NovtMBER 2, iFq'-I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
329 
$otiii6afiondi3no5. 
To tht Editor. 
TIIK UUITISII NORTH iiOUNEO CO. AND TIIK 
BRITISH 130RN1S0 CO., BJ). 
Kew, Bogawantttlawa, Sept. 23rd. 
Deah Sir, — Your cditoriul parasraph in your 
issuo of thn 21st /c the Britieh North Borneo Co. 
is oaloulaled to Uad your readers to bclievo that 
there ja soiiielhing wrong with the Company which 
administers the Government oi British North Borneo. 
The Company, whose proceedings you criticize, 
is a private one called the British Borneo Co., 
Limited, and has nothing whatever to do with the 
governing Company, of which Sir Rutherfoid Alcock 
is Chairman, and in which Mr. Henry Walker 
holds the post of Commiesicner of Lands. — Yours 
truly, W. D. GIBBON, 
Special lleprescutative, British North Borneo Co. 
[Wo are glad to lind that we fell into an error 
(a very natural one) in confusing two oompunios 
with such similar titles; and we are additionally 
glad to learn that it is not the Big governing com- 
pany that is in difllculties. The latter company 
ought to absorb the smaller body in order to prevent 
confusion.— Ki>. T. A.] 
THE LONDON AND LOCAL MAEKET 
FOE TEA. 
Central Province, Sept. 20th. 
Dear Sir, — "Superintendent,” in his letter of the 
2lBt, omits to include his Colombo agent's and 
Broker's commissions and sale charges, which will 
amount to cent, as against the i cent for 
shipment by ordinary shipping agent. Why not 
fix the rate (or exchange on the one parcel sent 
homo instead of giving us the rate for the year? 
Why also fix twopence a lb. London charges 1 ij 
pence per lb. is a stiff price even to pay for 
London charges on such carefully bulked and 
packed teas as ‘‘Superintendent’' has the handling of. 
Let ‘‘Superintendent” bear in mind that cut of say 
8, COO 000 lb. tea sold locally only about 3,0C0 000 Ib. 
have been sent to other ports than London, so 
does he expect the Colombo buyers to look for a 
less profit than a penny or cents per lb. ? — 
Yours truly, ONE WHO HAS TRIED BOTH. 
(lOk'FEH IN NORTH BORNEO. 
Kandy, Sept. 29th. 
De.ar Sir, — The following extracts from a letter 
dated North Borneo, 29th August, andreferring to 
coffee, may interest your readirs,— Vours faithfully, 
W. D. GIBBON. 
Tlie young clearings planted (iu coffee) December 
3889 and .lauuajy 1890 are now bearing crop which will 
bo ripe in say March 1H9‘', and tlien the picking 
season will be twice a year, in quantity; and in 
Biiiall quantities nearly every month. Tlic trees are 
from 4 to 7 feet in height or say average 4 foot 
9 in to .I feet. The four year old coffee is bearing 
heavily and looking well. 
The land chosen for our new clearing (100 acres) 
is elose to the bay and runs up to l,(XJO feet in a 
long easy slope— the water supply is very good and 
a launch ^ can go up to the village. 
PALMIBAS AND COCONUTS. 
DrAB Firs, — I should feel ever grateful if you 
would kindly give mo the following advice; — On 
one of the estates under my management, thero are, 
I should think, uesrly as many waddliea, or young 
palmiras, as there are coconut trees. My intentiona 
wore to cut all these waddlies down and manure 
the estate with same. The leaves I sliould put 
round Iho trees dug in, but tho stem or body of 
I he tree oan I manure with, by digging ttenebea 
and putting them in, and how far would I have to 
put them in the soil ? The trench would be dug 
between tho lines of tho coconut trcoa ; the waddliea 
put in with other rubbish etc., and filled up again. 
Do you think this would bo banclloial to the estate 
or would you advise me to buru the stem and 
apply ashes round the tree. 
For any advioe as regards this given me I should 
feel greatly obliged, as I think tho sooner the 
waddlies are rooted out and cleared from the estate 
the better, as the amount of young plants are in- 
creasing ycor by year. 
It will no doubt bo a very expensive prooeaa 
cutting down all the trees. Do you think it is ad- 
visable tor me to out the top off and let the tree 
rot? That will be benefieialas the roots of tho coosnut 
tree will suck all the subslanoe from the waddlies. 
The only thing I am afraid, of is beetle attacking 
the waddlie when it is so far decomposed. When 
the lop or head is cut out the tree rota away in 
a few weeks and the juice is abundant inside the 
tree, which would, I should think, benefit tho oooonut. 
Awaiting your reply, I remain, yours very faith- 
fully, PLANTER, PALLAI, N.P- 
THE HISTORV OF THE LOUGH CASE 
AS DEALT WITH BY THE CEYLON 
TEA FUND UO.MMITTEE. 
Aranayalca, 0:t. 10. 
Sia, — 1 have been to some extent the medium 
of a fertain amount of friotion between the Ceylon 
Tea Fund Committee and the Tea Committee of the 
London Assooiaticn ; ns my name has been brought 
into tho matter both by your London oorree- 
pendent and that of the “ Times of Ceylon ” ; 
and as the former in his latter of Se| t. 18th 
slates the g- ueral feeling to bo that Iho action of 
iho Ceylon Tea Fund Committuc was taken “ on 
iusufllcient nnd unsupporied roprcsenlalions," I 
think it orly fair to that Committee to make 
publio, with your have, a hittny of the stfairas fat 
as I am concerned in it. 
Mr. A. S. Hutchison wrote to me on April 10th 
and at the same tiun sent out a parcel of sundries 
which he asked me “ to kinUly place before the 
Tea Fund C.mmittee when Mr. Lough’s pro- 
position comes forward.” As ho addressed me 
“I car St” and wrote of absolutely nothing but 
this one matter, it did not occur to me for an 
instant to look upon his letter as private, and 
indeed it is not easy to imagine how Mr. IIutohisoD’a 
objeot coul I have been attained by my 
treating his oommuqieation as one intended for 
my eye slo. e. Bo as I am not and never have 
been a member of Ibo Tea Fund Committee, I 
placed the matter with one who is ; and when I 
tell you hiu name (as I do privately) you will 
sgree wiih me that it could soaioely have been 
in abler or more discreet hands. I suppose he 
did at the meeting what I should have done myself, 
and either read tho letter or handed it round for 
perusal. At uny rate I am quite sure he did not 
say: "Hire is a lttt:r which, taken in oonneo- 
tion with the sun 'riea I place on tho table, oontains 
very ample reasons why you should not carry out 
tho rBOommcndalion of the London Tea Committee 
