April  i,  1896.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  667 
TKA  AVEUAOK  AND  INVESTMENTS. 
A planting  (•.one.«pondent  ^vl■ito.s  : — Wliat  low 
tea  averages  there  are  now.  Seai'cely  10  estates 
reach  th"e  lOd.  tea  with  exchange  at 
Is  2^d  will  not  make  ns  fat.  M e hear  that 
dabblers  in  tea  .shares  are  linding  facilities  for 
borrowing  money  becoming  less  and  less  available, 
and  a very  good  thing  too.  When  shares  only 
give  10  per  cent  while  tea  is  booming  they  are 
likely  to  give  only  o per  cent  in  bad  seasons 
or  when  low  [irices  prevail. 
You  hear  it  argued,  go  in  for  sterling  com- 
panies. Sterling  Companies  such  as  the  old 
Ceylon,  Company,  Limited,  and  Ijanka  teach  a 
diiierent  lesson.  If  you  buy  too  dearly  in  either 
sterling  or  nipee  coni|ianies,  the  day  of  reckoning 
comes. 
THE  KAND^■.VN  HILLS  COMI’ANY, 
LIMITED. 
An  extraordinary  general  meeting  of  this  Com- 
pany was  hehl  at  the  OHices  of  the  Company,  No. 
21  Baillie  Street,  on  the  7th  March.  The  following 
S))ecial  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  meeting  : — 
“ That  the  Directors  be  authorised  to  grant  amort- 
gage  to  Messrs.  K.  A.  Bosam^uet,  G.  F.  trail 
and  J.  D.  Balfour  over  the  Bansalatenne  Estate, 
to  secure  the  payment  of  the  sum  of  £1,500  ster- 
ling (being  the  balance  purchase  money  for  the 
estate),  on  or  before  the  31st  December,  1898, 
and  until  payment  to  pay  interest  thereon  or  on 
any  balance  remaining  due  thereon  at  the  rate 
of  7 i)er  cent.” 
COMPANY  AIEETINGS. 
The  first  general  meeting  of  the  Kelani  Tea  Gar- 
den Company,  Limited,  will  be  held  on  Thursday, 
March  12,  to  receive  the  report  of  the  directors  and 
accounts  to  December  31,  189.5  ; to  elect  directors, 
and  to  appoint  an  auditor.  The  fii'st  general  meet- 
ing of  the  Udabage  Company,  Limited,  will  be  held 
on  Saturday,  March  14,  to  receive  the  report  of  the 
directors  and  accounts  to  December  31,  1895.  to 
elect  directors  and,  to  appoint  an  Auditor;  The 
first  ordinary  general  meeting  of  the  High  For- 
ests Estates  Company,  Limited,  will  be  held  on 
Saturday,  March  21,  to  receive  the  report  of  the 
Directors  and  accounts  to  December  31,  1895.  The 
annual  ordinary  general  meeting  of  the  Maha  Uva 
Estate  Compaiiv,  Limited,  will  be  held  on  Satur- 
day, March  21,"  to  receive  the  report  of  the  direc- 
tors and  accounts  for  the  past  year,  and  to  declare 
a dividend.  The  annual  ordinary  general  meeting 
of  the  Plstates  Company  of  Uva,  Limited,  will  be 
held  on  Saturday,  iMarcli  21,  to  receive  the  report 
of  the  Directors  and  accounts  for  the  past  year,  and 
to  declare  a dividend. 
TEAS  TAKE  A TUMBLE. 
MAKKET  OVEKSTOCKED  MGTH  CHEAP 
ARTICLES. 
TARIFF  : A SUGGESTED  REMEDY. 
VIEWS  OF  IMPORTERS — MANY  GROCERS  NOT  QU.ALIFIED 
TO  MIX  TEAS  PROPERIA' — MUCH  RUBBISH  SOLD. 
Ever  suice  the  cessation  of  hostilities  between  China 
and  Japan  the  price  of  tea  in  the  markets  of  the 
United  States  has  been  gradually  falling,  until  now 
it  has  reached  a point  beyond  which  it  can  hardly 
go  and  show  a profit  to  the  importer.  This  has  been 
brought  about  largely  by  the  fact  that  importers 
had  rung  the  changes  on  the  prospects  of  a long  war, 
and  advised  the  buying  of  large  quantities  of  tea  by 
the  distributing  trade,  and  the  result  is  that  there 
is  now  xirobably  the  largest  stock  of  tea  here  that 
this  country  ever  had,  and  apparently  no  outlet  for 
it  at  the  moment. 
84 
The  proposed  duty  on  tea  is  causing  considorablo 
comment  in  tea  trade  circles,  and  there  is  a great 
divei’sity  of  opinion  as  to  just  what  effect  a specific 
duty  on  tea  would  have  in  checking  the  importation 
of  spurious  and  adulterated  teas.  A number  of  im- 
porters who  were  seen  by  the  representative  of 
the  Frens  feared  that  the  imposition  of  a 
duty  of  10  or  15  cents  a pound  would  not  in  itself 
check  the  importation  of  low-priced  teas.  They  feel 
that  the  teas  now  pronounced  unfit  for  use  could  still 
be  imported,  and  that  the  only  way  to  absolutely  stop 
this  admitted  evil  would  be  by  the  rigid  enforcement 
of  existing  laws  against  the  importation  and  sale  of 
exhausted,  adulterated  and  spurious  teas. 
VIEWS  OF  IMPORTERS. 
Among  the  gentlemen  seen  in  reference  to  this  im- 
portant matter  were  R.  Blechynden,  the  Commis- 
sioner for  the  India  Tea  Association  of  Calcutta,  who 
represented  the  India  tea  industry  at  the  World’s 
Fair.  Mr.  Blechynden  was  rather  loath  to  talk  on 
the  subject,  but  he  finally  said  : 
“ Of  coarse,  the  duty,  if  imposed,  would  have  some 
effect  upon  us,  but  it  is  difficult  to  say  beforehand 
what  that  influence  would  be.  Taking  the  figures 
put  forth  by  the  Tea  Committee  wiich  started 
this  agitation  as  correct,  the  average  price  of  tea 
landed  in  the  United  States  is  14'6  cents  per  pound 
But  the  average  price  of  India  (in  which  may  be  in- 
cluded Ceylon)  tea  is  25  cents  per  pound.  If  the 
standard  of  quality  is  raised,  the  pure  teas  of  India 
and  Ceylon  will  have  to  face  a sharper  competition 
with  the  improved  article  than  they  do  now,  with 
what  is  confessedly  mostly  rubbish. 
“ But,  on  the  other  hand,  an  iipproved  taste  for 
good  teas  will  be  established.  In  this  respect  the 
duty  will  help  the  India  and  Ceylon  planters.  There 
are,  however,  two  sides  to  every  question,  and  the 
sale  of  rubbish  is  to  some  extent  a help  to  the  pure 
English-grown  teas,  as  the  grower  can  buy  the  former, 
say  at  10  cents  per  pound,  and  by  mixing  them 
with  15  per  cent,  of  pure  India  tea,  which  would  cost 
say  20  cents  per  pound,  he  could  produce  an  article 
which  he  could  sell  better  and  be  of  better  value  than 
the  ‘rubbish’  at  15  cents  per  pound.” 
NO  COLORING  USED  IN  IT. 
Among  others  seen  was  the  firm  of  Bottomely  ife 
Beling.  Mr.  Bottomely  who  has  been  a practical 
tea  grower  in  Assam  for  sixteen  years,  said  that  while 
he  was  not  competent  perhaps,  to  speak  of  China  and 
Japan  teas,  in  the  manufacture  of  teas  in  India  and 
Ceylon,  not  the  slightest  coloring  matter  was  used. 
The  natural  color  of  the  manufactured  leaf  is  black 
and  not  green,  the  tea  being  made  entirely  by  machi- 
nery and  dried  in  hot  air  furnaces. 
“ All  green  teas  are  colored  with  substances  more 
or  less  harmful,”  said  he,  ‘‘and  the  idea  that  most 
consumers  have  that  the  natural  color  of  the  leaf  is 
green  and  not  black  is  erroneous.” 
Mr.  Beling,  who  is  a native  of  Ceylon,  and  was 
secretary  to  the  Ceylon  Commission  at  the  World’s 
Pair,  said  : ‘‘I  was  surprised  to  see  the  statement 
in  a recent  issue  of  a morning  paper  that  not  an 
ounce  of  pure  tea  conies  into  this  country  from  China 
and  Japan  or  any  other  tea-growing  country,  and 
that  all  tea  leaves  are  colored  as  they  are  dried. 
Th's  is  certainly  very  fallacious  and  misleading.  It 
niiy  be  true  of  China  and  Japan  teas,  but  to  embrace 
India  and  Ceylon  would  be  absurd,  and  the  importer 
who  made  the  assertion  is  ignorant  of  the  modern 
processes  of  manufacture  in  those  countries.” 
WILL  IMPORTERS  ACT? 
Mr.  Beling  thought  that  in  attempting  to  prevent 
the  importation  of  spurious  teas  the  matter  lay  in 
the  hands  of  the  importers.  If  they  ceased  import- 
ing tea  at  3 cents  a pound — tea  made  of  willow 
leaves — the  public  would  be  served.  Public  taste 
could  soon  be  improved,  and  tea  drinkers  would  pay 
a fair  price  for  a good  article. 
America  is  not  as  great  a tea  drinking  country  as 
it  should  be,  because  it  has  been  made  the  dump- 
ing ground  of  tea  offal.  With  the  public  satisfied 
that  it  is  buying  a pure  article  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  the  consumption  of  tea  here  would 
rapidly  increase,  for  as  a beverage  from  a healtlj 
