[July  i,  1896. 
§8  the  tropical  agriculturist. 
printed  in  the  Appendix  for  general  information. 
Messrs.  Thomas  Christy  & Co.,  will  no  doubt  have 
conferred  a great  benefit  on  the  tea  industry  and 
also  on  the  general  public*  if  thejr  had  solved  the 
problem  of  converting  refuse  tea  into  a useful  and 
beneficial  drug.  In  October  last  the  Committee 
received  from  Messrs.  Thomas  Christy  & Co.,  througli 
the  Indian  Tea  Association,  London,  a couple  of 
sample  boxes  of  Theine  tablets  especially  recommen- 
ded in  cases  of  fatigue  and  headache  which  it  was 
thought,  would  meet  with  a large  demaud  among 
the  natives  of  India.  The  i[uautily  sent  was  too 
small  to  experiment  upon,  but  ills  understood  that 
Messrs.  Christy  A Co.  are  taking  steps  to  have  these 
tablets  widely  disseminated  among  tea  estates  m 
different  parts  of  India. 
INDIAN  XDA  IN  PEUSIA. 
In  September  last  the  attention  of  the  General 
Committee  was  drawn  to  an  article  in  the  “ Home 
and  Colonial  Mail  ” of  16th  August  on  the  subject 
of  tea  in  Persia,  commenting  on  the  report  for  1894-95 
on  the  trade  of  Khorassan  by  H.  B.  M.  Vice-Consul 
Mr.  Bingler  Thomson.  The  Consul  stated  in  his 
report  that  there  was  no  doubt  a very  large  quan- 
tity of  cheap  bad  tea  come  from  the  Indian  markets, 
and  that  brought  to  Meshed  was  of  the  vilest  descrip- 
tion, and  probably  damaged  stuff  ; which  had  been 
subjected  to  firing  a second  time.  The  Committee 
were  of  opinion  that  this  was  a statement  which 
should  not  remain  unchallenged,  and  required  careful 
investigation  in  the  interests  of  the  Indian  tea 
trade,  and  they  accordingly  addressed  the  Vice- 
Consul  at  Meshed,  asking  by  what  route 
the  tea  arrived  in  the  country,  and  how  it  was 
packed,  and  a request  was  also  made  for  samples  if 
they  could  be  supplied,  in  order  to  enable  the  Com- 
mittee to  trace  its  origin.  Mr.  Thomson  replied  on 
the  2nd  of  October,  forwarding  four  samples  of  tea 
with  his  letter  in  support  of  his  previous  official 
statement.  Three  of  these  on  being  valued  were 
found  to  be  absolutely  worthless,  the  value  of  the 
fourth  being  estimated  at  not  more  than  7 annas 
per  lb.,  although  selling  in  Persia  at  Re.  1-40,  this 
being  the  only  one  of  the  four  samples  sent,  which 
was  fit  for  consumption.  The  Committee  have  been 
using  their  beat  efforts  to  discover  where  and  by 
whom  this  worthless  tea  is  shipped  to  Persia.  It  is 
quite  clear  it  does  not  come  from  Calcutta,  and  they 
have  received  a letter  from  a leading  firm  of  brokers 
here  stating  that  although  a very  considerable 
quantity  of  sound  high-class  tea  had  been  shipped 
from  this  market  to  Persia,  for  some  seasons  past, 
they  desired  to  place  on  record  their  statement  as 
brokers  for  the  largest  buyers  for  the  Persian 
market,  that  so  far  as  they  knew,  no  unsound  tea 
had  ever  lieen  shipped  from  this  port.  A refercnio 
in  the  letter  from  the  British  Vice-Consul  at  INfesh- 
ed  to  Kangra  led  the  Committee  to  place  themselves 
in  communication  with  the  Kangra  Valley  Planters’ 
Association,  who  supplied  them  w’ith  some  interest- 
ing information  os  to  the  mode  of  manufacture  and 
adulteration  resorted  to  by  Native  planters  in  that 
district,  and  it  appeared  likely  that  this  tea  was 
sent  to  Bombay  for  shipment  to  Persia  together  with 
inferior  and  adulterated  tea  from  other  districts  with 
possibly  a good  admixture  of  low-class  China  tea. 
The  Committee  have  since  been  in  correspondence 
with  the  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Bombay,  who  has  very  kindly  done  all  in  his  power 
to  assist  in  the  investigation  ; but  so  far  as  the  en- 
quiries have  gone,  has  not  been  able  to  find  any  trace 
of  shipment  of  such  tea  having  been  made  from 
Bombay,  though  he  is  hoping  to  collect  further  in- 
formation. The  matter,  although  an  extremely  im- 
Eortant  one  to  the  tea  industry,  in  view  of  Persia 
ecoming  an  important  outlet  for  Indian  tea,  is  ad- 
mittedly a very  difficult  one  to  deal  with.  The  ex- 
ports of  Indian  tea  from  Bombay  to  ports  in  the 
Persian  Gulf  amount  now  to  about  2,000,(X)0  lb. 
annually. 
THEI'TS  OK  TEA  IN  TIUNSIT. 
In  October  last  attention  began  to  bo  directed 
to  the  serious  loss  caused  by  the  frequent  shortages 
found  on  opening  tea  chests  in  London,  evidently 
the  result  of  the  chests  being  tampered  with  and 
pilfered  somewhere  in  the  course  of  transit.  The 
General  Committee  immediately  took  action  in  the 
matter  by  asking  for  the  co-operation  of  members 
iu  trying  to  localize  the  thefts  and  bring  the  of- 
fenders to  justice.  They  also  issued  a circular 
letter  to  different  firms  of  brokers,  enquiring 
whether  they  hvd  discovered  any  shortages  of  tea 
sold  by  auction  iu  Calcutta,  and  asked  what  precau- 
tions they  took  against  thefts  being  committed 
when  tea  was  in  their  godowns.  The  Tea  Traders' 
Association  were  also  addressed  with  a x’equest  for 
any  help  they  could  give  in  investigating  the  matter. 
The  general  oiunioii  was  that  the  chests  wore  tam- 
pered with  somewhere  in  the  port  before  sbipmeut. 
The  Comniittoe  then  placed  themselves  iu  commu- 
nication with  Sir  John  Lambert,  the  Commissioner  of 
Police,  who  immediately  took  active  measures  to  dis- 
cover and  suppress  the  thefts  if  they  were  being  com- 
mitted withiu  the  limits  of  the  port,  As  a result  of 
the  energy  and  vigilance  of  Mr.  Superintendent  Hogg, 
an  important  arrest  of  the  manjees  and  dandees  of 
two  cargo  boats  was  made  on  the  17th  of  Decem- 
ber, the  issue  of  which  was  that  seven  boatmen 
were  sentenced  to  six  months’  imprisonment  and 
one  receiver  to  one  year’s  imprisonment.  Superin- 
tendent Hog:g  and  his  staff  followed  up  this  suc- 
cessful! beginning  very  vigorously,  and  between 
the  17th  of  December  and  the  15th  of  January, 
twenty-three  persons  were  arrested  by  the  River 
Police  in  connection  with  nine  cases  of  theft,  of 
whom  eighteen  were  convicted.  The  Committee 
showed  their  appreciation  of  the  good  work  done 
by  the  police  by  placing  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Commissioners  the  sum  of  R500  for  distribution 
as  rewards.  Sir  John  Lambert  bas  called  special 
attention  to  the  temptations  to  dishonest  boatmen 
owing  to  absence  of  proper  safeguards  on  the  part 
of  shippers  while  their  tea  is  lying  in  lighters 
on  the  river,  and  he  has  suggested  that  no  cargo 
boat  should  be  sent  off  without  a responsible 
sircar  or  peon  iu  charge.  The  manjees  and  their 
crews  who  ply  in  this  port  are  very  nearly  allied  to 
the  criminal  classes,  and  consequently  reasonable 
supervision  by  owners  and  agents  is  imperative. 
Sir  John  Lambert  stated  that  all  that  could  be  done 
by  the  police  force  would  be  done,  but  it  was  im- 
possible for  a small  body  of  police,  who  have  to 
perform  multifarious  duties,  to  exercise  complete 
control  over  the  movements  of  dishonest  boatmen, 
or  to  prevent  their  tampering  on  board  their  boats 
with  goods  entrusted  to  them.  The  Committee  are 
glad  to  state  that  owing  to  the  vigorous  action  of 
the  police  a stop  has  apparently  been  put  to  thefts 
on  the  river,  but  they  fear  that  a considerable 
amount  of  robbery  takes  place  on  the  way  down 
from  the  gardens,  and  the  detailed  statements  they 
have  received  from  different  members  show  that  a 
very  large  quantity  of  Lea  has  been  pilfered  from 
time  to  time.  Some  important  paxiers  in  connec- 
tion with  this  matter  will  be  found  printed  in  the 
Appendix. 
FINA  NCES. 
'The  total  planted  area  represented  by  the  As- 
sociation during  the  year  has  been  265,188  acres 
against  243,278  acres,  a fairly  satisfactory,  but  still  not 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Committee,  a sufficient  in- 
crease, considering  that  the  total  area  under  cultiva- 
tion in  Assam,  Cachar,  Darjiling,  the  Duars,  the  Tcrai, 
Chittagong  and  Chota  Nagpur  is  at  the  present 
moment  389,407  acres,  and  they  trust  at  no  distant 
date  to  see  the  whole  of  the  tea  industry  of  Nor- 
thern India  represented  by  the  Association.  The 
year’s  subscriptions  at  the  rate  of  one  anna  per  acre 
amount  of  R16, 571-2-0,  and  theCommittee  have  realized 
this  year  a further  sum  of  R240-3-2  from  the  sale  of 
Mr.  Bimber’s  text-book  on  the  “Chemistry  and 
Agriculture  of  Tea’’  for  which  there  is  still  a demand. 
The  Revenue  Account  published  shows  a surplus  of 
R3, 947-11-3,  aud  from  the  balance  sheet  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  Committee  had  a balance  in  hand  on 
the  29th  of  February,  1896,  of  1114,842-1-0.  The 
Committee  remitted  to  the  London  Association  on 
account  of  iho  expenses  of  the  London  Office  the 
sum  of  .t'200,  the  wpiivalciit  of  which  113,498-13-9  is 
debited  to  Revenue  Account,  aud  has  been  provided 
