FHE  TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURTSr 
251 
Oct.  I,  1896.J 
Mr.  Paris  having  explained  the  full  purport  of 
such  action,  stated  that  he  himself  had  got  a gua- 
rantee from  one  line  of  stoaiiiers  that  all  claims  for 
dainage  would  be  paid  in  England  without  any 
question  under  this  arrangement. 
Mr.  Paris  then  refeiu-ed  to  a Circular  letter  which 
had  been  issued  by  the  Committee  of  the  Tea  Traders’ 
Association  to  Erokers  requesting  them  to  mark  in 
their  catalogue  all  slack-packed  and  cross-cut  pack- 
ages. He  laid  on  the  table  Brokers’  catalogues  for 
the  previous  week’s  sale,  and  drew  attention  to  tho 
very  large  percentage  of  slack-packed  packages  in 
the  sale. 
Mr.  Paris  further  produced  a list  of  invoices  each 
of  .800  chests  of  tea  shipped  to  London,  showing 
losses  in  weight  averaging  from  to  3 per  cent.,  and 
also  two  invoices  each  of  300  chests  of  tea  shipped 
to  Manchester,  one  of  which  showed  a gain  of  j per 
cent,  and  the  other  a loss  of  i per  cent.  The  5lan- 
chester  shipments  had  been  specially  selected  before 
purchase  on  account  of  their  being  in  good  strong 
chests  and  it  was  fair  to  deduce  from  this  that  with 
good  chests,  loss  in  weight  can  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum. 
The  attention  of  the  Committee  was  also  called  to 
the  damage  to  the  Indian  tea  industry  in  America 
and  elsewhere  by  purchasers  receiving  teas  in  chests 
so  markedly  inferior  to  those  of  China  and  Ceylon. 
Nearly  all  buying  instructions  received  from  Ainei'ica 
and  the  Colonies  now  contain  directions  to  “ select 
only  packages  that  will  reach  their  destination  in 
good  condition.” 
Mr.  Paris  finally  drew  attention  to  the  diffei'ence 
in  losses  in  weight  between  Ceylon  and  Indian  tea 
which  was  fully  J per  cent,  in  favour  of  the  former. 
The  Committee  having  thanked  Mr.  Paris  for  the 
valuable  information  given  them,  pi'oceeded  to  discuss 
the  question  of  recommending  shippers  to  issue  a 
Circular  to  the  liners  sirch  as  he  suggested,  and  it 
was  decided  that  a Ch’cular  should  be  sent  to  all 
Members  of  the  Association  in  the  first  instance  asking 
for  their  opinion  on  the  proposal. 
Letter's  of  12th,  19th  and  26th  June  from  the 
Secretarj',  Indian  Tea  Association,  London  with  i'i‘- 
ference  to  the  American  Market  Fund,  which  had 
been  previously  circulated,  were  now  brought  up  for 
final  consideration.  'The  Committee  noted  that  Mr. 
Blechynden  arrived  in  Loudon  from  New  York  on 
tho  7th  June,  and  that  the  Committee  had  liad  the 
advantage  of  conferring  with  him  on  several  matters 
of  importance,  such  as  the  work  in  the  United  States, 
prospect.s- in  Canada  and  the  Southern  States,  the 
question  of  Green  Tea  and  other  matters,  also  that 
Mr.  Blechynden  was  calling  on  the  principal  repre- 
sentatives of  the  tea  industry;  especially  those  who 
had  not  hitherto  supported  the  ikurd.  Mr.  Blechynden 
left  again  on  the  27th  June  for  New  York  in  company 
with  Mr.  Mackenzie,  tho  Ceylon  Commissioner. 
A letter  was  read  from  Mr.  j.  Buckingham,  C.I.E. 
Chairman  of  the  Assum  Branch,  stating  that  at  the 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Branch  a contribution  of 
112,000  was  voted  to  the  American  Market  Fund. 
The  Committee  had  duly  acknowledged  this  com- 
munication, and  now  placed  on  record  their  obliga- 
tions to  the  Assam  Branch  for  this  substantial  ad- 
dition to  the  fund. 
A letter  was  also  read  from  tho  Honorary  Secre- 
tary, Central  Travancore  Planters’  Association, 
stating  that  his  Association  having  been  under  the 
impression  that  the  campaign  in  America  W'as  going 
to  be  discontinued  at  the  close  of  the  current  year, 
had  passed  the  following  resolution  at  a general 
meeting : — 
“ That  this  Association  is  fully  in  accord  with  the 
Indian  Tea  Association  in  its  determination  to  carry 
on  the  campaign  for  pushing  Indian  tea  in  America 
for  another  year,  and,  moreover,  considers  that  the 
work  should  be  carried  on  from  year  to  year  until 
such  time  as  fully  one-half  the  consumption  of 
America  is  British-grown  tea.” 
Copy  of  this  resolution  was  to  be  forwarded  to 
the  London  Committee,  and  the  Committee  of  tho 
Central  Travancore  Planters’  Association  were  to  be 
informed  that  no  such  decision  as  they  referred  to 
bad  been  arrived  at. 
Statement  of  accounts  of  the  American  Market 
Fund  to  31st  July  was  submitted  to  the  Committee 
from  which  it  appeared  that  the  total  amount  of 
contribution  advised  to  date  amounted  to  1168, 407-10-6, 
and  that  there  was  a balance  in  Bank  and  in  cash 
of  1121,777-2-10 
Considered  letter  of  the  27th  June  from  Dr.  Geo. 
Watt,  lleporter  on  Economic  Products  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  India  asking  to  bo  furnished  with  any 
information  on  the  su'q'ect  of  Let  Pet  'Tea,  w'hich 
the  Committee  might  happen  to  have  and  also 
enquiring  as  to  tho  amount  of  Chindwin  tea  seed 
imported  into  Assam,  and  the  quantity  of  Assam 
indigenous  seed  annually  turned  out  from  the  seed 
gardens  of  the  province.  'The  Committee  were  un- 
able to  furnish  any  information  with  regard  to  Let 
Pet  'Tea,  but  they  had  ascertained  from  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Assam  Branch  that  certainly  under  10 
per  cenf,  and  probably  not  more  than  5 per 
cent  of  the  extensions  in  the  Assam  Valley 
had  been  opened  out  with  Chindwin  seed.  The  in- 
formation furnished  by  Mr.  Buckingham  had  been 
passed  on  to  Dr.  Watt. 
Considered  letter  of  the  24th  Julj^  from  the  Secretary 
Bengal  Chamber  of  Co)umerce,  replj'ing  to  the  Com- 
mittee’s letter  asking  for  the  opinion  of  the  Committee  of 
the  Chamber,  on  a proposal  to  ask  the  Government  of 
India  to  levy  small  export  tax  upon  tea  as  is  done  in 
Cej'lon,  the  proceeds  to  be  disbursed  in  connection 
with  the  exploitation  of  the  American  and  other 
markets.  The  Committee  of  the  Chamber  in  this  let- 
ter pointed  out  that  there  would  he  verj' great  difficulty 
in  the  way  of  any  such  impost  being  levied  in  India, 
as  all  the  various  Governments  would  have  to  be  con- 
sulted and  various  contingencies  might  be  raised. 
The  Committee  of  the  Chamber  deprecated  the  idea 
and  considered  that  whatever  liad  to  be  done  in  the 
direction  of  opening  new  markets  for  tea  should  be 
done  voluntaril}-. 
After  consideration  of  this  letter,  the  Committee 
were  of  opinion  that  it  was  not  worth  while  pursuing 
the  matter  further  in  face  of  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  carrying  out  the  proposals. 
('onsidered  memorandum  of  the  25th  July  from 
Chairman  with  reference  to  the  establishment  of  a 
Pasteur  Institute  for  India  and  asking  for  the  opinion 
of  the  General  Committee  as  to  the  most  suitable  site. 
'The  Cliainiian  having  explained  that  the  present 
intention  of  Government  was  to  place  the  Institute 
in  Kasauli  in  the  Simla  Hills,  but  that  both  Professor 
Hadkine  and  Dr.  Banking  were  now  in  favour  of 
its  being  located  somewhere  in  Bengal,  the  following 
minute  was  recor’ded  unanimously,  and  ordered  to 
be  sent  to  Professor  Haffkine,  who  was  leaving  for 
Simla  that  evening: — ‘‘This  Committee  having  con- 
sidered the  question  of  the  locality  to  be  selected 
for  the  head-quarters  .of  the  Pasteur  Institute  for  In- 
dia, and  having  in  mind  the  requirements  of  tho 
large  labour  force  estimated  at  50,000  auuually  pro- 
ceeding to  Assam,  as  well  as  the  increasing  demands 
of  the  Uooars  and  Darjeeling  districts,  are  of  opinion 
that  such  head-qu.arters  should  be  located  in  Bengal, 
viz.,  as  near  as  possible  to  the  possibly  greatest  de- 
mand which  may  arise  for  assistance  from  the  In- 
stitute.” 
Consideration  of  a memorandum  prepared  by  the 
Secretary,  Bengal  Chamber  of  Commerce,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  proposal  recently  made  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  for  the  abolition  of  the  duty  on  British 
grown  tea  was  ordered  to  stand  over  until  the  next 
meeting.— Planters'  Gazette,  Aug.  22. 
TEA  SHOOKS. 
liave  been  favoured  with  an  inspection 
of  tea  sliooks  importeil  from  Austria  for  tho 
litcal  market  by  Mr.  (J.  .\.  Marinitseb.  Tlie 
sliooks  are  of  white  iiino  free  from  knots  so  tliat 
there  slionhl  lie  little  liability  to  split.  'I'hero 
is  also  nil  entire  alisenco  of  resin  or  of  odour 
likely  to  tiiint  lea.  'I'he  sliooks  ai'c  dovetailed 
and  when  ]iut  'Logetlmr  should  make  a very 
s('r\ieeable  chest,  \\hi(di  in  jmint  of  lightness 
and  rmst  should  compare  favourably  with  chests 
at  present  oll'ered  foi  sale  on  the  local  niarkott 
