^8 
tHE  TROPICAL  AGRICULtURIST. 
[Aug.  I,  1896. 
no  month  passes  without  a show'er  of  rain.  Neverthe- 
less,  it  shoul  i be  broadly  stated  that  five  months  of 
the  year  are  very  wet  and  seven  months  of  the  year 
are  very  dry.  This  want  of  a more  general  distribu- 
tion of  the  rainfall  is  not  such  a favourable  feature  as 
would  be  the  more  regularly  distributed  rain  which 
occurs  in  Ceylon. 
The  climite  in  mist  pirts  of  the  Protectorate  is 
agreeable,  but  it  cannot  be  described  as  healthy. 
Neither  can  it  be  described  as  very  unhealthy.  The  chief 
condition  of  health  is  comfort.  Europeans  who  make 
themselves  thoroughly  comfortable  and  do  not  ex- 
pose themselves  too  much  to  the  sun,  and  who  lead 
a thoroughly  temperate  life,  seldom  have  occasion 
to  complain  of  their  health.  Almost  the  only  di- 
sease which  causes  any  anxiety  is  malarial  fever. 
There  is  very  little  dysentry,  and  it  is  of  a mild 
type.  Dysentry  is  hardly  ever  met  with  except  in 
the  plains.  The  climate  is  on  the  whole  benefi- 
cial to  persons  of  a consumptive  or  asthmatic  ten- 
dency— very  beneficial  in  fact  to  the  latter, 
who  often  maintain  better  health  in  British  Cen- 
tral Africa  than  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 
The  whole  of  the.  Protector  ile  is  now  absolutely 
sate  for  European  settlers,  the  entirety  of  it  being 
under  tbe  direct  control  of  the  Administration.  The 
t atives  are  very  well  disposed  towards  the  Europ.ans. 
There  is  a native  population  of  about  1,200,000,  but 
this  is  rapidly  increasing  by  immigratiou  from  the 
countries  outside  the  Protectorate  into  the  more 
settled  districts.  Labour  is  very  cheap  and  fairly 
abundant.  It  is  the  great  cheapness  of  labour,  however, 
which  tbe  principal  attraction  that  British  Central 
• Africa  can  offer  to  coffee  planters,  and  which  atones  for 
its  inferiority  of  climate  and  rainfall  as  compared 
to  Ceylon.  Adult  labourers  receive  wages  to  the 
extent  of  about  3.s.  a month.  At  some  periods  of 
the  year  food  is  given  in  addition,  making  the 
cost  of  adult  labour  about  4«.  6J.  a month.  The 
labour  of  women  and  children  is  paid  for  at  lesser 
rales. 
The  price  of  land  ranges  at  present  from  6s. 
down  to  2s.  Gff.on  acre,  but,  owing  to  the  con- 
siderable demand  for  estates,  it  is  possible  this 
up-set  price  may  increase.  Land  in  Blantyre  or 
ill  the  vicinity  of  that  township  fetches  rather 
high  prices— from  lOOL  to  120/.  an  acre.  Except 
within  the  settled  and  civilised  shire  districts, 
the  pri  o of  land  is  hardly  likely  to  exceed  2.s  M. 
an  acre  for  some  time  to  come.  As  regards  the 
sale  of  Government  land,  however,  no  estates  ex- 
ceeding d.OiX)  acres  in  one  spot  are  perniiltod  to 
be  sold,  and,  as  a rule,  1,000  to  2,000  acres  i-i  the 
area  chosen.  About  one-ei.hth  of  the  laud  in 
the  Protectorate  belongs  to  the  British  South 
Africa  Company,  the  African  Lakes  Corporation, 
and  some  gOO  European  settlers.  About  three- 
eighths  of  the  laud  is  permanentlv  secured  to  the 
natives,  and  about  half  of  tlie  total  laud  area  ot 
the  Protectorate  is  now  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Government,  though,  with  a view  to  native  expan- 
sion, it  is  intended  to  alienate  more  than  about 
a quarter  of  the  total  land  area. 
A.lthcugh  the  bulk  of  the  settlors  are  of  Biitish 
nationalit.v,  there  are  other  nationalities  represen- 
te.d,  viz,  Dutch,  Austrians,  Germans,  French,  and 
Italians  The  nationalities  arc  given  in  the  order  of 
their  majority  as  regaids  number  of  representatives. 
A constantly  extending  transport  service  is  now 
carried  on  throughout  the  Protectorate  by  the 
African  Lake  Corporation,  Messrs.  Sharrer,  Zambesi 
Traffic  Company,  the  African  International  Flotilla 
Company,  and  the  Oceana  Company.  At  present  the 
cost  of  transporting  goods  from  British  Central 
Africa  to  London  miiy  be  roughly  estimated  at  an 
average  of  15/.  a tin— ranging  from  20/.  a ton  from 
the  north  end  of  Lake  Nyasa  to  4/.  a ton  from  the 
Lower  Shire.  From  the  Shire  province,  which  is 
the  most  settled  district,  the  average  cost  of  trans- 
port is  perhaps  10/.  or  11/.  a ton  (7/.  from  Blantyre). 
The  cost  of  transport  from  England  to  Britisii 
(Jentral  Africa  is  about  1/.  a ton  more  than  the 
figures  given,  the  difference  urising  from  the  greater 
facilities  for  sending  goods  down  stream  compared 
to  the  hauling  of  them  up  stream,— A’oard  of  Trade 
.Journal,  May  Ib'JG. 
PUKE  COFFEE. 
The  paper  that  was  lately  read  at  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  on  the  subject  of  agriculture  took  a view 
of  bow  oppressed  this  department  is  by  rates  and 
taxes.  The  medical  profession  decided  that  if  milk 
could  be  obtained  in  a pure  form  it  was  extremely 
valuable  as  a food,  and,  further  that  its  consumptiom 
W'ould  be  very  largely  increased.  All  this  has  tiken 
place,  and  even  now  the  analytical  chemist  is  con- 
tinually on  the  watch  to  attack  either  the  farmer  for 
sending  milk  of  too  poor  a quality  to  market,  or  else 
the  retailer  because  his  milk  is  not  up  to  the  standard. 
Lately,  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Chemical 
Trade  Section  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  I (put 
it  to  sortie  of  the  analytical  chemists  w'ho  belong  to 
our  branch  whether  they  were  not  now  pretty  well 
satisfied  with  the  quality  of  the  milk  ; they  admitted 
they  were.  I then  asked  them  another  question, 
viz.,  were  they  not  aware  that,  at  the  present  time, 
if  they  went  into  almost  any  hotel,  restaurant,  coffee- 
house, and  many  private  houses,  they  could  nit 
obtain  pure  coffee,  and  that  at  many  railway  stations 
the  beverage  called  “coffee”  w’as  nothing  but  an 
adulterated  mixture  ? They  admitted  this  to  be  the 
case,  but  said  they  had  not  been  instructed  by  the 
Government  to  proceed  against  this  vile  .system  of 
the  adulteration  of  coffee. 
I took  the  opportunity  of  explaining  to  the  Com- 
mittee that  the  adulteration  consisted  of  beaus,  bad 
dried  fruit  ground  up,  and  as  a fact  the  very  best  and 
richest  coffees  yielding  the  best  flavours  were  all  sold 
at  a high  price  to  people  who  used  them,  because 
they  would  flavour  the  largest  amount  of  adulterating 
matter. 
After  the  deputation  waited  upon  the  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer,  at  the  end  of  February,  to  appeal 
against  the  duty  on  coffee,  I wrote  to  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  telling  him  that  I entirely  agreed 
with  some  of  the  members  of  the  deputation,  that 
the  reason  of  the  falling  off  in  revenue  from  coffee 
was  attributable  to  the  filthy  adulterating  matter 
that  was  employed  when  people  required  and  purchased 
ground  coffee. 
I am  glad  to  say  that  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer took  the  same  view  that  I did  upon  the 
matter,  and  agreed  with  some  of  the  members  of  the 
deputation  that  waited  upon  him;,  audit  was  pointed 
out  that  the  department  responsible  for  allowing  this 
adulteration,  and,  in  fact,  robbery  of  the  Exercise,  is 
conducted  by  Sir  Michael  ilieps  Beach.  If  these 
facts  are  admitted,  w’e  may  conclude  that  the  poor 
English  farmer,  who  has  delivered  to  the  hotel  or 
restaurant  pure  milk,  has  been  most  unfairly  treated 
by  the  Government  authorities,  for  he  has  been  forced 
to  abide  by  most  stringent  conditions ; and  now  he 
finds  that  the  vendor  of  “ coffee,  ” so  called,  may  sell 
and  admixture  in  a shop,  and  other  vendors  may  sell 
any  adulterated  article  under  the  name  of  “coffee" 
direct  to  the  public. 
Tlio  coffee  dealers  in  Mincing-lane,  who  have  an 
immense  stake  in  this  business,  subscribed  together 
and  formed  a committee,  and  they  gave  pure  coffee 
to  certain  people  as  long  as  they  would  agree  to  sell 
it  to  anyone  who  asked  for  a cup  of  coffee  at  their 
establishment,  and  there  are  very  few  establishments 
left  now  where  the  sale  of  this  pure  coffee  has  been 
continued. 
Would  it  not  be  fairer  to  trade  in  general  if  the 
Giverument  administrated  justice  in  this  branch? 
because  1 maintain  that,  now  we  have  such  excellent 
quality  of  milk,  good  coffee  W'ould  be  greatly  appre- 
ciated, and  very  soon  coffee  drinkers  would  be  able  to 
discriminate  between  the  different  sorts  of  coffees 
that  were  supplied  to  them. 
While  discussing  this  question  from  an  English 
point  of  view,  I should  like  to  further  remark  that  in 
France,  now,  it  is  most  difficult  to  got  a cup  of 
pure  coffee ; so  much  so  is  this  the  case,  that  if  you 
ask  at  a good  restaurant  for  a cup  of  their  best 
coff.-e  after  breakfast  or  after  dinner,  they  charge 
yon  an  extra  price  for  it. 
lijln  G -nn my  (lie  so-called  “ cofieo  ” which  is  supplied 
contain.^  really  less  of  the  pure  berry  than  it  does 
in  either  , England  or  France,  and  immense  quan- 
tities of  figs  and  dates  are  sold  to  adulterate  the 
