February i, 1892 .] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
533 
CEYLON TEA IN PARIS. 
No doubt our roadcra will, rqually with our- 
Bflvea, have thared in the surprise expressed by our 
London correspondent (page 29) that Mr. Laugh 
should, after having sought and obtained the 
agency for Ceylon teas in Paris, have seemed not 
only to ooinoido in, but to fully endorse, the 
wish of some of the shareholders of the Palait 
Intlicn Tea Hon 3 o.s Company that their pales should 
bo coufinod exclusively to Indian growths. This 
matter appears (o have been promptly taken up 
by the Tea Committee of the Ceylon Association 
in London. At first sight, there could seem (o 
be no doubt that Mr. Lough had been guilty of 
a breach of faith in the statement ho had made, 
and the Committee was not slow in calling him 
to account for it. Wo know that vary grave 
objection was taken to the selection of Mr. Lough 
for the Paris agency, and that a very unpleasant 
correspondence between our local Association and 
that of London resulted, Had the matter re- 
mained unexplained, wo must have held that the 
objections raised were most fully justified. 
But Mr. Lough, in replying to the questioning 
addressed to him by the London Association 
Committee, has stated that his remarks at his 
Company’s meeting were not in any way intended 
to apply to Ceylon ten. What it was desired, 
he informed the Committee, was to exclude from 
such sale the toes of China, Japan, Java, and 
other similar tons of Far Eastern growth. We 
must, of course, noeopt thia explanation, but oan 
only express our regret that Mr. Lough, when 
speaking ns he did at the meeting of the Palais 
Indien Company, bad not been more explicit. Had 
he been ao, and in acoordonce witli the intention 
he has now expressed, ho would have saved him- 
self from a most unpleasant and by no moans 
groundless suspicion of having contemplated a 
moat unfair procedure. From the proapeetus of 
the Palais Indian Company forwarded to us, we 
learn that the object of the formation of the com- 
pany was “to promote and develop the use aud sale, 
knowledge and appreciation, of Indian, Ceylon, and 
other teas, in Paris and other places on the Con- 
tinent of Europe, and in the United States of 
America, Canada, and other parts of the World.’’ 
Ihia is a far-renohing project enough; and it is 
only fair to point out that the professed object 
did not limit the pale of tens to Indian varieties 
only. In deciding to restrict their sales to Indian 
ta.aa alone ae expressed at the meeting referred to, it 
would seem to us that the Company ao far departed 
from the conditions under which it was registered, 
that it would h»vo been feasible to have called 
in queation the legality of its further operations as 
a registered ooDoern. But it is needless tor us to 
pureus further such an argument. The Company 
—m consequence, it may be presumed, of the 
objections raised by the London Ceylon Committee, — 
has approached the latter body with proposals to 
obtain the co-operation with it of our local Tea 
Fund Committee. _We should say that, should such 
UBion be determined upon, a company must be 
rsBistored upon a new basis, and possibly with 
srgely luoreased capital. We oan ima-^ino many 
among us entertaining a doubt whether, in the 
event of a joint enterprise of tho kind being under- 
en, Cwlon, as the lesser vessel, may not 
run a chance of being pushed to the wall, 
we think we may safely leave the arrange - 
render us safe against such 
injustice to the skill and care of the gentlemen who 
Company on 
Behalf of the Ceylon Association in London. The 
names of those gentlemen as given in out London 
letter should form a sufficient guarantee that our 
interests will be well looked after and secured. 
Knowing ns we do, how good a footing the Indian 
Company has already aeoured in Paria, it 
is evident to us that, it it can be done, 
it will be best to work in co-operation with it, 
if possible, rather than to start a new and 
seperate venture on our own account. We by no 
means overlook the poaaible difficulties that may 
have to be faced iu securing that Ceylon teas aball 
enjoy their full and due share of attention. If 
Mr. Lough, as the Superintendent of the Paris Tea 
House, oarriea out faithfully the ongagementa be 
has entered into in accepting the position of our 
recognised agent, there should exist no doubt that 
this would be scoured ; but as man is but fallible, 
it will certainly bo neoessary that our London 
Tea t ommittoo should closely scrutinize all the 
operations, and insist, ah initio, that tho teas of 
both India and Ceylon should bo oKered to customers 
in certain defined proportions. Of course such 
oustoraors may have, and may expreaa, their prefer- 
ence for one or other of the two varieties, and their 
taste in this respect will have to b e consulted and 
deferred to. But apart from this, there abould be no 
favouritism shown by Mr. Lough to either kind of 
tea. Let each stand or fall by its merits, and we 
have no fear that Ceylon will not take ita proper 
place. It is on thia acoount that, notwithstanding 
the difficulties we can foresee, we hope that the 
arrangements now under diacuasion may reault in a 
cousequent working advantageous to tho growers both 
of India and Ceylon. But the leaders of the Tea 
Fund and of the Planters' Association will rightly 
claim a voice in any decision that may be arrived at. 
COFFEE GllOWINfi IN BRAZIL: ITS 
BRIGHT I’RESENT ANII DOUBTFUL 
FUTURE. 
Mr. Scott Bleoklaw’a latest instalment of the 
elaborate and deeply interesting notes on the 
progress of railways and sgriouUute in Brazil, 
with which for years back he has enriched our 
columns, will bo well received by all intelligent 
readers, while it will be diffioult for many 
of our planters who spent the beat parts 
of their lives in the culture of oefifee, to 
repress some fooling of envy as they road of the 
proeperoua extensions of that culture in virgin 
soil, whore three-quarters of a ton per acre are 
yielded, where railway facilities are present with 
a Buffloionoy of labour, and where leaf fungus (of 
tho fatal kind) is unknown. Thera seem to bo 
Boarooly any bounds in Brazil to the area of 
Buitable land in a suitable climate, while, hitherto, 
capital for railways and to enable tho planters 
to procure and pay for labour has been readily 
available. But alas 1 Braail, whiob under 
monarohioal government enjoyed peace and order, 
must needs follow the example of other South 
Amcrioaii States, and submit to a diotatorship 
under the specious guise of a republic. The parallel 
is complete in anarchy and loss of credit, intrigue 
and civil strife. Mr. Blacklaw, of courso, being a 
siranger in the land, says nothing of all this. But, 
his valuable communications are continued, we feat his 
next instalment of notes will boar a different aspect 
to tho sunshine of the present,— the picture being 
marked by tho shades of the arrest and deoa- 
denec of enterprise, from the absence ol capital 
and the labour which capital alone Ban command. 
There is no doubt a certain amount ol oapital 
in the country itself ; but its poascsBors will be 
just as v(awiiling to incur risk, in the present 
unsettled state ol government and politics, as thn 
