June r, iBgj.l rHr TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 895 
but Binall supplitia to Loudon our fate ia aealed. What 
ia wanted ia a large crop, not neceaaaril; of very high 
quality, at low coat. The attempt must be made to 
undersell our rivala, and eo re-eetsbliah oncaelvea in 
public favour. The weather all along favoura the 
idea of a crop oertaiuly not smaller than that of last 
year, and exchange and freights will contribute to 
lay it down at an unpreeedentedly low coat. Per> 
aonally I don’t wish to see high prices at Hankow, and 
I hope foreign buyers won’t pay them.” 
“ You said jutt now that China conid undersell 
India and Ceylon. Is that a fact f” I enquired. 
Certainly. I bear that the average coat of the 
Indian crop is 8d. per lb., and of the Ceylon gjd • 
The average price paid last year in China was 
Tls. 16, Shanghai ajcee, or thereabouts, and that at 
48 2d exchange and a possible 258 pir ton freight 
would make the lay down cost 7d per lb.” 
“ Do you think that there ia any probability of a 
I eduction of the inland burdens Cihina tea ia called 
upon to bear ?” 
” I hope BO. but I don't think eo. The mandarins 
appear obdurate {very strong stomach woie the exact 
words ) We native teamen want to fee the taxation 
lightened just a-s much as foreigners do, but the 
Taungli Yemen does not hold the guild in very high 
esteem, nor doea it appear to have had mnob regard 
for tbo elaborate reports on the qnertiun drawn up 
by the foreign Chsszecs some two years ago. At the 
risk of being tedious let me once sgaiu show yen 
how China tea is handicapped. The first iliarge on 
the “made leaf ’ is Tls. 125 per picul, the shre ftige 
In fact, exacted by the various local authorities. Thou 
another Tls. 125 per picul ia the well-knowu likin 
t>x, levied to defray tho cost of protecting the article 
in transport ; and fin.ally there is the Customs’ export 
duly of Tls. 2'50 per picul. These make a sum of 
five Haikuan taels a picul, or 2d per lb. So a clean, 
sweet, strong Koemiin ot Shanghai Tls. ISperpioiil, 
relieved of theae burdens could ho laid down in 
London at CJl per lb , and a Tls. 10 Sbantam at 
2Jd per lb. And if that wouldn’t knock the stufilng 
out of lujun and Saylong, 1 don’t know what 
would.” 
Afteri this little fli.ght of fancy on Napoleon’s part, 
I asked him what sort of preparation was being made 
for the coming season. 
“ Well,” ho said, opening his press copy latter 
book, “ this is the substance of what I have written 
to the sixty teamen with whom I luually do business. 
‘ Yon must be prepaied for very much lower prices 
than you got last year, and a slower market to com 
menoe with. If you don’t fire your teas with pro 
per rharcoal, tar will develop, and you must look oul 
for squalls. Tla. 60 per picul, which after all ia onl 
28 lid per Ib., will doubtless bo paid for a lew crac? 
chops, and thrn begins the shoer dcaccut. And thes 
are my ideas of safety. I give yon Isst y, ar’s pricek 
paid and the laying down cost in Hankow that yoa 
should not exceed ibis season. 
•' Ningchow f. 
last year Tla. 
85 
this year 
60 
do 
76 
do 
35 
(io 
50 
do 
26 
do 
40 
do 
22 
do 
80 
do 
17 
do 
20 
do 
14 
Keemnus 
do 
55 
do 
38 
do 
45 
do 
29 
do 
35 
do 
21 
do 
26 
do 
17 
Hohows 
do 
25 
do 
16 
do 
18 
do 
12 
do 
15 
do 
11 
Oanfas 
do 
11 
do 
8 
do 
60 
do 
4o 
do 
50 
do 
3o 
do 
40 
do 
22 
do 
;-io 
do 
I8 
do 
20 
do 
13 
Ceylon costing 8Jd per lb., against 8d for India! 
“ rather a dillereut idea to Ceylon costing oufy 6d. 
Hut we have seen that oaloulatioa made. — E d. A. 
Oanfao 
Oopacks 
Sbantatns 
Iasi year Tla. 
16 
this year 
10 
do 
68 
do 
28 
do 
40 
do 
23 
do 
30 
do 
la 
do 
20 
do 
13 
do 
26 
do 
18 
* do 
18 
do 
16 
do 
11 
do 
9 
do 
8 
do 
7 
you think* that your 
advea to your limita?^ 
correapondet^ts 
will 
“ Well, they certainly ought to be able to buy the 
leaf in the country to give them a very good profit 
at my jimils. If they exceed them, and grief arises, 
they will have only themselves to blame.” 
“ As regards the size of the crop, what are your 
view a P 
"Truly, I don’t think that on the whole it will 
turn out to bo any smaller than last year's, and I hope 
it will I e at big, to prevent our being ‘ crowded 
out’ by Indian shipments. There will be a fall* 
ing-off in the supi ly of Kiukiang teas, as only 250 
bongs are opened in the Kiargai districts ns against 
338 hengs last year, and the falling>off will be chiefly 
visible in the medium Ningchow kinds, which lost 
money heavily for both producer and shipper. The 
numbir of hongs in the Hankow distrioia shows an 
increase, but supplies will not much exceed last year’s. 
I Icok for a very large husiucss in all teas costing 
from Tls. 7 to Tls. 17. Those, then, briefly are my 
views; a couple of months will show bow far I have 
been oil the mark. Juat tell me two things beforo you 
go; what like are the Ilnssian orders, and how much 
Chioa tea will London Lke this tear 
“I rould well wish,” I rejoined, "that you had 
asked me something easier. However, it is generally 
held that Russian orders will bo lor SO per cent, 
less tea at 30 per cent, less oest.” 
“Yes,” be replied, “but telegrams can alter thoas 
conditions.” And I wss compelled to admit the 
possibility. 
" As regard consumption,” I added, “ you had 
bettor keep yoor eye on the London Board of Trade 
figures. It yon kok them up you will find that the 
year’s deliveries were ‘233.(100,000 lb., made up of 
Indian tea 101,600,000 
Oeylen 64,000 000 
Java 4,0011,000 
China 71,000,000—233,000,000 
bnt ns the Indian export is estimated at 120,000,000 
and Ceylon 80,(X)0,000 lb. for 1893, unless home eon- 
sumption inoreaaes it will bo a bad look-out for China 
ui less she can do the thing on tho cheap. But tell 
me one thing morn. Did the teamen lose mnch last 
year ?” 
“ Whv, of coarse they did, all along the line. I lost 
Tls. 86,000, and am rot afraid to own up to it.” 
This sum appeared to me rather a staggerer, and I 
dare say that he observed a loi k of inoredulity on my 
face, for he soon observed ; “ Some flens had a little 
share inside that loss a fact I never doubted, for it 
mnst have been a cold day, indeed, when "onriood 
old friend Awsi” got left, I thought. 
Opening a pint of tho celebrated "Shun Fat” 
white seal, be invited me to drink to better times, 
and 'Margee ohance” this season, and the genial 
operation having been duly performed, he obse- 
quiously bowed me out with “a smile that was ohild- 
iko and bland.” — N.-C. Herald, March 26th. 
THE CHINik TEA TRADE. 
To the Editor of the North-ChiNa Daily Newb.^ 
Sir,— It is oODsoling to find from the ” Sermo 
Sinensis” in your yesterday’s issue that tho Napoleon 
of tbo tea trade is still vigorous, Hij plan of cam- 
paign ia certainly a bold one; viz., to send to London 
big supplies at low cost, to fight and undersell oar 
rivals and thus re-establish ourselves in public favour. 
He is, however, tjo sarguine in my opinion in think- 
ing that China t«a, taxed as it is, can over under- 
sell India and Ceylon, and he is certainly quite 
wrong in his figures as to the average price paid 
