  Siile.s.  But  what  do 
we  find,  when  we  turn  to  ordinary  or  unknown 
marks  ? Ck  H.  De  S.  Kuruwitte,  an  est.ate 
belonging  to  the  De  Soy.sa  family  which  never 
set  itself  to  the  manufacture  of  line  spice,  or 
“ smarts,”  sells  23  bales  of  its  first  ijuality  at 
Is  7d.  per  lb.  or  Id.  ahe.ad  of  Golua  Pokuiia,  and 
2d.  a head  of  Wester  Seaton.  Then  D.  R.  in  .a 
diamond  obtains  Is  7d.  for  its  2nd  quality  I 
B.  obtains  the  same  juice  for  its  firsts.  Is  fid. 
for  its  seconds,  and  Is.  for  its  thirds;  but, 
greater  marvel  yet — the  4th  quality  of  A A S. 
fetches  Is  4d.  per  lb.  where.as  its  thinls  fell  to 
the  hammer  immedi.ately  before  at  lOd  to  lUld. 
- — good  jirice  enough  ! It  seems  jiretty  cle.ar  that 
these  could  not  lie  genuine  s.ales  ; and  any  ad- 
vance based  on  these  figures,  wired  from  London 
to  Ceylon,  would  be  fictitious.  If  a sudden  and 
lieavy  demand  for  cinnamon  had  sjirung  uj),  the 
best  (pialities  should  have  shared  the  advance 
in  prices  ; but  not  only  do  the  well-known  marks 
not  show  a corresponding  advance ; they  are 
even  distanced  by  medium  and  inferior  sorts  ! 
What  is  the  explanation  of  this  extraordinary 
feature  in  the  sale  ? Gambling,  we  suppose  ; or 
worse  than  that.  If  it  be  gambling,  the  sales 
would  be  genuine,  and  lots  probably  jiassed  into 
the  hands  of  a powerful  Syndicate  which  means 
to  control  the  market.  But  we  fear  the  bids 
\\ere  fictitious,  and  represent  purchases  which  will 
never  be  completed,  or  figures  at  udiich  the  spice 
was  bought  in  with  .some  ulterior  object.  We 
shall  prob.ably  hear  more  .about  these  sales  on  the 
prompt  day,  when  .accounts  have  to  be  settled. 
Meanwhile,  as  showing  that  the  statistical  posi- 
tion of  cinnamon  cannot  explain  the  reported  rise 
in  price,  we  need  only  refer  to  our  Export  ta- 
bles. True  the  stocks  in  London  just  now 
are  2,34fi  hales,  .against  3,707  in  1893  and  2,590  in 
1892;  they  were  lower,  .and  stood  .at  2,0fifi  b.ales 
and  the  market  was  in  uo  way  excited.  The 
hast  compilation  by  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, making  up  the  exports  of  Ciunamon  up 
to  Ifith  September  for  the  p.ast  four  ye.ars,  gives 
the  following  figures  : — 
(juills  lbs.  Chips  lbs. 
1895  ...  l,.3S7,3-:2  ...  47.8.048 
1894  ...  1,220.203  ...  .•179,54.3 
1893  ...  I,lfi8,:i41  ...  :i7fi,878 
1892  ...  1,494,707  ...  .395.319 
It  will  he  : een  from  the  foregoing  that  this 
year  is  ahead  of  the  three  preceding  years,  and 
we  believe  of  any  year,  in  exports  of  both  quilled 
Cinnamon  and  of  Cliijis,  and  when  the  auctions 
were  held  a month  ago,  the  figures  were  not 
against  1895.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
there  is  a better  demand  fur  cinnamon  both  locally 
and  in  London,  due,  we  think,  to  new  uses  ; 
but  the  wild  bidding  to  which  we  have  refen'ed 
can  scarely  accurately  reflect  this  demand.  We 
hope  it  may  not  prejudice  it.  Here  is  what  a 
leading  London  Firm  in  the  trade,  re])orts  : — 
CINX.VMOX. 
London,  27th  August  1895. 
The  quarterly  sales  were  held  yesterday  when  G67 
bales  Ceylon  were  offered,  comprising  267  bales 
“ worked”  quill,  and  400  bales  *'  unworked”  compared 
with  1063  bales  in  May  last,  and  517  bales  at  this 
period  last  year.  Most  of  the  Cinnamon  offered 
was  sold,  the  small  quantity  of  ,tinr  quill  meeting 
good  competition  and  realizing  chiefly  2d  to  3d  per 
lb.  advance  on  last  sales’  prices,  these  sorts  being 
bought  for  the  ordinary  sources  of  consumption. 
As  regards  ordinary  Ekello  descrijitions,  it  is  difficult 
to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the  extravagant  prices  at 
which,  in  some  instances,  the  hammer  fell.  Among 
others,  the  mark  A.S.  No.  3 was  knocked  down  at  lOd 
and  lO^d  and  No.  4 of  same  mark  at  Is  4d  per  lb. 
O R diamond  No.  2 Is  7d  or  eleven  pence  higher  than 
in  May,  while  the  very  finest  quill  m the  sale  F.  S. 
