ig8 
THE TROPICAL AORIOULTURI8T. [September i, 1891. 
gottiuK rid of this trade allowance. It soonis unreason- 
able that tho buyer of a 25 lb. box of tea should have 
the. same allowance made to him as tho 
buyer of a hundred and fifty pound chest has, 
but if it were nut so you get into fractious and the 
trade naturally abhors the introduction of fractions 
into book-keeping; beside.s things are cut so fine that 
the buyer seriously coiisidera the draft when pur- 
chasing tea. 
Dismissing the question of trade allowance which 
must not bo looked upon as loss, my experience of 
actual loss comes very near that of Mr. John Hamilton. 
The following is the result of the last twenty sales 
for which we have rendered accounts to Ceylon: — 
In. 
Amount of tea invoiced . . 104,221 
Sold .. .. .. 101,1175 
Draft on 1,478 packages .. 1,478 
104,224 
There was a time when the Colombo Wharf, the holds 
of ships and the wagons or barges whioh conveyed tea 
from ships to warehouses would have aooounted for 
a good deal of this loss, but packages have much 
improved and I do not think there is much loss in 
transit now, and the Want of an even tare is the root 
of the evil. 
Japanese chests as a rule tare more evenly than 
Ceylon-made chests, and there is oonsequently greater 
loss in the use of the latter. 
One of yonr correspondents wants to know what 
we have to do with taro and why dealers cannot con- 
tentedly buy his chests said to contain 50 lb. of tea. 
This simple system would work well by conveying 
a tin of biscuits from Abiam Saiho’a shop to your 
correspondent’s bnngalow, but in sending goods from a 
warehouse perhaps over several differant railways to 
their destination, tare cannot be dispensed with. Even 
with the check of gross, tare and nett weighing wo 
sometimes find that a hardy grocer in the north 
defies Her Majesty’s Customs certified weights and 
deoliuea to pay for more tea than his own weighing 
machine shows him to have received. 
fine teas of course show greater waste in bulking 
than coarser teas, not because they are high-priced, 
but beoaiise of tlie finer grain, and yonr aotreapondent 
will I think find there is greater loss or duet than on 
any other tea. 
AVhat it is most desirable we should get at is how 
the taro isaffccted by the voyage homo. 
Our London Association asked the Plsiitera' Associa- 
tion to help ns in a test case, but so far nothing has 
been done. If any planter will take this up and pack 
a break, say partly in Japanese and pertly in Ceylon 
cheats, weighing in beam scales, whioh is the most 
reliable weighiog machine of all, and arrange that his 
agents should personally see the weighing done on 
this side, be would confer a benefit upon all interested 
in the growth of Ceylon teas. 
My experience is that the preventable losa is far less 
than your correspondents caloulate, but is still a very 
serious loss of about three-quarters per cent which an 
even tare snd a narofnl system of weighing can do much 
to minimize.— Faithfully yours, J. L. Shand. 
OUR LOCAL TEA COMMITTEE AND THE 
CEYLON ASSOCIATION IN LONDON. 
It is much to ha regretted that theta should 
have arisen any risk of friotion between these two 
bodies. Let us, before discussing the position, 
submit to the minds of our readers the broad 
faots as originally existing. A Mr. Lough (see 
notioe of his enterprise elsewhere in today’s issue) 
has been foremost in the endeavor to introduce tho 
practice of drinking tea among the Parisians. 
Desiring to extend the business he has created 
in the Erenoh capital, he asked for recognition- 
nut be it observed for pecuniary help — by the 
CeylQp Asuooifitiou in London. The Teg Ootu- 
mittee of the latter body met to discuss Mr. 
Lough’s proposals, and with a single excep- 
tion — that of Mr. Hutchison of the Ceylon 
Tea Growers Company— (ilr. Lough seems to be 
connected with the “ 'Tower Tea Company,”) 
accepted them in a limited degree. Mr. Hutchison 
stated Mr. Lough to be the vendor of paoket 
blended tea labelled in a moat deceptive way, one 
most injurious to the reputation of Oi'ylon tea, and 
ha embodied his objection to the support promised 
to Mr. Lough in a letter, not intended to bo made 
public, to an agent of his own company in Ceylon. 
This letter was submitted to the Tea Committee 
of the Planters' Association, and the ex-parte state- 
ments made by Mr. Hutchison wore acted upon 
in a manner likely to give oonsiderable annoyance 
to the Tea Committee of the Ceylon Assooiation, 
The resolution passed was highly condemnatory 
of the course followed by the sister Committee 
sitting in London. The members of this body were 
summoned to consider the communication received, 
and the purport of the letter addressed by their 
Secretary to the Planters' Association was given in our 
London Latter by last mail. We cannot but think 
that the London Committee did wisely in refusing 
to either consider or pass any formal resolution 
on tho subjeot. No doubt they felt much annoyed 
at the rebuke passed upon their action, and this 
feeling would prcbably have found strong expression 
had any formal resolution been agreed upon. As 
it U, although we can hardly ounaider that the 
home Committee can be altogether acquitted of 
some rashness in dealing with Mr. Lough's appli- 
cation for recognition, the letter addressed by their 
Secretary in reply to the imputation, made clear, 
at all events, that there exist two sides to the 
question, and that they felt bound to sink soma 
very natural foeUng of anuoyanoe at aots committed 
by Mr. Lough, in order that they might avail 
themselves of his services, these being, according 
to all aooouDts, of an exceptionally valuable 
oharaoter. The letter referred to urges on behalf of 
Mr. Lough that be could plead personal ignoranoe 
of the act of false labelling which bad been 
going on under his name ; that when it was 
brought to his notioe at the meeting referred to, 
be took immediate steps to put a stop to the 
oouree complained of and withdrew the objection- 
able advertisement relating to it which had up to 
that time appeared in the Oncer. He therefore made 
tho amende honorable in the fullest degree, in 
Booordanoe with a promise made by him. Thus 
purged of further offenoe, the actual work done by 
Mr. Lough might be weighed in the balance, and it 
received full acknowledgement of its value by the 
Home Committee. Mr. Lough has nudertaken at 
very great personal cost and trouble the labour of 
creating a taste for tea drinking among the French, 
and his efilorts have had some oonsiderable 
amount of useful result, in whioh he asked that 
Ceylon tea might share. It would, perhaps, have 
been hypercritical to have refused to grant to him 
the small support ho asked should be given him by 
the Ceylon Association in London. It cannot be 
denied, we think, that our own local Committee 
wrote in too strong terms solely upon the authority 
of Mr. Hutchison’s private letter, which had not been 
written to be seen by tho Committee. We cannot 
be surprised that the rejoinder from London, in addi- 
tion to its other arguments, expresses regret that 
such oondemnation as was passed should have 
been determined upon without prior reference of 
Mr. Hutobison’s letter to the London Committee. 
We trust that the incident may pass over without 
further friotion between the two committees, for that 
which has arisen is muob to be regretted and its 
repetition depreopted. 
