Dec, I, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



3S1 



i£ they should escape all these. There is nothing, 

 however, Uke a flourish of trumpets to bring an 

 article into public notice, but we are not in the 

 least alraitl tluit our Indian planters will be beaten 

 in the race by their juniors of Ceylon ; and so long 

 as our managers give Id per lb. profit, shareholders 

 need not grumble, nor be afraid. — Indian Pldiitfi-x' 

 Gazette, Oct. 13th. [There is nothing Uke hearing 

 the other side of a question, and seeing ourselves as 

 others see us I — Ed.j 



♦ 



REMINISCENCES OF A TEA DEALER IN 

 ENGLAND. 

 In your issue of 81h ultimo I observe your 

 London Tea Correspondent again warns planters 

 against going liome'to set up retail tea agencies. 

 He should have said wholesale and retail, for 

 those who only "retail" tea do not as a rule 

 employ '• travellers." In support of his caution let 

 mo give you a gUmpse only of some of my ex- 

 periences in the tea trade at home. 



In 188 — I left Assam to commence business 

 under very favorable circumstances, in the City, 



of as a wholesale tea dealer ; making a specLility 



of " Assanis." but selling Chinas as well. I bought 

 iny teas in the best market, engaged travellers, (ex- 

 perienced men, mind,) and "placed" a lot of tea. 

 As an extra precaution against making bad debts, 

 I even went so far as to subscribe to a number 

 of "Trade Protection private enquiry offices," and 

 before teas were forwarded, I had ascertained by 

 telegraph the supposed stability of my would-be 

 customers. Although a considerable discount was 

 allowed for "payment on delivery," my cash buyers 

 were very few and far between. Some of the 

 travellers, however, did not do sufficient business 

 to pay their salaries and expenses ; for vvhicli they 

 gave the following reasons. Many of the trade had 

 just laid in a stock ; others again were satisfied 

 witli the treatment they received from the firms 

 with whom they had dealt for a number of years, 

 and conseiiuently were not desirous of opening a 

 new account, etc. ; and a few hinted they could 

 " match those samples at half the price," which 

 was .of course absurd. This took a considerable 

 amount of the gilt off the gingerbread, but that 

 was not all. At the expiry of three months from 

 date of sale, when the dillerent accounts fell due, 

 more than one grocer had gone to the wall ; some 

 were offering a compromise, failing to arrange this, 

 they threatened bankruptcy, and the remainder 

 either squared up in full or paid something " on 

 account," with a request that the balance might 

 be allowed to stand over till "you next come 

 round." 



When a profit and loss balance was struck at 

 the end of the second quarter, I found myself 

 several hundreds of iiounds on the wrong side, and 

 finding out, when it was too late, that there was 

 nothing to be made in the "wholesale" business, 

 I decided to try the " retail," making a sjjeciality 

 of what- is known as the "packet" trade, which 

 was aU the go then. It is true raoi-e profit is to 

 be made in the retail business, which may bo looked 

 upon as cash, but the amount sold is so small 

 compared with the " wholesale," that of the two, 

 were it not for bad debts the latter would prove 

 the more remunerative. A shop in a good quarter 

 means a heavy outlay in the first instance, for 

 fittings and fixtures alone, besides which the rent, 

 necessarily very high, must be thought of; also 

 gas, taxes, etc., and shopmen's wages. In the 

 "packet" trade the "paper-bag" and "printer's 

 bill " is no small item, and, — just stop to consider 

 for a moment the number of pounds, half pounds 

 and quarters which must be sold to pay for all 



these and provide an income for yourself, and per- 

 haps family as well. I hear you say " surely a 

 shop selling nothing but really good tea at a 

 moderate price might to pay, and moreover, you 

 might establish agencies througliout the length and 

 breadth of the United Kingdom (if you have capital 

 enough to do so, and it not tlicn as far and 

 wide as your capital will go) tor the sale of 

 your tea ? " " This omjlit to pay," you roitorate. 

 So anyone, who has not tried it, would flunk. 

 1 will try to show you why a beginner cannot make 

 it pay. 



I found when I had launched fortli in the retail 

 aiid packet business, that the upper and middle 

 classes have, as a rule, a running account with 

 their grocers, and they find it more convenient to 

 order their tea with the groceries. The balance 

 of these two classes and the lower, continue to 

 buy tlieirs from the places where they are accus- 

 tomed to deal or from the nearest sliop to their 

 homes. In every town of any size there are estab- 

 lishments which sell nothing else but tea — and 

 perhaps coffee— thus rendering it simply impossible 

 for a man to make any thing at the game, unless 

 he has set the ball rolling years ago. As regards 

 the " .\gency" business, that also is equally over- 

 done. Point out a public house at home where 

 you will not see a show card of " The Licensed 

 Victualler's Tea Company," where the non-teetotal 

 British workman buys his quarter or half pound 

 after receiving his wages on Saturday, in some cases 

 getting a glass of beer yratix. Where is there a small 

 post office in the United Kingdom whence packets 

 of what is known as "Post Office Tea" may not be 

 purchased, supplied by a big London tea deakng 

 firm trading under the name of the "Post Office 

 Tea Company, Limited"? Who has not heard of 

 the " Book Tea Company," a wholesale house 

 which has agencies throughout the length and 

 breadth of the British Isles? They, like the rest, 

 are not particular who represents them so long as 

 the money (which is generally paid on delivery) 

 is right ; confectioners, down to China-ware dealers 

 and baby linen establishments, sell their tea. For 

 tvr-o shillings you get a pound of tea and a new 

 six-penny book; a shilling book and a pound 

 of tea for two and sixpence, and for three 

 shillings and sixpence, a two shilling book and 

 one pound of tea ! Good books they are, some of 

 them. I wish I could say as much for the tea. 

 Show me a big commercial street in a large town 

 where there are no "Gift" or "Present" shops, 

 where in the window you will see "two pounds of 

 finest tea and this rare old curiosity for four shillings" 

 — or "any one of these handsome articles' given 

 away witli three pounds of tea for six shillings." 

 And so on, a<l. lib. Tlie curiosities and handsome 

 articles are, however, not worth much. Then, again, 

 there is Horniman, every person knows Iloriiiman, 

 by name at all events. I remember seeing his teas 

 advertised when I was quite a little boy. He 

 must have made a pile anyway. He is still to 

 the fore, and heaps of other tea companies and 

 people of whom neither you nor I have ever heard. 

 Since the license for the sale of tea was abolished 

 every little shop sells tea, even chemists and 

 draggists are agents for different firms. Wlio then 

 is left to sell or buy your tea ? The trade, whole- 

 sale and retail, is so cut up, that, except for old 

 established firms, there is no getting a livelihood 

 let alone a competency out of it now-a-days. The 

 foregoing remarks will apply ccjually as well to 

 Indian teas by themselves, which by the way 

 the general public do not rehsh " pure and un- 

 adulterated." Hence the excuse the trade make 

 for adding China. The only thing against the 



