748 
thp:  tropical  agriculturist. 
Mav  I,  1896. 
his  people  over  there  had  a high  opinion  of  Mr. 
Klecnynden.  Mr.  lilechyndeu  and  Mr.  JLackenzie  were 
pulling  very  well  together  now,  and  it  would  be  a 
great  pity  to  stop  this.  At  the  last  meeting  he  had 
stated  that  he  thought  another  year  or  two  would  be 
sufficient  to  open  the  American  market,  but  he  now 
thought  it  required  still  the  one  year  more. 
The  Secretary  then  read  the  latest  letter  from 
Mr.  Blechynden  bearing  on  this  point.  After  further 
discussion,  in  which  the  following  gentlemen,  Messrs. 
W.  Roberts.  George  Seton,  R.  G.  Shaw,  R.  Lyell,  R. 
R.  Doake,  Arthur  Odling,  and  J.  N.  Stuart  took  part, 
the  following  resolutions  were  carried  unanimously 
1.  That  this  meeting  is  strongly  of  opinion  that  a 
further  effort  to  carry  on  for  another  year  the  work 
of  pushing  Indian  tea  in  America  is  essential,  and  it 
resolves  that  a further  levy,  on  the  same  terms  as 
in  1895,  shall  be  made,  and  that  the  Calcutta  Asso- 
ciation be  asked  to  collect  the  levy,  as  before,  at  the 
earliest  date  possible.  2.  That  this  meeting  desires 
to  express  its  appreciation  of  Mr.  Blechynden’a  ser- 
vices during  the  past  year.  3.  That  either  a letter 
be  addressed  to  those  leading  companies  and  others 
who  do  not  support  the  levy,  or  that  a deputation 
be  sent  to  them,  the  American  and  Foreign  Tea  Com- 
mittee being  left  to  determine  the  best  means  to  obtain 
their  support.  4.  That  Mr.  C.  A Goodricke  be  in- 
vited to  join  the  general  committee.  5.  The  sub- 
ject of  new  rules  was  then  brought  before  the  meet- 
ing, and  the  rules  as  approved  by  the  special  com- 
mittee, which  had  been  circulated  to  all  the  members, 
were  taken  as  read.  After  a full  discussion,  especi- 
ally on  the  question  of  retaining  a general  committee 
as  heretofore  (which  included  nearly  all  the  members), 
it  was  resolved  : — That,  with  reference  to  observations 
that  have  been  made,  the  new  rules  be  referred  back 
to  the  special  committee,  and  subsequently  be 
brought  before  the  annual  general  meeting.  0.  A 
vote  of  thanks  was  passed  to  the  chair, — II.  cG  C.  Mail, 
March  20. 
THE  DUTY  UN  COFFEE. 
It  cannot  be  said  that  the  deputation  of  importers, 
exporters,  home  dealers,  and  brokers  engaged  in  the 
coffee  trade,  who  had  a formal  interview  with  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  at  the  House  of 
Commons  last  week  (a  full  report  of  which  ap- 
peared in  The  Grocer  of  February  29th,  pp.  512-14), 
met  with  much  encouragement  in  the  efforts  to  per- 
suade him  that  a repeal  of  the  duty  on  coffee  is 
necessary  and  expedient  in  order  to  give  the  article 
free  play  and  more  scope  for  its  consumption  in 
this  country.  There  is  hardly  a dutiable  commo- 
dity in  the  Customs  tariff  that  requires  more  help 
and  relief  from  the  burden  of  taxation  than  coffee,  and 
yet  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  makes  light  of  it 
by  telling  his  hearers  that  “ if  coffee  and  chicory 
were  to  pay  no  duty,  cocoa  also  should  be  relieved 
from  duty,  and  he  (the  Chancellor  of  the  Exche- 
quer) thought  it  was  probable  that  if  the  matter 
went  on  further  ho  would  hear  something  from  the 
consumers  of  tea  and  those  interested  in  the  trade.” 
This  is  clearly  an  unfair  way  of  viewing  the  question, 
as  there  is  no  parallel  between  coffee  and  cocoa, 
for  the  reason  that  the  latter  nourishes  astonishingly 
well  under  the  duty  it  bears,  and  therefore  does  not 
need  the  same  measure  of  legislative  assistance ; and 
as  to  tea,  why,  the  answer  to  repealing  the  duty  on 
that  is  quite  as  good  as  any  of  those  that  were 
rendered  in  favour  of  abolishing  the  duties  on  sugar, 
which  event  took  place  in  1874.  Still,  in  upholding 
the  views  of  those  persons  who  are  strong  advocates 
for  a “free  breakfast-table,”  we,  for  our  part,  should 
be  glad  to  see  the  imposts  on  tea,  coffee,  cocoa, 
chicory  and  dried  fruits  all  swept  away  at  a stroke; 
and  especially  those  on  the  minor  articles  which  yield 
onlv  a paltry  addition  to  the  revenue  of  the  country. 
One  of  the  speakers  at  the  nieeting  put  the  whole 
case  in  a nutshell  when  he  said  that  “ on  the  face 
of  the  memorial  there  are  two  things— one  is  the 
smallness  of  the  sacrifice  asked  for,  and  the  other 
the  benefit  it  would  bring  to  a very  largo  and  im- 
portant trade.”  In  fact,  the  duty  on  coffee  amounts 
fg  galy  about  170, per  aBUUw,  wberoae  that  ou 
tea  reaches  no  less  than  3,696,0007  in  a single  year, 
so  that  there  is  virtually  no  excuse,  on  any  grounds 
that  can  be  urged,  for  not  repealing  the  impost  on 
the  former  because  it  would,  as  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  puts  it,  be  unjust  not  to  abolish  the  duty 
on  the  latter  claimant  for  exemption.  Coffee,  as  a 
harmless  yet  refreshing  kind  of  beverage,  is  more 
beset  with  difficulties  in  its  path  to  cousumers  than 
any  other  drink,  and  when  these  are  duly  pressed 
upon  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  it  is  for 
them  to  seek  to  remove  them  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible. A great  bar  to  the  consumption  of  coffee 
in  the  United  Kingdom  is  the  absence  of  liberal 
supplies  of  a desirable  character;  and  the  main 
cause  of  its  consumption  not  progressing  at  an  advanc- 
ed rate,  since  the  duty  was  halved  in  1873,  has  been 
the  serious  and  alarming  falling  off  in  the  imports 
from  Ceylon,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  failure  of 
the  crop  through  the  setting  in  of  the  leaf  disease  there, 
about  the  same  year,  have  since  dwindled  almost  to 
nothing.  Substitutes,  it  is  true,  such  as  Costa  Rica 
and  other  Central  American  descriptions,  have  been 
found  for  plantation  Ceylon,  but  these  have  proved  to- 
tally inadequate  to  make  up  for  the  deficiency  in  the 
receipts  from  Ceylon,  and  no  fresh  sources  of  supply 
have  been  opened  up  that  would  serve  as  a beneficial 
stimulus  to  the  home  trade. 
In  dwellingon  the  significanceof  the  immense  increase 
in  the  production  of  Brazil  coffee,  equalling  “ about 
8,800,000  cwts.,  or  something  like  two- thirds  of  the  whole 
produce  of  the  world,”  tlie  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer ignored  the  fact  that  this  enlargement  of 
the  available  supplies  did  not  flow  hither  so  as  to 
improve  the  position  or  prospects  of  the  article  in 
our  owu  country,  as  the  British  consumers,  as  a 
rule,  are  not  drinkers  of  Brazil  coffee,  it  being 
notoriously  unsuited  to  their  taste ; and  thus  it  has 
followed  that  the  prices  of  fancy  coffees  or  of  any 
grade  approaching  to  excellence  of  quality— a .ich, 
indeed,  as  could  be  used  unstintedly  at  home — have 
considerably  risen,  making  the  berry  in  many 
oases  extravagantly  dear,  and  drawing  a hard- 
and-fast  line  beyond  which  it  is  impossible  for 
the  consumption  to  extend.  Again,  the  importation 
of  cheap  and  adulterated  preparations  of 
coffee  and  “mixtures”  has  dono  a deal  of  harm  not 
only  to  cousumers,  who  have  been  deceived,  but  to 
honest  traders,  who  have  been  repeatedly  undersold 
in  their  owu  markets,  without  the  least  chance  of 
redressing  their  wrongs,  and  who  in  their  sale  of 
the  genuine  product  have  been  unable,  through  pro- 
longed scarcity,  dearness,  and  the  oppressive  duty 
on  the  unroasted  coffee  bean,  to  compete,  with  ad- 
vantage, against  their  unscrupulous  rivals  in  the 
trade.  Muen  more  could  be  urged  on  the  same  point, 
but  sufficient  proof  has  been  adduced  to  show  that 
the  grievances  of  which  the  coffee  dealers  and  others 
complain  are  of  no  common  order ; and  while  some 
remedy  is  needed  to  restore  the  trade  to  a healthy 
and  prosperous  condition,  there  is  no  surer  or  more 
fitting  method  than  that  of  at  once  repealing  the 
duty  on  the  article. — Grocer,  March  7. 
South  Wynaau. — The  Madras  Mail  clirect.s 
•special  attention  to  tlie  returns  for  tlie  past  seaso?! 
of  tlie  Perindotty  Tea  Estate,  in  South  Wynaail. 
Tlie.se  are  (f  special  inteiest,  in  that  the  tea  made 
in  eacli  month  of  tlie  year  is  shown,  which  will 
enable  planters  to  see  when  the  flushes  occur 
and  labour  is  needed.  The  average  yield  of  over 
oOOlb.  ))cr  acre  is  splendid,  reineinbering  what 
Mr,  William  Taylor,  of  Ceylon,  has  said  about 
the  Jdt  of  the  bushes  on  this  iilantation.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  Messrs.  Patry  and  Pasteur reconI 
the  sale  of  a small  break  of  a tea  from  the 
Kanambyle  Estate,  Cherambadi,  which  averaged 
lOjd  per  lb.  being  the  same  average  as  Assam 
for  the  week  and  1 fd  better  than  Cachar  and 
Sylhet.  This  is  the  lirst  sale  of  tea  from  this 
district  of  the  Wynaad,  and  the  price  is  most 
satisfactory.  We  hear  that  another  break  from  the 
Mapjiadi  di.strict  has  also  obtained  an  etiually  high 
average. 
