422 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec.  i,  1896. 
generally  at  fault.  The  withering,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Ceylon  planter,  is  very  uneven. 
The  reason  of  this  lies  in  the  inequality  of  the 
leaf,  the  larger  leaves,  of  course,  taking  longer 
to  wither  than  the  smaller  leaves.  In  Ceylon 
there  is  requirefl  one  coolie  for  acre,  whereas 
in  Natal  one  coolie  is  supposed  to  be  ample  for  four 
acres  ; hence  the  advantage  in  point  of  labour  is  shown 
in  favour  of  Natal.  The  result,  however,  is  to  some 
e.xtent  an  indiscriminate  plucking.  With  so  large 
an  area  to  cover,  the  coolie  has  to  exercise  a haste 
which  does  not  allow  of  carefulness  in  selection,  and 
in  consequence  a larger  leaf  is  plucked  than  should  be 
admitted,  and  the  uneven  withering  that  follows  is 
fatal  to  a first-class  tea.  it  is  admitted  that  Natal 
makes  as  good  tea  as  Ceylon  did  10  years  ago,  but 
if  Natal  wants  to  compete  on  even  terras  with  Ceylon 
and  India  in  the  world’s  market,  or  even  to  keep 
foreign  teas  out  of  South  Africa,  she  must  improve 
her  manufacture.  What  would  doubtless  tend  to  this 
in  the  first  place  would  be  a visit  by  Natal  planters  to 
the  home  of  successful  tea-growing  elsewhere.  A 
few  weeks’  residence  in  Ceylon  would  be  of  infinite 
Value  ; but,  even  in  Natal,  an  advance  in  the  standard 
of  manufacture  would  be  possible  if  planters  worked 
together  for  mutual  good,  as  is  the  case  in  Ceylon. 
There  the  neighbouring  planters  pay  neighbourly 
calls,  and  enter  each  other's  factories,  and  question 
and  criticise,  advise  and  compare  notes,  and  so  the 
experience  of  all  is  gained  and  given  for  the 
benefit  of  each.  In  Natal  there  appears  to  be 
1)0  community  of  ideas,  no  common  interest,  and 
one  planter  rarely  enters  the  factory  of  his  fellow. 
What  Ceydon  did  with  its  coarse  teas  was  to  send 
them  to  town  in  sacks  and  sell  to  the  natives  at  Id. 
or  2d.  per  lb.  'I’he  .natives  were  glad  to  pay  that 
amount  for  the  leaf,  and  whi'e  the  grower  in  this 
way  received  some  return  for  an  article  that  could 
find  no  other  market,  he  was  careful  to  ensure  that 
no  tea  which  left  his  factory  for  ordinary  consump- 
tion under  his  own  brand  was  other  than  excellent 
and  even  in  quality.  Jly  strict  attention  to  this  de- 
tail a reputation  has  been  built  up,  and  the  world 
is  now  willing  to  take  all  the  tea  that  Ceylon  can 
produce.  The  coolies  in  Ceylon  are  drawn  from  and 
around  Madura  and  south  of  Madras,  whereas  Natal 
gets  her  labour  from  Madras  and  from  Calcutta. 
The  Indian  coolie  is  paid  in  the  rupee,  the  value 
.of  which  is  now  Is.  2d.,  and  the  wages  for  children, 
■women,  and  men  run  from  16  cents,  to  40  cents,  per 
day  — an  average  check-roll  showing  perhaps  85  cents, 
per  head,  or  about  5d.,  and  the  coolies  feed  themselves. 
If  cost  of  labour  in  this  Colony  is  higher  than  inCeylon, 
that  Colony  has  to  pay  a duty  wherever  its  tea  enters, 
whereas  N.ital  has  the  whole  of  South  Africa  to 
exploit  for  a marliet.  .Mr.  Fraser,  however,  is  not 
too  favourably  impressed  with  the  energy  of  the  Natal 
farmer  and  planter  with  the  exception  of  two,  viz. — 
Mr.  lludett  of  Kearsney  estate  and  Mr.  llindson, 
Clifton,  both  shrewd  and  intelligent  men  and  have 
done  as  much  for  Natal  tea  as  any  two  men  in  Cey- 
lon have  done  for  Ceylon  tea.  The  coffee  disease 
in  Ceylon,  which  swept  the  island  clean  and  practi- 
cally abolished  coffee-growing  there,  was  worse  than 
locusts  and  rinderpest  combined.  Men  everywhere 
were  ruined,  and  yet  they  at  once  set  to  work  to  build 
up  a toa  industry  on  the  ruins  of  coffee,  and  wdth 
what  success  all  the  world  knows.  Yet  there  are  not 
4,0UU  Europeans  in  the  whole  country  and  scarcely 
any  European  labour  is  employed.  For  instance,  an 
estate  of  700  acres  would  be  managed  by  the  mana- 
ger and  one  European  assistant,  with  the  aid  of  native 
conductors.  Our  Scottish  visitor  cannot  believe  that 
Natal  planters  are  planting  at  a profit  under  their 
present  system.  It  is  not  quite  clear,  however,  what 
that  system  is,  as  planters  aro  reticent  in  giving 
figures.  Mr.  Fraser  has  great  doubt  as  to  what  this 
may  mean.  It  may  be  that  they  are  dissatisfied  with 
their  figures,  or  that  they  do  not  wish  to  make  known 
the  profits  they  are  making.  At  all  events,  they  appear 
to  be  so  bound  up  in  their  own  ideas  that  to  give  a 
friendly  hint  is  to  be  looked  on  with  suspicion.  “But 
with  all  the  drawbacks,  ’’  concluded  Mr.  Fraser,  “ 1 
think  there  is  still  a good  opening  for  outsiders  to 
come  in  and  plant  tea  in  Natal.’’ 
PLANTING  AND  PRODUCE. 
(From  II.  and  C.  Mail,  Nov.  6.) 
Tk.'i  Fueight  in  CiiiN.v. — A resident  in  Shanghai 
calls  attention  to  the  question  of  steamship  discrimi- 
nation in  favour  of  foreign,  including  American,  ports. 
He  says  : “ Last  year  I called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  lying  off  the  bund  at  Han 'cow  were  two  steam- 
ers belonging  to  the  same  company,  one  loading  teas 
for  London  at  70s  per  ton,  the  other  teas  for 
Odessa  at  40s.  History  repeats  itself ; steamers 
are  now  loading  here  for  New  Y’^ork  at  80s,  while 
the  rate  to  London  is  40s,  and  the  London  steamers 
fill  up  at  Colombo  with  toa  at  6s  3d.  Owing  to 
excessive  taxation  the  tea  trade  from  China  to  Lon- 
don has  practically  been  killed,  and  it  would  be 
satisfactory  if  steamer  agents  would  explain  why 
they  imposed  this  additional  burthen.  The  inevitable 
result  must  be  to  prevent  London  from  being,  as  she  has 
been  hitherto  the  distributing  centre.  Until  this 
season  many  shippers  sent  their  teas  ‘ optional  ’ ; 
that  is,  they  could  be  landed  in  London  or  for- 
warded to  New  York  as  the  markets  permitted. 
Now  it  is  cheaper  to  ship  New  York  and  thence  to 
London  than  to  London  direct  ; yet  steamer  agents 
profess  to  wonder  why  their  London  steamers  do  not 
fill.” 
The  Tu.\nsit  Pass  Svstem  i.\  China. — Mr.  Her- 
bert Brady,  the  British  Consul  at  Kiu-kiaug,  in  his 
last  report  refers  to  the  system  of  transit  passes  in 
China,  by  which,  on  payment  at  the  port  of  entry 
of  half  the  import  duty  in  lieu  of  transit  dues, 
goods  are  allowed  to  go  free  of  transit  duty  to  a 
declared  destination.  This  means,  after  the  half- 
duty is  paid,  the  goods  are  still  liable  to  the 
exactions  of  corrupt  officials  at  the  transit  barriers 
— in  other  words,  that  the  pass  is  not  respected  by 
those  to  whom  it  is  really  addi-essed.  Mr.  Brady 
says : “ Last  year  imports  to  the  value  of  about 
i‘300,000  were  sent  from  Kiu-kiang  into  the  interior 
under  transit  passes,  being  about  ,£75,000  more  than 
the  previous  year.  This  is  done  by  native  merchants, 
who  monopolise  the  whole  of  the  import  trade  of 
the  place.  During  the  year  only  one  complaint,  and 
that  of  a most  trivial  nature,  was  received  at 
the  Consulate  in  regard  to  breac’nes  of  the  pro- 
tection afforded  the  passes.”  Mr.  Brady  s.ays 
“ there  is  no  doubt  that  the  latter  are  respected  at 
the  inland  barriers,  for  inquiries  which  have  been 
widely  made  amongst  the  Chinese  merchants  show 
no  complaints.  They  say  that  no  additional  or 
differential  taxation  of  any  kind  is  imposed  at  their 
destination  on  goods  which  have  been  covered  by  a 
pass.  If  they  are  carried  beyond  the  place  men- 
tioned in  the  pass  thej'  pay  exactly  the  same  charges 
at  the  further  barriers  as  ordinary  goods  in  transit. 
As  to  the  saving  caused  by  passes,  this  is  variously 
estimated;  it  is  difficult  to  fix  a proportion,  because 
the  pass  covers  goods  to  any  distance,  while  un- 
ceitificated  goods  pay  at  every  barrier,  and  the 
advantage  of  the  pass  therefore  grows  with  the  is 
tance  traversed.  Kerosine  oil  is  largely  carried  din- 
land  under  transit  passes,  and  there  is  said  to- 
be  a saving  in  this  instead  of  paying  the  transit 
dues  at  the  barriers  : and  the  same  may  be  said  of 
piece  goods,  lead,  and  iron.  No  transit  passes  for 
exports  have  been  taken  out,  although  rules  for 
granting  them  w’ere  made  six  years  ago.  The  reason 
is  that  the  foi’eigu  merchants  at  Kiu-kiang  have  no 
dii’ect  interest  in  exports,  save  that  of  tea  and  the 
conditions  of  the  tea  mai’ket  have  so  greatly  changed 
in  recent  years  that  foreign  merchants  are  content 
to  buy  in  the  local  market  and  not  go  into  the  interior 
to  buy,  as  in  former  days.  Hence  the  mode  and 
circumstances  under  which  the  toa  arrives  in  the 
market  are  of  no  concern  to  them.  Mr.  Brady 
thinks  that  no  difficulty  would  be  made  in  the  issue 
of  transit  passes  for  exports,  nor  does  he  believe 
that  the  same  obstruction  would  occur  at  the  inland 
barriers  as  twenty-live  years  ago,  when  a British 
merchant  brought  down  toa  from  the  interior  under 
a transit  pass  for  the  last  time.” 
The  I’osirioN  or  xni:  West  Inoian  Sugau  Inui^stuy. 
— The  present  position  of  West  Indian  sugar  planters 
is  one  of  despair.  Having  thoroughly  made  up  tliei 
