There is a little flutter of apprehension on the street just now regarding the renewal of the treaty with regard to Tibet. The local tea merchant eces in ita coveted opportunity on the part of the Indian officials to create an "open door" for the product of the Indian tea gardens to the exclusion of the Yechou article. But two things certainly militate against success in any such attempt at present. The first is in the kind of tea and the mode of preparation and packing now in demand among the Tibetans. Ultraconservative in character, more so than the Chinese even, the native of Tibet will need good deal of conversion before he is ready to try other men and other ways, though it involve his favourite and necessary beverage—tea. The second reason is in the price now paid, which while it gives the frugal C! ese & good margin of profit, would scarcely rove an attraction to his more opulent rival in India. The Tibetan needs tea in quanti ty and there is not much evidence that he is a connoisseur in the matter of quality. Bulk and cheapness the Chinese certainly give, and the Tibetans love to have it so.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.