April  i,  1896.I  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  695 
DRUG  REPORT. 
(From  the  Chemist  and  Druqgist.) 
Feb.  29. 
Oils  (Essential). — Citronella,  2s  to  2.i  Id  per  lb. 
ou  the  spot.  Lemongrass,  2jd  per  oz.  spot,  2gd  per 
oz.  c.i.f.  January -March. 
THE  TEA  (SALES. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  H.  and  C\  Mail. 
Sir, — I hoped  to  have  seen  last  week  some  marked 
criticism  of  my  proposals  in  regard  to  the  public  sales, 
but  I suppose  “ the  market  ” has  “ sucha  big  mind  it 
takes  a long  time  making  up.’'  Some  suggestions  have 
reached  me  since,  which,  I think  have  reasonable 
foundations.  One  is  as  regards  the  Indian  sale  on 
Monday,  “ That  it  should  commence  at  11  30  o’clock 
instead  of  12  o’clock  and  be  adjourned  at  3 o’clock 
until  Wednesday.”  Another  is,  “ That  all  garden 
teas  should  be  printed  in  separate  catalogues  and  sold 
on  a certain  day,  whilst  Calcutta  bought  tea  and 
reprinted  or  second  hand  lots  should  be  printed  also 
separately  and  sold  by  themselves.  The  reason  for 
this  suggestion  is  that  many  buyers  do  not  taste  any 
other  than  garden  invoices,  and  it  seems  a great 
waste  of  time  forcing  them  to  sit  hour  after  hour  in 
public  sale  whilst  Calcutta  invoices,  which  they  have 
not  seen,  are  being  auctioned.  It  might  be  supposed 
that  the  sellers’  interests  would  suffer  by  this,  but 
a moment’s  consideration  will  show  that  a roomful 
of  indifferent  people  who  are  taking  no  interest  in 
the  sale,  but  chattering  to  one  another,  will  do  more 
haim  to  the  seller  than  their  absence  would  occasion. 
Some  change  will  be  needful  before  this  year  is  out, 
and  a free  discussion  may  help  to  make  that  change 
in  the  wisest  manner. — I am,  ifec., 
D.  F.  Shillington. 
— II.  and  C,  Mail,  March  6. 
planting  and  produce. 
Manchester  and  the  Distribution  of  Produce. — 
The  gooi  people  of  Manchester  yearn  to  show  their 
independence  of  Mincing  Lane,  and  some  of  them 
seem  to  think  that,  thanks  to  the  Ship  Canal,  they 
can  do  it.  Direct  shipments  of  tea  and  other  pro- 
duce ariive  and  are  duly  disposed  of;  and  now  an 
Association,  called  the  Manchester  Fruit  Brokers, 
Limited,  has  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
viding a ready  means  of  distribution  for  tea,  coffee, 
and  dried  fruit  brought  into  the  Cottonopolis  dis- 
trict via  the  canal.  Thesupport  of  the  leading  ship- 
pers of  the  commodities  named  is  stated  to  be 
assured,  and  it  is  expected  that  as  a result  this 
branch  of  the  import  trade  over  the  waterway  will 
show  a considerable  development.  The  new  Asso- 
ciation is  to  be  continued  on  pure  brokerage  line’, 
similar  to  those  which  prevail  in  Mincing  Lane. 
Planting  in  Burmaii.— Attention  is  being  directed  in 
India  to  the  capabilities  for  planting  enterprise  offered 
by  the  Kachin  Hills  and  the  neighbouring  immense 
tracts  of  primeval  forest,  but  it  is  said  that  the  ex- 
treme scarceness  and  dearness  of  labour  in  the  dis- 
trict stands  in  the  way.  A correspondent  who  knows 
the  parts  in  question  believes  “ the  whole  country 
would  be  an  ideal  planting  district,  especially  for  tea.” 
The  climate  is  suitable  and  the  soil  good,  but  labour 
is  most  expensive.  There  will  shortly  be  a railway, 
however,  to  Myitkynia,  and  produce  would  in  no  case 
be  more  than  forty  miles  away.  During  the  cold 
weather  there  is  a steamer  service  on  the  Irrawaddy, 
and  country  boats,  which  are  fairly  cheap,  are  to  be 
had  all  the  year  round.”  The  tea-growing  region  he 
believes  to  be  one  of  the  l)est  in  the  world.  The 
height  o'  the  hills  ranges  from  1,000  ft.  to  0,000  ft.,  and 
the  rail. fall  is  abundant — o ■,  as  he  puts  it,  there  is 
a ferti  dsoil  and  heaps  of  rain.”  The  labour  ques- 
tion has  to  be  considered,  and  the  chance  in  favour 
of  introducing  Chinese  labour,  which,  by  the  way,  is 
not  always  cheap. 
The  Dooars  Planters  and  the  GoveivN.uenti — The 
ea  planters  of  the  Dooars  do  not  appreciate  the  lead- 
ing strings  which  the  Bengal  Government  wishes  to 
employ  in  regulating  the  development  of  tea  cultiva- 
ion  in  that  district.  The  proposed  rules  for  the  quan- 
tity of  waste  lands  for  cultivation  .ore  calculated  to 
irritate  the  cultivator  very  considerably,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  Indian  Tea  Association  have  ex- 
pressed their  opinion  on  the  subject  very  forcibly.  One 
rule  lays  down  that  a grant  of  h.nd  on  an  individual 
application  shall  be  limited  to  1,500  acres,  the  Govern- 
ment being  under  the  impression  that  a garden  of 
greater  extent  could  not  be  worked  with  advantage. 
But  the  planters  are  of  opinion  that  such  a limita- 
tion would  be  most  detrimental  to  their  interests 
as  gardens  of  larger  areas  have  invariably  been  the) 
most  profitable,  the  tendency  being  to  amalgamate 
the  smaller  gardens  and  to  carry  ou  work  on  a large 
scale.  If  capitalists  are  restricted  to  comparatively 
small  .areas  they  will  not  care  to  invest.  AnotheT 
rule  debars  an  applicant  from  applying  again  for 
more  land  until  five  years  of  his  first  lease  have  ex- 
pired. The  effect  of  such  a rule  would  be  to  pre- 
vent successful  planters  of  experience  from  extending 
their  plantations  for  some  years  at  least.  This  rule  is 
also  open  to  the  same  objection  as  the  one  restrict- 
ing the  limits  of  a garden  to  1,500  acres.  It  is  also 
proposed  to  introduce  the  sale  of  waste  lands  by 
auction,  although  this  method  has  involved  much 
trouble  iu  Assam.  These  restrictions  and  the  fact 
that  only  a thirty  years’  lease  is  to  be  granted  are 
naturally  resented  by  the  tea  planting  community, 
who  rightly  think  they  are  entitled  to  much  more 
consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  Government. 
The  Duty  on  Coffee. — The  Chancellor  of  the  E.x- 
chequer  has  declined  to  entertain  the  idea  of  abolish- 
ing the  duty  on  coffee.  The  deputation  of  coffee 
traders  which  waited  upon  him  last  week  had  some 
good  reasons  to  urge  in  favour  of  their  proposal. 
The  trade  iu  coffee  has  been  steadily  declining  for 
many  yeais.  Compared  with  that  of  1873,  the  trade 
of  the  past  year  shows  a decrease  of  a million  hun- 
dredweight, so  that  the  import  of  coffee  is  now  only 
about  three-quarters  of  a million  and  the  exports 
half  a million  hundredweight.  This  decline  is  attri- 
buted to  the  hindrances  thrown  in  the  way  of  merchants 
by  the  system  of  warehousing  in  bond,  which  is  necessi- 
tated by  the  duty.  If,  say,  the  traders,  coffee  could  be 
imported  free,  it  could  be  prepared  for  use  here  as 
cheaply  as  iu  Hamburg  or  Holland,  and  the  trade 
would  revive.  The  consumption  of  coffee  in  Eng- 
land has  steadily  diminished — in  1870,  nearly  one 
pound  was  consumed  per  head,  and  in  1894  only 
about  two-thirds  of  a pound — so  that  the  future  of 
the  trade  evidently  depends  upon  the  extent  to 
which  the  exports  can  be  increased.  The  deputation 
pointed  out  that  the  Customs,  to  collect  a paltry 
gross  revenue  of  £174,000  ou  249,000  cwt.,  controlled, 
and  no  doubt  unintentionally,  were  fast  destroying' 
the  poor  remnant  of  our  great  coffee  export  trade 
which  is  still  447,224  cwt.,  or  not  far  short  of  double’ 
our  home  trade.  The  Customs,  in  short,  to  obtain 
IJd  per  lb.  on  coffee,  have  to  take  in  charge  three 
times  the  amount  they  get  duty  on,  and  hamper  busi- 
ness. It  was  further  pointed  out  tliat  it  had  been  for 
many  years  the  policy  of  our  finance  Ministers  to 
lovy  duty  only  on  commodities  bringing  in  some 
substantial  revenue,  and  also  that  our  successive 
Governments  owed  a debt  of  expiation  to  the  coffee 
trade  for  so  long  allowing  it  to  be  the  prey  of  the 
adulterator  to  an  extent  permitted  in  no  other  trade 
The  imports  of  chicory  were  more  than  half  as  much 
as  the  entire  home  consumption  of  coffee,  so  that 
on  the  average  our  consumers  drink  0-361b.  chicory 
to  0-711b.  per  head  of  coffee.  This  does  not  re- 
present the  adulteration,  for  a vast  number  of  people 
even  now  drink  pure  coffee,  while  coffee  may  be,  and  is 
adulteiated  with  70,  80,  and  even  90  per  cent,  of 
chicory,  and  freely  sold  at  the  price  of  pure  coffee.  The 
deputation  was  listened  to  with  his  habitual  courtesy 
and  attention  by  Sir  M Hicks-Beach,  but  he  gave 
them  no  hope  whatever  of  an  abolition  of  the  coffee 
duty.  Sir  Michael  argued  that  the  decline  of  thu 
export  tiade  was  duo  to  other  causes,  such  as  tho 
tcudency  of  Brazilian  coffee  to  go  to  Continental 
ports  rather  than  to  London,  and  he  could  praq- 
tically  do  nothing  for  the  coffee  industry, 
