THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
329 
Nov.  2,  1896.] 
COCONUT  PLANTING  IN  I5K1TISH 
CENTRAL  AEIMCA. 
In  Ceylon  Europeans  are  more  and  more  en- 
gaging in  Coconut  planting  at  the  lower  eleva- 
tions and  the  ([uestion  arises,  can  we  here  not 
do  something  in  the  same  line  ! P>y  “ here”  we 
do  not  refer  to  Nyasaland  but  to  the  Zambesi 
and  lower  Shire  districts,  for  although  the  6rV«c/fc 
may  prove  that  coconuts  grow  at  Jumbe’s  on  Lake 
Nyas.n,  we  are  afraid,  it  would  find  it  very  dilli- 
cult  to  persuade  ])lanters  that  they  can  be  grown 
lucratively  there,  or  anywhere  else,  in  the  in- 
terior. It  may  be  objected  that  the  only  other 
place  is  the  Portuguese  littoral  and  it  is  to  it  we 
refer.  We  are  aware  that  this  is  a formidable  ob- 
jection owing  to  the  well-known  “ dog  in  the 
manger”  policy  of  the  usual  Portuguese  authorites, 
but  we  ask  if  it  would  not  be  possible,  with  the 
lielp  of  our  government,  to  get  such  concessions 
or  make  such  contracts  would  leave  absolutely 
no  rooTii  for  abuses.  Were  such  the  case  we  be- 
lieve coconut  jjlantations  would  be  as  .successful 
on  the  East  Coast  as  they  are  in  Ceylon  and  other 
countries  and  as  the  market  for  copra  and  coir 
is  a good  one  there  is  every  inducement  for  ca- 
pital to  see  what  can  be  done  in  the  way  of 
•adding  to  the  producing  capacity  of  East  Africa. 
The . cliief  commercial  products  from  the  coconut 
are  its  oil,  yielded  by  the  kernal  which  when  broken 
up  into  small  pieces  and  dried  is  called  cojira,  and 
its  fibre.  The  fibre  is  usually  divided  into  two 
classes — “ bristle”  and  “ mat”  fibre” — the  former 
being  worth  from  £30  per  ton  and  the  latter  about 
£20  ]jer  ton.  A third  class  of  fibre,  composed  of 
the  refuse,  is  worth  about  £10  per  ton.  Nuts 
are  sometimes  got  about  the  fifth  year  but  full 
bejiring  does  not  commence  till  the  seventh  to 
the  twelfth  year  .and  the  yield,  under  favourable 
circumstances,  continues  increasing  up  to  the  twen- 
tieth ye.ar.  The  residual  matter,  after  the  oil  has 
been  expressed  from  the  kernal  called  poonac,  is 
well  esteemed  as  a manure  for  coffee  and  would 
probably  find  a re.ady  market  in  13.  C.  A.  — Cen- 
tral rfrlcan  Planter  for  Aug. 
INDIAN  TEA  ASSOCIATION. 
Calcutta,  Sept.  2. 
Proceedings  of  a Meeting  of  the  General  Com- 
mittee held  on  the  2nd  Sept : — * * * 
A letter  dated  27th  July  was  read  from  the 
Honorary  Secretary,  Central  Travancore  Planters’ 
Association,  remitting  Rl, 413-14  6 as  a contribution 
to  the  American  Market  Fund.  Mr.  Acworth  men- 
tioned in  this  letter  that  every  tea  estate  in  the 
district  has  contributed.  An  acknowledgment  had 
been  sent  conveying  the  Committee’s  best  thanks 
for  tlie  hearty  support  still  continued  to  be  given 
by  the  Cential  Travancore  Planters’  Association  to 
the  efforts  for  the  extension  of  the  Indian  tea  trade 
in  America. 
Letters  of  17th  and  24th  July  and  7th  August  from 
the  Secretarv,  India  Tea  Association,  London,  also 
in  connection  with  the  American  Market  Fund,  which 
had  been  previously  circulated,  were  now  brought 
up  for  consideration.  The  Committee  noted  that  Sir 
Henry  Truman  Wood  had  at  length  received  the 
medals  and  diplomas  of  the  various  tea  companies 
ai  d estates  represeiued  at  the  Chicago  Exhibition, 
which  had  been  distributed  to  all  the  companies 
having  offices  in  London  the  remainder  having  been 
sent  by  the  India  Office  to  Calcutta.  In  response 
to  a request  from  the  London  Committee,  a sum 
of  £1,000  had  been  remitted  on  the  1st  instant.  The 
total  amount  of  contributions  paid  and  promised  up 
to  date  was  reported  as  1399,288-10  0,  and  the  balance 
in  the  Hank  of  Bengal  after  making  the  above  remit- 
tance was  1345,886-15  1,  the  outstandings  being  in 
process  of  collection.  * » * 
The  Committee  next  proceeded  to  consider  a memo- 
r.-indum  prepared  by  the  Secretary,  Bengal  Chamber 
ot  Commerce,  with  reference  to  a proposal  recently 
made  m the  House  of  Commons  for  the  abolition 
ot  duty  on  British-grown  tea,  the  discussion  on  which 
had  been  postponed  at  the  last  Meeting.  It  was 
decided  that  vei*y  little  could  bo  done  on  this  aide  beyond 
supporting  any  efforts  \yhich  might  be  made  by  the 
Committee  of  the  Association  in  Jjondon  and  supplying 
them  with  all  necessary  information.  Copies  of  the  me- 
morandum w'ere  to  be  senthomeand  the  attention  of  the 
London  Committee  strongly  drawn  to  the  matter 
iirging  them  to  keep  the  agitation  on  the  subiect 
alive. 
The  next  matter  for  consideration  was  a letter, 
dated  lltli  August,  from  Brigade-Surgeon-Lieuteuant 
Colonel  W.  A.  Crawford  13o",  Honorary  Secretary 
Pasteur  Institute  of  India,  Simla,  forwarding  pro- 
ceedings of  a meeting  held  at  Simla  on  the  10th 
August,  to  decide  the  question  of  the  establishment 
in  India  of  a Pasteur  Institute,  for  the  investigation 
and  combatting  of  infectious  diseases  affecting  the 
population  of  India  and  for  the  solution  of  economic 
liroblems. 
Also  letter  of  24th  August  from  Surgeon-Lieute- 
nant Colonel  G.  S.  Ranking,  M.D.,  Honorary  Secre- 
tary, Bengal  Branch,  Pasteur  Institute  of  India’,  asking- 
for  an  early  consideration  of  the  former  letter 
and  expre.ssiiig  the  hope  that  substantial  aid  would 
be  afforded  by  the  mercantile  community  towards  the 
ffiundation  and  maintenance  of  the  Institute.  Dr, 
Ranking  asked  for  a donation  of  R20,000  and  aii 
annual  subsidy  of  R15,000.  The  Committee  gathered 
that  the  fixing  of  the  site  in  Bengal,  in  favour  of 
winch  they  had  recorded  a resolution  at  their  last 
meeting,  was  more  or  less  dependent  on  the  amount 
of  local  support  received. 
After-  giving  the  papers  before  them  due  considera- 
tion, the  General  Committee  decided  to  contribute 
a donation  of  R5,000  from  the  funds  of  the  Associa- 
tion towards  the  establishment  or  the  Institute  on 
the  understanding  that  it  was  to  be  located  in  Ben- 
gal and  have  the  support  of  Government. 
_ As  the  establishment  of  the  Institute  commended 
itself  to  the  Committee  as  being  an  object  meritiiifr 
support  from  the  Mercantile  Community,  the  majority 
of  whom  were  more  or  less  interested  in  the  wel- 
fare of  labour  directly  or  indirectly  in  connection 
with  tea  gardens,  coal  mines,  or  (ute  mills,  it  wsa 
decided  to  ask  the  Committee  of  the  Bengal  Chamber 
of  Commerce  to  circulate  a subscription  list  amongst 
its  members  which  would  cover  the  whole  of  the 
pound,  and  which  the  Committee  felt  would  be  a 
better  plan  than  for  the  various  Associations  to  solicit 
subscriptions  each  from  its  own  members  as  in  the 
latter  case,  firms  would  in  many  cases  be  asked  to 
subscribe  three  times  over. 
•'O  the  request  for  an  annual  subsidy 
m R15,000  made  by  the  Honorary  Secretary,  Bengal 
Branch  of  the  Institute,  the  Committee  felt  that  no 
guarantee  whatever  could  be  given  as  to  this  by  the 
ludiaii  Tea  Association  as  .such.  If  the  Institute 
proved  itself  of  real  value,  it  would  no  doubt  receive 
support  and  a suggestion  was  made  that  a consider- 
able annual  sum  might  reasonably  be  expected  from 
the  tea  industry  by  the  fixing  of  a small  fee  on 
each  coolie  inoculated.  This  fee  might  yield  an  in- 
come of  R10,000  on  the  supposition  that  one-third 
of  the  number  of  coolies  proceeding  to  the  tea  dis- 
tricts were  inoculated. 
* * * 
Read  letter  No.  3,719  of  11th  August  from  the 
Officiating  Director  of  Land  Records  and  Agriculture 
Assam,  enquiring  if  any  explanation  could  be  given 
with  regard  to  the  fall  in  the  average  prices  of  Assam 
and  Surma  Valley  teas  during  1895-96,  as  against 
the  average  prices  in  1894-95.  This  letter  had  been 
replied  to,  stating  that  the  crop  of  1894  was  a fine 
one  as  regards  quality,  while  that  of  1895  was  not 
so,  the  weather  not  being  seasonable,  and  this  natu- 
rally had  an  unfavourable  effect  upon  prices. 
* « * 
The  Secretary  of  the  Association  in  London  having 
stated  that  it  would  be  worth  while  to  send  home 
