7X2 
[April  i,  1^96 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
aud  thi’eatens  evuu  his  very  bread  and  butter,  aud 
far  too  often  bad  advice  aud  misdirection  from  the 
agents  have  brought  about  his  dismissal.  The  question 
as  to  quantity  or  quality  is  continually  cropping  up ; 
it  resolves  itself  finally  into  a question  of  market. 
In  a year  like  the  past,  providing  it  was  possible, 
quality  would  have  paid. 
In  1894  either  the  quality  was  superior  or  made  so, 
but  would  any  planter  allow  that  there  was  any  al- 
teration or  endeavour  on  his  part  to  produce  a poorer 
quality  of  tea  in  1895  than  in  1891,  aud  to  lay  the 
blauio  to  planters  is  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
old  and  experienced  men  went  out  of  their  way  to 
produce  inferior  tea.  No ; there  is  but  one  verdict. 
1895  was  a bad  year  entirely  through  climatic  causes. 
It  is  painfully  evident  from  the  various  reports  to 
hand  that  Assam  is  being  severely  taxed  as  regards 
labour.  It  has  reached  a critical  state  ; the  cost  of 
labour  in  some  cases  has  reached  R140  per  adult  in  the 
railway  is  opened  throughout,  free  labour  may  be  at- 
tracted as  in  the  Dooars,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
Assam  can  per  head  afford  to  pay  more  for  its 
labour  or  wages  even  than  the  Dooars,  and  it  o )ly 
requires  to  be  directed  that  way  by  the  incentive 
of  higher  wages  and  easy  mode  of  transit  to  seek 
work  there.  Let  us  hope  this  will  be  the  case.  At  the 
present  the  position  is  very  serious,  the  journey  by 
the  steamer  is  fraught  with  danger  ; cholera  has  been 
rampant  on  the  voyage,  and  it  is  melancholy  to  calcu- 
late the  loss  of  life  and  money  that  has  resulted  during 
the  last  six  weeks  It  may  seem  ungrateful  to  exercise 
theefiortsof  Mr.  Blcchynden  in  A.merica,  but  there  is  a 
want  of  business  tone  in  his  letters  too  much  playing  to 
the  gallery  and  we  doubt  if  the  American  taste,  lor  the 
garden.  When  the  beverage  is  to  be  reached  through 
the  aid  of  ladies’  conferences. 
The  prospects  for  1896  as  reported  so  far  from 
most  districts  is  unfavourable.  The  drought  that  has 
pervaded  India  for  months  has  had  a prejudicial  ef- 
fect on  tea,  and  Cachar  alone  has  had  a rainfall  of 
any  service,  but  it  is  early  yet  to  foretell  the  re- 
sult. The  increased  rate  of  consumption  at  home, 
that  in  the  past  month  of  February  represents 
1 700  000  lbs.,  is  so  hopeful  that  it  bears  out  our 
contention  that  the  extensions  are  not  to  be  feared, 
and  that  prices  are  likely  to  liarden,  so  that  1896 
may  y>  t gladden  the  pockets  of  investors  Might  we 
suggest  to  the  Indian  Tea  Association  whilst  laudably 
anxious  to  give  the  increa.sed  area  under  plant,  that 
it  would  be  of  interest  to  all  conneoted  if  they  ob- 
tained some  statistics. 
A factor  lor  the  coming  year  that  must  be 
reckoned  with  is  the  rise  in  exchange.  Ic  mainly 
affects  those  districts  that  go  for  producing  quantity, 
and  pride  themselves  on  ten  maunds  per  acre.  Any 
further  serious  rise  in  exchange  means  the  diffe- 
rence to  them  of  the  slight  margin  that  now  exists 
between  cost  of  production  and  price  realised,  other- 
wise profit  or  less.  This  rise  must  not  be  regarded 
as  a bad  omen  for  the  industry  ; on  the  country,  the 
continued  depression  in  exchange  has  in  a measure 
to  answer  for  the  increased  bulk  of  the  poor  and  com- 
mon stuff  that  went  forward  in  1895,  and  if  this  rise 
forces  more  careful  plucking  we  may  look  for  an  im- 
provement in  the  lower  class  of  tea.  The  area  under 
plant  that  has  been  abandoned  during  the  past  ten 
years  must  be  very  considerable.  In  conclusion  we 
deprecate  too  much  stress  being  laid  on  producing 
finger  quality,  so  much  depends  on  the  weather  that 
every  manager  should  be  left  to  himself ; it  is  to  his 
interest  to  get  good  prices,  and  to  dictate  to  him 
from  Calcutta  or  London  how  to  pluck  is  to  remove 
responsibility  from  the  proper  quarter  and  too  often 
results  in  failure.— iwdnm  I'lantern  Oay.ette,  Blarch  14 
THE  TE.\  MARKET. 
At  the ’low  level  of  prices  is  void  of  activity. 
Cevlon  growth  at  the  moment  shows  best  value 
Md  interferes  with  China  business.  Indian,  u.  h 
the  season’s  supply  nearly  all  to  marker,  tends  to 
forniei  rates.  iSelivcries  go  on  at  a favourable  pace, 
thus  Jelieving  the  accumulation  of  the  bonded  stock, 
flnrf  Exjn-m,  March  13. 
MAltKET  EOU  TEA  SHAKES. 
Thursday  evening,  March  1:1. 
Tea  shares  continue  to  attract  more  and  more  at- 
tention among  investors,  and  there  has  this  week  again 
been  wholesale  buying  of  shares  in  all  the  better- 
known  companies,  and  “ record  ” prices  have  ift  many 
cases  been  paid. 
Mincing  L.cne.— Easier  for  all  Ceylons,  but  steady 
to  firm  for  the  reduced  supply  of  Indians. 
Fresh  Issues. — Dimbula  Valley  Ordinary  are  in- 
quired for,  but  without  business.  The  Preft.  have 
been  taken  freely  at  T6. 
Cevlon  Sh.vkes. — C.  T.  P.  Co.  Ord.  have  been  taken 
as  high  as  264,  and  the  Prefs.  are  wanted  at  17 
upwards. — //.  ct  C.  Mail. 
PLANTING  AND  PRODUCE. 
Produce  and  the  Board  oe  Trade  Returns. — 
The  condition  of  trade  as  indicated  by  the  Board 
of  Trade  returns  is  good.  P'or  the  month  of  February 
imports  have  increased  by  26  per  cent  over  February, 
1895,  and  exports  by  23  2 per  cent.  Even  when  we 
take  into  account  the  fact  that  from  3 to  4 per 
cent  of  this  increase  is  due  to  the  extra  day 
of  a leap  year  February,  or  the  still  further 
fact  that  the  totals  for  the  same  month  last  year  were 
depressed  by  17  per  cent  in  the  imports  and  nearly 
10  per  cent  in  the  exports,  owing  to  the  extraordin- 
ary prolonged  frost,  this  year’s  returns  are  the  best 
by  from  6 to  10  per  cent  seen  for  a long  time.  All 
classes  of  merchandise  share  in  the  improvement  ; 
but  in  imports,  articles  of  food  and  drink  (duty  free) 
and  manufactured  articles  more  than  half  fill  up 
the  total  increase.  As  regards  produce,  sugar,  both 
raw  and  refined,  is  more  both  in  quantity  aud  value, 
and  there  is  also  a considerable  rise  in  its  ptice, 
owing  partly  to  the  Cuban  insurrection  having  con- 
tinued so  long.  Tea  and  cocoa  have  been  lauded  in 
much  larger  quantities,  but  coffee  is  much  below  last 
year’s  level. 
A New  Indian  Tea  Company. — We  have  received  the 
prospectus  of  the  Rema  Tea  Company  of  Sylhet, 
Limited.  The  capital  of  the  company  is  t'.'iO.OOO,  in 
5,000  shares  of  iTO  each.  The  prospectus  states 
that  the  company  is  formed  to  acquire  as  from  .Janu- 
ary 1,  1896,  from  the  Rema  Tea  Syndicate,  the  Rema 
Tea  Estate  in  South  Sylhet,  in  the  Province  of  As- 
sam, India.  The  estate  consists  of  a grant  of  land 
comprising  1,911  acres,  or  thereabouts,  of  which  the 
Government  have  agreed  to  grant  to  the  nominee  of 
the  syndicate  a renewable  lease,  and  which  has  been 
opened  out  and  planted  with  tea  during  the  year  1895 
to  the  extent  of  fully  600  acres.  There  are  about  400 
acres  more  of  suitable  tea  land  upon  the  grant  which 
it  has  been  arranged  to  plant  out  in  1896,  and  which 
will  give  the  company  by  the  end  of  the  year  an  area 
of  1,000  acres  under  tea.  The  planting  out  so  far  has 
been  inspected  by  Mr.  H.  Sanderson  of  Chundeecherra 
Estate,  Sylhet,  who  reports  that  it  is  practically  full. 
The  land  is  held  direct  from  Government  and  is  at 
present  rent  free,  but  subject  later  on  to  a rent  of  about 
Ill'S  per  acre. 
The  Duty  on  Coffee. — With  reference  to  the  re- 
cent deputation  to  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
on  the  coffee  duty  the  Grocer  says  : “ There  is  hardly 
a dutiable  commodity  in  the  Customs  tariff  that  re- 
quires more  help  and  relief  from  the  burden  of  tax- 
ation than  coffee,  and  yet  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer makes  light  of  it  by  telling  bis  hearers  that 
‘ it  coffee  and  chicory  were  to  pay  no  duty  cocoa 
also  should  bo  relieved  from  duty,  and  ho  (the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer)  thought  it  was  probable  that 
if  the  matter  went  on  further  he  would  hear  some- 
thing from  the  consumers  of  tea  and  those  interested 
in  the  trade.’  This  is  clearly  an  unfair  way  of  view- 
ing the  question,  as  there  is  no  parallel  between 
coffee  aud  cocoa,  for  the  reason  that  the  latter 
flourishes  astonishingly  well  under  the  duty  it  bears, 
aud  therefore  does  not  need  the  same  measure  of 
legislative  assistance ; aud  as  to  tea,  why,  the 
answer  to  repealing  the  duty  on  that  is  quite 
as  good  as  any  ot  those  that  were  readerea  iu 
