THE  TROPrCAI.  AGRTCULTURIS  !\ 
859 
June  i,  1896.] 
the  defendants  said  that  the  goods  were  sold  not 
only  by  sample,  but  also  by  deseription,  and  that 
the  plaintiff,  in  order  to  succeed,  must  prove  that 
the  goods  delivered  did  correspond  with  the  des- 
cription of  the  goods  sold.  The  aibitrators  had  not 
said  SO)  and  therefore  this  was  an  insufficient  and 
imperfect  award,  and  it  was  proper  that  it  should  be 
sent  back.  The  other  question  was  that  under  the 
terms  of  the  arbitral  ion  agreement  there  was  no 
apjjeal  to  this  Court  until  after  appeal  to  the  Council 
of  the  Produce  Brokers  Association.  On  this  point 
his  Ijordship  held  that  it  was  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  provisions  of  the  Arbitration  Act  for  tlie 
matter  to  have  been  brought  into  this  Court. 
Mr.  Justice  Day  concuired,  adding  that  for  him- 
self he  should  have  preferred  simply  to  have  set  the 
award  aside  in  this  particular  case. 
The  question  w'as  accordingly  referred  back  to  the 
arbitrators,  on  the  understanding  that  if  any  difficulty 
arose  in  getting  the  gentlemen  who  fonneily  acted 
as  arbitrators  to  proceed  with  the  matters,  that  diffi- 
culty should  dealt  with  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
Produce  Brokers  Association  applicable  in  such  cases. 
— Vhewist  and  /h?///r/i.s7,  Api  il  25th. 
DKUU  llEPOUT. 
(From  Chemist  (ind  /triiai/isl . ) 
hoiulon,  April  2:jril. 
Koi..r  ^ ITS.— In  .spite  of  tlie  recent  l.irge  arrivals, 
the  market  seems  to  have  gained  some  little  tirmne.ss, 
and  sales  of  fair  quality  Hast  Indian  kolas  are  reported 
at  Sd  per  lb. 
O11..S  (Kssential).— tdtronella  oil  slow  of  .sale  and  easier 
on  the  spot  as  well  as  for  arrival.  Lemongrass  (juiet  at 
21  1 per  oz. 
THE  AM.STEUUA.M  MARKET. 
Our  Am.sterdam  correspondent  writes  on  April  21st, 
that  the  auction  of  Java  cin.’hona-bark,  to  be  held  in 
Amsterdam  on  April  3uth,  will  consist  of  G,31i)  bales 
and  239  cases,  vyeighing  together  51(,98(5  kilos.  The  bark 
is  of  rich  qu.ality,  the  average  percentage  of  sulphate 
of  quinine  being  5 (i7  per  cent  of  the  total  weight, 
repre.senting  a weight  of  28,899  kilos  of  sulphate  of 
quinine. 
IS  THB:  CAMPIIUIi-M.\llKEr  BREAKING 
DOWN  ? 
Another  penny-a  pound  reduction  in  the  price  of 
camphor  was  declared  on  Monday  by  the  EnglipJi 
refiners.  This  lowers  the  quotation  for  bells  in 
20-cwt  lots  to  Is  lOd  per  lb,  and  is  the  third  drop 
within*  a month,  the  first  having  been  declared  by 
the  English  refiners  on  March  30th,  when  half-ton 
lots  were  lowered  from  2s  dpi  to  2s  lAd  per  lb. 
Such  a persistent  wasting-away  of  the  quotations 
on  the  verge  of  the  chief  consuming-season  is 
well  calculated  to  fill  the  holders  of  stock  with 
alarm,  and  make  them  doubt  whether  a general 
breakdown,  which  may  reduce  the  price  to  about 
half  its  present  figure,  be  not  impending.  One 
is  often  and  complacently  told  that  manu- 
factured chemicals,  such  as  morphia,  quinine, 
and  refined  camphor,  are  now-a-days  connec- 
ted only  with  the  slenderest  of  threads  to  the 
commercial  movements  of  their  parent-articles.  We 
should  hesitate  to  affirm  that  the  assertion  is  true 
in  any  case  ; it  certainly  is  not  in  that  of  camphor. 
The  whole  situation  of  that  important  drug  during 
the  pa  it  twelve  months  has  turned  upon  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  “Syndicate”  which  was  formed  about 
a twelve  month  ago,  and  of  which  we  revealed  the 
names  and  the  policy  in  May,  1895.  At  the  begin- 
'i  F A F M }-  Q Q e.ssay  de.scribing  a really 
JLnrllLOOi  genuine  Cure  for  Deafne.ss, 
: tinging  in  Ears,  &c.,  no  matter  how  severe  or  loior. 
staiuling,  will  be  sent  post  free.— Artificial  Ea”. 
drums  find  similar  appliances  entirely  superseded. 
Addre.ss  THOMAS  KEiMPE,  Victoria  CJi.vm- 
I5EKS,  19,  Southampton  Buiedings,  Holborn  ; 
London. 
ning  of  that  year,  before  the  Syndicate  had  entered 
the  market,  crude  camphor — Formosa  camphor — was 
qft'ei-ed  freely  at  79s  per  cwt.,  c.i.f  terms,  and  although 
in  IMarcli  and  April,  ostensibly  owing  to  the  annexa- 
tion of  the  Island  of  Formosa  by  Japan,  there  was 
a slight  upward  movement,  that  ripple  would  no  doubt 
have  died  a natural  death  within  a few  weeks  had 
there  not  appeared  upon  the  scene  a prominent 
firm  of  London  drug-brokers  who  began  to  buy  up,  on 
account  of  thi'ee  capitalists  not  in  any  way  connec- 
ted with  the  drug-trade,  every  parcel  of  camphor 
upon  w'hich  they  could  lay  hands.  The  operations 
of  the  Syndicate  during  the  ten  or  eleven  months 
of  its  existence  have  naturally  been  conducted  with 
much  secrecy,  but  occasional  glimpses  of  light  have 
been  thrown  upon  its  doings,  from  which  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  three  operators  have  bought  among 
them  about  10,007)  packages  of  crude  camphor 
at  an  average  cost  of  about  130s  per  cwt.  Under 
the  iuHuence  of  the  Syndicate  purchases  crude  For- 
mosa camphor  (now  the  leading  variety)  rapidly  rose 
from  115s  per  cwt.  spot  in  April  to  207s  Gd  spot  in 
September.  Then  came  a turn.  The  Syndicate  may 
have  become  tired  of  buying,  or  its  policy  may  have 
been  chauged,  but  the  sudden  sallies  of  the  broker 
iiiio  the  Commercial  Sale  R oms  and  his  periodical 
raids  upon  daring  counter-speculators  who  had  to  be 
cornered  came  to  an  end  and  no  sooner  did  the 
Syndicate  cease  to  buy  than  the  market  commenced 
to  droop,  Last  week  Formosa  camphor  was  offei- 
ing  at  as  low  a figure  as  130s  per  cwt.,  c.i.f. 
but  then  the  Syndicate  broker  once  more  put  in  an 
appearance,  and  supposed  purchases  on  his  part  to  the 
extent  of  about  3,000  piculs  once  more  caused  a tem- 
porary inflation.  Now  the  broker  is  gone,  and  the 
market  has  fallen  to  pieces  with  him.  The  fact  seems 
to  be  that  the  Syndicate  have  grievously  miscalculated 
(if  they  considered  at  all)  the  available  supply  of  the 
drug.  Within  the  past  four  or  five  years  the  output 
of  Formosa  camphor  has  been  quadrupled,  and  it  is 
now  tolerably  clear  that  the  Japanese  occupation  of 
the  island,  instead  of  diminishing,  has  greatly  stimu- 
lated the  production.  Tlie  high  market-prices  caused 
by  the  operations  of  the  Syndicate  account  for  the 
increased  production,  and  as  the  buying  up  of  all 
available  parcels  would  be  a task  exceeding  even  the 
port'ers  of  the  three  great  capitalists  who  form  the 
inner  ring,  the  position  of  these  gentlemen  to-day 
is  an  extremely  awkward  one.  Under  these  circum- 
stances we  should  not  he  surprised  if  the  report 
were  true  that  the  Syndicate  have  ceased  to  act  in 
unison  ; that,  some  time  ago,  their  camphor  stock  was 
parcelled  out  among  the  members ; and  that  one  of  them 
has,  by  this  time,  quietly  disposed  of  the  bulk, 
if  not  the  whole,  of  his  share,  while  the  others 
still  hold  on.  The  camphor-venture  will  probably, 
in  the  end.  engulph  that  portion  of  profits  on  the 
copper  speculation  of  the  Syndicate  which  re- 
mains after  the  disastrous  failure  of  its  Zanzibar 
clove  speculation  and  at  any  rate  the  names  of 
the  speculators  will  live  in  the  drug  market  as 
those  of  gentlemen  who,  without  any  apparent  reason 
disturbed  the  course  of  the  camphor  market  for  a' 
whole  year.  We  should  like  to  know,  however,  who, 
besides  the  brokers,  has  derived  a pennyworth  of 
good  from  all  this  buying  and  selling.  Not  the 
Syndicate,  which  has  made  no  profit  collectively' 
from  the  venture,  nor  the  refiners,  who,  be-  ^ 
sides  being  compelled  to  buy  from  hand  to'*' 
mouth,  have  most  of  them  been  obliged***- 
to  sell  at  rates  that  cannot  have  been  very  profitable,  ; 
The  remaining  Syndicate  members  hold  between  them  ' 
an  enormous  stock  of  crude  camphor  (which  is  an 
undesirable  article  to  keep  in  stock  anyhow,  because 
It  loses  weight  rapidH) ; in  fact,  it  is  currently  believed 
that  the  published  London  drug-statistics  give  but  a 
very  imperfect  idea  of  the  true  quantity  stored  at 
various  warehouses  ou  Syndicate  account.  If  the 
owners  openly  endeavour  to  realise  this  supply  they  will 
certainly  knock  the  bottom  out  of  the  market  altogether- 
if  they  continue  to  buy,  their  last  state  may  be  worse’ 
than  their  present  one,  for  they  must  then  be  prepared 
to  secure  quantities  that  would  tax  even  their  huge  re- 
sources. As  for  the  refiners,  they  have  to  cope  not  only 
with  second-hand  holders,  who  are  pretty  well  supplied 
but  one  of  their  0,W1  fraternity,  who  is  among  the  largest 
