Oct. I, 1897 .] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 237 
THE SWINGING OF THE PENDULUM : 
AND DEPEESSION IN TEA. 
Just at present the adverse infl leiices telling 
against the tea industry are a'out as com- 
plete as can be. Tropical agriculture is seldom 
otherwise than a risky trade, and when the 
planter h.as low prices, high exchange, heavy 
cooly advances, dear rice, re-bulking in London, 
and e.vcessive loss of weight in some cases, to 
contend with, they all emphasise t!>at riskiness 
in a most emphatic way. Only a few weeks 
back, the London financial papers were 
chorusing in a singularly unanimous man- 
ner what a good investment tea was, and 
singing the favourable outlook of the fragrant 
leaf ; and the charm of the song at the time did 
much for Tea Companies and Tea Shares. It was 
the kind of piping to which the British capitalist 
likes to dance, and he footed the measure after an 
enthusiastic style. Big prices were paid for 
favourite estates in high districts, Conipanies 
were floated, shares were steadily on the rise, 
and the man who paused and wondereil if every- 
thing had been considered, and if there was not 
just a trifle of inflation in the princely price per 
acre, did not thereby advance his reputation. He 
was considered a smart man who bought, and as 
for the long price paid— well, the places were worth 
it, and more. This has continued to be the 
feeling in London indeed up to the end of July ; 
for a financial paper of the 27th ult., received 
by this mail, sums up the situation in the 
course of a long article on “ Tea Com- 
panies “ altogether, the shares of Indian and 
Ceylon Tea* Companies combine the attractions 
of good security with what in these days may 
be called a handsome return in interest to an 
extent of which there are few examples indeed 
among the whole range of investments.” 
Here perhaps we reached our highest point 
a short time ago ; for the outlook — save 
the fear of over-production — was clear, 
and the boom was booming. Now there 
is a change, and the swing pen- of the 
dulum is very marked. If elation were the 
dominant tone before, and the song sung was 
both high-pitched and vehement, it is a doleful 
ditty we hear today, and that too in a minor 
key. The chirpiness has disappeared from Planting 
circles, and even in the local Commercial Capital 
there is an under-current of pessimi.sm. with 
much shaking of heads. The Share List tells its 
own tale ; for, whereas before there was a rush in, 
there is now a rush out ; and it woulu not be 
hard to invest in almost any of the Companies 
therein named, at prices which a few months 
ago, would have found no .sellers. Those with 
money to invest do not hesitate to tell their 
brokers, now-a-days, we believe, that they do not 
want tea shares — anything else but that. 
Now, has the bottom fallen out of the Tea in- 
dustry, or is this renewed swing of the pendulum 
in the opposite direction just what was to be 
looked for ? As we have said above, there are at 
present divers causes telling against tea, but we 
have no hesitation in saying that most of them 
are temporary, and some although evil at pre- 
sent are really making for good in the long run. 
Low prices are not agreeable, but we have always 
found that they were the “open sesame” to 
many markets which before had been all but 
closed. Dear rice is only temporary and as yet 
the losses have been more than covered by a 
long way by former profits. Heavy cooly ad- 
vances will work their own cure— though per- 
haps, some will suffer, for if there is to be “ a 
squeeze” in tea, those who in the day of plenty 
gave little thought to the matter on tiie principle 
of “ easy come, easy go,” so long as we ges 
coolies, will be forced to revise tlieir policy. And 
then, as for the .minor troubles in Loudon, if they 
cannot be cured they will have to be endured. 
The Exchange question is we admit the puz- 
zler, — the real “ Asian mystery” — to prophe.sy 
abi)ut which, would be unwise even for thb 
wisest. Still, although we claim to be no pro- 
phet nor the son of a prophet, we cannot help 
thinking', that a .system ot currency which hat 
a fictitious value — the result of being bolstered 
up — has a very unstable equilibrium, and is more 
likely to collapse than aught else. 
Meanwhile everything is telling against the 
tea producer, and the call is urgent for watch- 
ful care. With the great markets of America 
and Russia hardly tapped as yet, our staple in- 
dustry has no cause to sit down and 
weep becau-sc it has no wm-lds to oon([uer. 
Gur tea planters have had a fairly good 
innings of good times, and there are good 
times yet ahead ; but it may be that for a little 
the road to be travelled may be rough, and the 
fare scanty. The Ceylon planter has been reared 
in the school of adversity : knows what 
it is to have his nose at the grindstone 
and will meet a check in a manly way. What 
we deprecate is the violent swings of the 
pendulum in public opinion and the tendency 
to be either soaring in the clouds or grovelling 
in thedu.st. Tropical agriculture is always liable 
to marked periods of action and re-action ; and 
there is no need to be unduly depressed when 
re-action is dominant as it undoubtedly is at 
present. 
VARIOUS PLANTING NOTES. 
The Coxsolidateh Tea and Land.s Com- 
pany, Limited— popularly known in Ceylon as 
Sir John Muir’s Company— deals in very lar^e 
figures and profits as may be seenby the Diri^- 
tors’ Report given on page 234, The latter also 
affords very interesting information about dealings 
with other Companies — amalgamations and sepa- 
rations — purchase of estates and profitable 
re-sales. The parent Company occupies a strong 
position with £65,000 already in a reserve fund'! 
The Hopewell Tea Company is one of the new 
Ceylon offshoots, re|iresenting the estates alono'- 
side of Balangoda. 
The “Indian Pokestee.”- 7 A mouthy Magazine 
of Forestry, Agriculture, Shikar aud Travel, edi- 
ted by J. W. Oliver, Conservator of Forests 
and Director of the Forest School, Dehra 
Dun, for July contains the following ; Ori- 
ginal Articles and Translations — Shade, Cover aud 
Shelter, Letter from F. Q. ; Correspondence ; Re- 
views — Forest Administration in Burma, 1895 t)6 ; 
Timber and Produce Trade ; Extracts From Offleiai 
Gazettes ; Report on Tour in France — Fire-pre- 
vention and the Forest of the Esteral ; The Giir- 
naud System of treating and wo. king forests or the 
so-called Metliode dw Conirole ; The present system 
of Working Plans in France ; Forest Management 
in a backward pari of France “ /to-pscDon " of B tg- 
neres de Luchon, Pyrenees ; As above Savoie ; 
Special investigation of Facts and Phenomena con- 
nected with the growth and maintanance of FMrests. 
Establishment of Research Burreaux in Germany, 
Austria, Switzerland, and France. 
