58 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[July i, 1897 . 
We are prepared to make contracts for regular sup- 
plies and we suggest that you should send to us at your 
earliest possible convenience, a 2 or 3 cwt. sample for 
testing purposes, and to form the standard of quality 
for future consignments. 
The price which we were offering is £10 a ton, 
delivered in London or Liverpool, but in order to 
encourage cultivators, we should not mind paying a 
slightly increased price for the first and second year 
of shipments. 
We can assure a market for large supplies, 
and we believe that we can co-operate to mutual 
advantage, 
We shall be glad if you will reply to this by return, 
and you can either address us direct, or through 
Messrs. A. Whitley & Co. of Colombo. If you have 
any material ready for shipment, and can dispatch 
it to us at once, Kindly wire us using the “ A.B.C. 
Code ” 4th edition. — Yours faithfully, 
(Signed) W. T. Bell, Secretary. 
THE BULKING OF TEAS AND THE RUS- 
SIAN DUTY ON TEA CHESTS. 
Kandy, May 24. 
Sir, — I enclose for publication copy of cor- 
respondence by the Ceylon Association in London 
with (1) the Tea Brokers’ Association of London 
as to the nece.ssity of all teas being properly 
“ bulked ” before being oUered at public sale ( 2 ) 
the Board of Trade as to the duties charged on 
acme steel tea chests entering Ru-sia. — I am, 
Sir, yours faithfully, 
A. PHILIP, Secy. 
(Copy.) 
61 & 62 Gracechurch Street. E.C. London, 9th 
April 1897. 
A. Philip, Eiq., Secretary, Ceylon Planters’ As- 
sociation, Kandy, Ceylon. 
Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure to enclose for the 
information of your Committee copies of recent 
correspondence, (1) with the Board of Trade as to the 
duties charged on acme steel tea chests entering Russia, 
(2) with the Tea Brokers’ Association of Loudon as 
to the necessity of all teas being properly “ bulked ” 
before being offered at public sale. — I am, dear sir, 
yours faithfully, 
(Signed) Wm. Martin Leake, Secy. 
{Copy.) 
61 & 62 Gracechurch Street, E.C., 25th January 
1897. 
The Secretary of the Board of Trade, Loudon. 
Sir, — A firm exporting Ceylon tea from London to 
Russia writes as follows : — 
We have recently made a shipment of Ceylon Tea 
to Russia of which 38 chests were acmes : on these 
the Russian Customs have charged duty as tin plates 
amounting to £ 6 . 7s. 4d. 
The acme chests are made of thin metal and have 
of late come into frequent use : the effect of charging 
duty on the metal chest as well as on the tea will be to 
exclude from the Russian markets the teas of those 
gardens that use metal ches's. 
Can you inform me in what way a representation on 
the matter can best be made, so as to bring about a 
change of practice ? — lam sir, your obedient servant, 
(Signed) Wm. Martin Leake, Secy. 
Board of Trade (Commercial Department), 7 White- 
hall Gardens, S.W., 2nd February 1897. 
Sib,— I am directed by the Board of Trade to ac- 
knowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th 
ultimo, on the subject of the Customs treatment in 
Russia of metal chests containing tea wueu imported 
into that country. 
The Board are in communication with the Foreign 
Office respecting this matter, and hope to be in a 
position to furnish you with a further reply shortly. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
(Signed). W. Gifpen. 
Wm. Martin Leake Esq., Secretary of the Ceylon 
Association, 61 and 62 Gracechurch Street, E.C. 
Board of Trade (Commercial Department), 7 White- 
hall Gardens, S.W., April 5th, 1897. 
Sir, — With further reference to your letter of the 
25th January last and to the reply thereto addressed 
to you from this department on the 2nJ February, 
I am now directed by ti.e Board of Trade to forward 
to you for the iijformatiou of your Association, the 
accompanying copy of a Memorandum from Her 
Majesty’s Consul-General at St. Petersburg (which 
has been supplied to this Board through the 
Foreign Office) on the subject of the Customs treat- 
ment in Russia of metal chests containing tea im- 
ported into that country. — I am sir, your obedient 
servant. — (Signed). W. GIffen. 
W. Marlin Leake Esq., Secretary of the Ceylon 
Association, 61 and 02 Gracechurch Street, E.C. 
31emorandum. 
Tea when imported in large cases lined wiih tin 
and which are cut open for inspection at a Russian 
Custom house is dutiable at its net weight, and 
similarly as tea imported in lead casing the tin cas- 
ing is not liable to duty'. 
Tea imported in small cases or canisters is likewise 
dutiable at its net weight, but the small cases or 
canisters are subjected to a separate duty as tin 
plate or R2‘25 copecks gold per pound or when 
Jaquered R3, or painted and gilded R 6 gold per pound. 
There are no specific orders for this practice which 
appears to be based only on the analogy applicable 
to the case and aSorded by the orders of the Customs 
department of the 17th October 1883, and the 12th 
June 1890, which direct that tin cases containing 
weaver’s reeds, leather belts, sewing needles, aniline 
dyes and other manulactured goods shall, on import- 
ation pay a duty of R2'25 copecks gold per pound 
under section 151 of the Customs Tariff. 
(Signed) John Mitchell. 
St. Petersburg, March 19th, 1897. 
Circular letter referred to. 
61 Sz 62 Gracechurch Street, London, 9th April 
1897, E.C. 
Dear Sir, — A complaint has reached the Tea and 
Produce Committee from the London Wholesale Tea 
Dealers’ Association that, 
“ The requirements of Clause 4 in the conditions of 
public sales which states that each parcel has been 
inspected before sale, and has been bulked (if neces- 
sary) have not been carried out in a great many 
cases.” 
The Committee regrets to find on enquiry that 
this complaint is not altogether unfounded. 
Inasmuch as careless or neglected bulking of 
necessity involves unreliable samples, tire complaint 
is undoubtedly a serious one. 
I am directed therefore to invite the attention of 
importers of Ceylon tea to the imperative necessity 
for complying with the conditions of the clause re- 
ferred to, so that buyers may operate with the 
fullest confidence in the future. — Yours faithfully, 
(Signed) Wm. Martin Leake, Secretary. 
(Copy.) 
The Tea Brokers’ Association of London, 
Mincing Lane, E.C., 26th March 1897. 
W. Martin Leake, Esq., Secretary, The Ceylon 
Association in London. 
tea bulking. 
Dear Sir, — I am instructed by my Committee to 
send you the enclosed copy of letter received from the 
London \>'holesale Tea Dealers’ Association. — I am 
Dear Sir, yours faithfully, (Signed) W. G. PRICE, 
Secretary. 
London Wholesale Tea Dealers' Association, 
17th March 1897. 
To W. G. Price, Esq. 
tea BULiaNG. 
Dear Sib, — At a meeting of my Committee held on 
Monday, the following resolution was unanimously 
passed, namely : — 
The Committee find that the requirements 
of Clause 4 P.S.C. which states that each 
parcel has been inspected before sale, and has 
