MAy 2 , 1898 .] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
777 
lie went over Scrubs. He next visited 
Kandy where he made a stay of a few days 
and no doubt met a number of planters. His 
trip was one of pleasure, but in Ceylon lie had been 
happily able to unite business with enjoyment ; 
and be was present at one of the tea sale.s, which 
was considered to be one of the biggest on record, 
and purchased some of the Scrubs’ broken pekoe. 
The tea of this estate, he said, could be easily 
recognised by a boj'^, who has been only a few 
months in the tea room, on account of its pecu- 
liar earthy flavour, but the strange thing ivas 
that he could not discover this llavour on the 
estate, the explanation iirobably being that the 
tea he there saw was fresh off the fire. His im- 
pression of the tea market here was that at 
present the prices were ridiculously high, the 
Russians having forced up the better grades of 
whole leaf teas. The market here he considered 
was just like the wool market in Australia, where 
they were now selling much wool that used to go to 
London. The local markets w'ere becoming much 
larger because, when they found it worth their 
while, the continental and American buyers went 
there as they were now doing pretty largely. 
Ceylon tea, in his opinion, bade fair to be the only 
tea sought for in Australia. Indian tea had x ever 
taken the hold that it did in London and really 
what we had to do was to oust China tea from 
the Colonies What struck one here was what was 
going to become of all the tea that he saw, for 
miles and miles around him, for although ex- 
tensions had been stopped there ivas new tea 
coming into bearing. Our tea trade with Aus- 
tralia would, he was sure, develop. The only 
hope remaining for China was to su|)ply the 
common ration low-priced tea, for Ceylon tea 
could never be brewed as it was in a galvanized 
iron bucket over a tire. What the Australians 
liked was a well fermented tea. When he went 
to the colonies in 1880 it was nothing but 
Foochow tea that was in demand ; but now 
that had “ taken a back seat ” and Ceylons 
were coming to the front even as com- 
pared with Indians. The Ceylon tea was 
much more suitable for drinking alone and there 
was a growing taste for it. The amount of choice 
tea wanted in Australia w'as really very sTuall, 
the people there having been so long used 
to the low-priced China tea. On bulked tea 
imported into Queensland there was a duty of 6 I 
and on package teas of 8 d. All teas imported 
into (Queensland were packed there because of 
course it was cheaper. When the duty was 
taken off at Sydney he was one of a deputation 
of two who waited upon the Treasurer and 
pointed out to him that it was not the wish of 
the trade that the duty should he taken off. 
The Treasurer’s idea was that when he took the 
duty oil the people would be able to pay better- 
prices for tea and get a better article. Mr. 
Brown replied in the negative and he instanced 
what had taken place in the Channel Islands which 
was the jumping ground for all the rubbish 
which could not be sold anywhere else. He 
was of opinion however that the duty would have 
to go on again. At the Melbourne Exhibition 
he met the late Mr. A. M. Ferguson and he has 
pleasant recollections of his meetings with him. 
COFFEE ENTERPRISE IN MEXICO. 
How'ever, I was fortunate enough to find Mr-. 
Thos. Christy at leisure this afternoon and willing 
o give me his views about several matters. In 
egard to the Coffee Enterprise in Me.xico, 
his report is decidedly unfavourable. One of his 
sons has just returned from Tapachula, so that the 
facts he reports are brought up to the most recent 
date. Mr. Christy, junior, with his brother, who 
is in Mexico at present, have been located on the 
neighbourhood of Tacha, the volcanic mountain, 
and suffered much from fever. Most European 
residents are leaving the country, Mr. Christy 
tells me, because it does not answer in any way 
for them to remain. Though very fine coffee can 
most undoubtedly be grown, and is grown in 
Mexico, and prices are good, still the growers 
find the expenses of production are not covered. 
The absence of money is great also. So .nuch is 
this the case that the Japanese Society formed 
near Tapachula, have been obliged to send their 
first batch of labourers back to Japan, and are at 
this moment uncertain whether to continue their 
present estates, not to speak of opening any new 
ones. Those estate agents from Mexico, who have 
been in Europe, visiting different capitals, en- 
deavouring to finance their schemes on the strength 
of the buildings, fittings, area under c'.xltivation 
and labour engaged have received no encourage- 
ment from German banks, who will have nothing 
to do with Mexican estates. In Austiia, where 
the true state of matters was not at first 
known these agents met with more consideration ; 
but after enqiurics made at Berlin and else- 
where, the Austrian banks also showed the 
cold shoulder. In London the only approach to 
business is that advances are offered on the 
whole yield, but there is no inclination to buy 
estates outright. 
This, it will be seen is a very different ac- 
count from that in the prospectus of the Tapia 
Estate, and 
I.NTE.NDING COLONISTS FROM CEYLON 
would do well to pause and consider ere they 
proceed further as far as Mexico is concerned. 
There have been recently some meetings held 
in London, among those interested to see if 
nothing can be done to foist from the market 
the many made up concoctions of so called coffee 
(French coffee in tins, preparation of Cuban coffee, 
etc.) and to substitute in their place the pure 
article freshly roasted daily, but unground. It 
is felt that once the public had the opportunity 
of getting the whole coffee pure, these compounds 
which very oUen are not coffee at all would 
soon lose their hold of the consumer. The 
price at which coffee is now sold is 28s a 
cwt. which comes out about 3d a pound with 
IJd allowed for duty per pound, and Id '‘o.’ 
roasting — making the article fi.ld a pound 
at first cost. That this coffee could be 
retailed at 7d or 8 d a pound is already a well 
acknowledged fact inasmuch as 4,000 lb. weight 
of it is daily sold in Boston in America at that 
price, whereas the French and other prepara' 
tions cost the consumer about Is a pound. 
The merchants who have the matter at heart 
therefore recently submitted to the Society of 
Fublic Analysts who in association with the 
Chemists and Druggists Company have a de]iart- 
ment in the Chamber of Commeice, several very 
pertinent questions on the point. Suppose, said 
they, a poor farmer who either from bis i)overty 
or other causes feeds his cows so ill that the 
animals give a weak standard of milk, would 
he not be fined for sending this inferior article 
of food to market ? This the Society at once 
admitted. And suppose, continued the querists, 
thk bad-milk was found to be used iu 
