May 2, 1898.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
THE CUllRENCY QUESTION. 
A Ceylon estate proprietor, now at home, writ- 
ing from Lomlon, by a recent mail, remarks : — 
“ We are all deeply interested, of course, in the 
silver question, but from what took place in the 
House of Commons the other night, it would not 
seem as if there is to be any immediate relief. You 
will hardly credit it, but I have learned that some 
people who must be deeply interested in the matter 
of exchange, and who from their prominent position 
might be of sotne assistance in obtaining redress, 
or at least lead an agitation towards the opening of 
the Indian mints, decline 10 take part in any such 
agitation, 
“ I have seen our old friend Mr. Sharpe, who is 
very anxious indeed to do something that would 
relieve us, and I dare say hopes, by means of the Com- 
mittee appointed to enquire into these matters to 
aid us aomeliow. I must confess however that the 
flourishing condition of the Indian finances, as shown 
in their recently issued Budget Report, and the per- 
sonal interest of those engaged in the affairs of that 
country, apart from the merchants and producers, 
prevent the former adopting or acting upon any 
view likely to relieve the land owners, and those 
whose welfare depends upon exchange being governed 
by the market value of silver as before. It would 
not matter so much if, as many at one time be- 
lieved, a rise in exchange meant also a rise in the 
value of produce on this side ; but at present at any 
rate, that optimistic feeling has been belied. Never p 
suppose has tea been so cheap as at present.” 
The Currency question was discussed by the 
Chairman Mr. C. J. Lindsay Nicholson at the 
general meeting of the members of the Agra 
Bank, Limited in London on 24tli ultimo, when 
after dealing with the satisfectory business of the 
Bank in 1897, he continued : — 
This bank has up till now done very well this year, 
and your directors are quite satisfied with the results. 
We have nothing to complain of so far; but it is im- 
possible not to realise that India generally is suffer- 
ing severely by the closing of her mints and the 
artificial forcing of exchange to 16d. It would ill 
become us to attempt to criticise the action of the 
Indian Finance Minister, Sir James Westland, as you 
mav remember he was for some time a member of this 
board, and his colleagues were sensible of his un- 
doubted grasp of all the difficulties of Indian affairs 
and finance. Still it must be felt that at the present 
moment the position of the Indian export trade is 
most seriou.s and for the vast amount of capital in- 
vested in India and Ceylon in tea, indigo, and other 
products, the look out this year is serious. It has 
well been said that India’s great currency problem 
can be solved by her fields and by her looms, and by 
them alone. I will read too extracts of trite remarks 
on the present position which must strike one forcibly. 
One is from Sir James Westland’s speech early this 
year. He said ; — “ It must be understood that we are 
not rolling in wealth while we are refusing aid to 
others, and our inability to advance money is due, 
not to any wilful obstinacy, but to want of adequate 
means. The Secretary of State cannot draw on us 
for more than we are able to pay. The fear is, there- 
fore, that the market may reach a paint where money 
will become actually unavailable, and merchants will 
find it impossible to sell their bills.” And very 
recently the Presideot of the Calcutta Chamber of 
Commerce, speaking and its annual meeting, and I 
think most reasonably, said: “It is not for use to 
say by what plan a gold standard should be made 
effective but we can point out to Government tliat 
the present position is intolerable, and that it is 
clearly their duty, in the interests of their own 
finances and of our trade, to fix on a sound currency 
system.” He asks that the Government plan what- 
ever it may be, shall be published ou the same day 
in England and India, and that time shall be given 
for its criticism by the experts and practical finan- 
ciers of both countries before the scheme is adopted. 
He protests against delay in dealing with the ques. 
tiou “ not only because loanable capital is being 
driven from India, fresh capital repelled and trade 
hampered by tbs uncertainty of the future, but also 
because recurring periods of monetary stringency 
which we have recently experienced are gainii g in 
intensity and it is impossi’ole to foretell what the effect 
on Indian commerce may be when we are face to face 
with the next period of stringency which under the 
present policy, is as certain to come as the sun to 
rise tomorruw.” I cannot go into the currency ques- 
tion, which has been said by Lord Beaconsfield 
“ to have caused more madness than even love did.’ 
Let us hope that amongst the multitude of coun- 
cillors there will be wisdom. 
EXCHANGE AND TEA. 
Our hearty endorsation of the action of the 
PJanter.s’ Association, the Chamber of Commerce, 
and the general imbltc at the meeting in the 
Council Chamber, does not blind us to a possible 
danger that may result to the i-, land’s Tea Industry 
as one result of such action. We say “possible,” 
because injury to the credit of the island, or 
misapprehension of all the causes affecting the 
returns for our teas in the market, is impro= 
bable with those who have accurate knowledge 
of the industry and its exact ])osition. It is only 
those who aie ignorant of all tlie facts, who aio 
liable to misread the iufoniiation within their 
reach in a way prejudicial to the island and its in- 
dustries. But we adhere to the view we expressed 
in a recent article, that the publicity that has 
been given to the drawbacks under which our 
tea industry is now labouring, is much to be pre- 
ferred to the reticence whicli prevailed twenty 
years ago when our then leading staple, coffee, 
was threatened. The facts to be remembered in 
connection with the fall in the price of tea 
shares— and the fall has been by no means uni- 
versal— are that it is due to more than one 
cause ; that some of the causes are temporary 
and may possibly erelong disappear ; and that the 
intrinsic value of tea plantations generally in a 
large proportion of districts in the island, remains 
much what it was before the scarcity of money 
and “hard times” set in some months ago. 
When any Company yields smaller returns 
than it has done for some years, its shares, 
if the necessity arises for offering them for 
sale, naturally fetch less in the market. The 
would-be purchaser looks at the last dividend, 
and sees no reason why he should pay for .shares 
the price w’hicdi the seller had paid in expecta- 
tion of double that dividend. Then, if money 
is scarce, and if he has to borrow any part of 
what he wishes to invest in shares, he has to 
take that into account in making his offer ; and 
the man who is forced to realize has, of course, to 
accept what is offered. Meanwhile, there are share- 
holders who are quite content with their invest- 
ment, who have no need to realize and no desire for 
a change; and wlio still, possibly, valuetheir shares 
at what they paid for them. Their tea, perhaps, 
fetched nearly the same price as the year before • 
and if the luolits were less, dear rice afforded 
one explanation, high exchange did some mischief, 
and a bad season may have reduced the crop ; but 
the bushes it may he aie now responding to manure, 
and there is no reason why, with greater care 
ill manufacture, the old dividend should 
not be declared again. In such a case as 
the illustration we offer, the Share List may 
prove a very fallacious guide to the real 
value of the property or the group of pro- 
perties which is worked on limited lialiilitj prin- 
ciples, and so convey an erroneous idea to the 
outsider. With the stringency in the money 
market, and the exodus of shareholders to the 
