THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
479 
Jan. I, 1898 .] 
THE ANGLO-CEYLON ESTATES DIVI- 
DEND. 
(To the Editor of the Financial Ncvjs.) 
SXJGAE-PLANTING IN MAUEITIUS : A NEAV VIEW 
OF FEEE TEADE EEINCiPLES. 
Sir, — A short time ago a feeling appeared to exist 
amongst those most interested in sugar planting in 
idtaaritius, that as soon as the cable was repaired the 
principal conclusions arrived at by the Royal Com- 
mission which went to collect statistics of the sugar 
industry in the West Indies would be cabled to most 
parts of the world ; for a rumour had obtained cre- 
dence that its report would be published about the 
end of July. Up to the present time, however, nothing 
has been communicated, and the news received by the 
last mail is in no way assuring that we shall be placed 
in presence of the Commissioners’ views at an early 
date. Mr. Chamberlain has stated that be declined 
to put any pressure on the members to hasten the 
issue, as he has no wish to hurry them in a matter 
of so great importance. The suspense is irritating 
to many proprietors, who feel that a sword is hang- 
ing over their heads, and are anxious to know the 
worst. We think that these should take heart at 
Mr. Chamberlain’s change of front. At one time the 
Secretary of <State for Ihe Colonies appeared to 
think that the bounty question was one in which the 
Home Government was not called upon to inter- 
fere, but it is evident that of late he has adopted 
other views, and a large number of those who have 
carefully weighed Mr. Chamberlain’s recent utter- 
ances on the question conclude that whatever may be 
deductions arrived at by the Commission, he will, 
by some means or other, succeed in re-establishing 
confidence in the industry upon which the welfare 
of so many of Her Majesty’s Colonies depends. 
The report of the eleventh annual meeting of the 
Anglo-Ceylon and General Estates Company, Limited, 
which W 5 S published on September 7, has been read 
with much interest, and, so far as Mauritius is con- 
cerned, the operations of the Company during the 
past financial year were such as to call forth con- 
gratulations; but the fact of the Company having 
been in a position to declare a dividend at a time 
when foreign bounties were on the increase and 
the price of sugar materially on the decrease cannot 
strengthen the hands of those who have been de- 
puted to safeguard the interests of Mauritius ih their 
representations to the Imperial authorities of the 
difficulties she, in common with other sugar-producing 
countries, has to contend against. The local mana- 
ger in Mauritius stated that the equipment of the 
estates was first rate, and that they had been made 
to yield a profit owing to the great economy that had 
been exercised. So far as lam able to gather from the 
report, if the management be efficient it is possible to. 
keep the sugar estates in good order and to make 
them yield a profit, even with the ruling bounties 
and the low price of the staple. There are, how- 
ever, experienced planters in Mauritius who, know- 
ing the company’s estates, are not a little sur- 
prised at the figures that have been published setting 
forth the cost of production per ton. A solution 
may be ventured by supposing that two accounts 
have been amalgamated, viz,, that of operations on 
the estates proper and the purchase of canes from 
planters. Should such be the case, it can be easily 
understood how the cost of production appears so 
low — that is, if large quantities of cane were pur- 
chased from planters ; for it is well-known that 
there is far more profit made in buying canes for 
manufacture than there is in growing them. It may 
be said that the shareholders are indifferent as to 
how the accounts are made up provided the estates 
are kept in good order and a dividend is declared ; but 
by the amalgamation of the accounts of the two 
transactions referred to a fictitious value is given to the 
properties, as, should planters’ canes be unavailable for 
purchase, the figures showing the cost of production 
would be sensibly enlarged, Mr. Quinton Hogg’s 
definition of what he conceives to have been Cobden’s 
69 
ideas on Free Trade appears to be a rational one ; 
each industry was to stand on its own merits — that is, 
the result placed on the market at the natural cost 
of production. Anyone who may be sceptical as to 
the advantages of Free Trade has but to read the 
Cobden Club’s official report, in which are pub- 
lished “Facts relating to Fifty Years of Free Trade,’’ 
to be convinced of the efficacy of the principle, 
and, in a measure, to condone Mr. Gladstone’s 
recently expressed views on the sugar question ; but, 
as has so frequently been pointed out, to admit pro- 
duce or manufactures that are subsidised is an 
infringement of the principle and productive of ulti- 
mate loss to the Governments which give the subsidy 
and to those which complacently accept the departure 
from what should be international commercial law. 
The result of the Mauritius local managers’ economical 
administration, as portrayed in the company’s last 
report, is an object lesson — one that carries with 
it the conviction that, as regards the sugar industry, 
Ifce devil is not so black as he is painted ? — 
Yours truly, A Planteb. 
IMauritius. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
The Trade in Brick Tea with Tibet. — Yatung is 
the town on the Tibetan side of the Jalep Pass, 
between Sikkim and Tibet, which was opened to 
Indian trade by a recent convention with China. A 
branch of the Chinese Maritime Customs has been 
established there, and the report on the trade of the 
place for the past year is interesting reading. It is 
published in the Tellow-book of the Chinese Customs. 
At one time there was a considerable traffic between 
Tibet and Sikkim in brick tea; but no sooner was 
Yatung declared an open mart, and the question of 
introducing Indian tea across the frontier mooted, 
than the passage of Chinese brick tea into Sikkim 
was prohibited by the Tibetans for some inexplicable 
reason. Reduced supplies still reach Kalimpong and 
Darjeeling through Nipal and by other routes. Four 
kinds of brick tea are still to be purchased in the 
Chumbi valley at prices which are moderate when 
it is remembered that the tea has to be carried on 
pack animals ninety days’ journey from the producing 
districts in Szu-chuan. The lowest quality, which is 
the tea of the masses in Tibet, is described as veritable 
rubbish. “ Tea f avour it has none, and on careful 
boiling and examination a brick is proved to consist 
of mouldy leaves, many of them 4in. long and longer, 
twigs, sticks 2in., 3in., or 4in. in length, and some of 
them as thick as a slate pencil ; sundry hard lumps 
of decayed leaves which barely separate when boiled, 
and,' in addition, sweepings, dust, and various dirt. 
As is well known, the Tibetan system is to positively 
boil tea leaves ; in fact, to make soup of them, and 
to add salt and butter, or mutton fat, or cheese, just 
as' the decoction reaches boiling point. Thus it is 
rendered palatable, grateful, and comforting to the 
native. So far as this quality brick tea is concerned, 
it may be safely assert id that to European tastes 
equally pleasant tea could bo made from a spadeful 
of good leaf mould dug from under an old oak, and, 
if prepared in their own peculiar style, it is doubtful 
if the Tibetan peasantry would notice any difference 
in the brew.’’ It seems that during last year 6,444 
Tibetans and Tomos, chiefly the latter, crossed the 
Jalep into the Chumbi valley under passports, and 
6,268 went to India from the valley. 
Pleasant if True. — The disclosures made by the 
man in the street are not often reliable, and we 
therefore print the accompanying paragraph, which 
has been going the usual round of such interesting 
tit-bits, without vouching for its accuracy. If there 
is really a trade in second-hand tea leaves it is not 
surprising that tea is considered by some people to 
be a noxious drink. Exhausted tea leaves do not 
inspire respect for tea, and they are not calculated 
to either cheer, inebriate, or do anything but make 
life dreary. “We should say that tea leaves re- 
stewed are very bad for both body and soul, aud we 
