214 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



As to the game not being worth the candle, that is possibly the 

 case if only the present demand is considered. But we are persuaded 

 that it is otherwise if regard is had to the expansion of which that 

 demand is capable. 



If Indian Tea were procurable in the bazaars in parcels of moderate 

 size at a reasonable advance on auction prices, we believe that a large 

 native demand for it would rapidly grow up. As it is, an extensive 

 business goes on in China Tea of the most wretched quality, some of 

 it sold in packets of a few ounces, and some of it loose in still smaller 

 quantities. Even in Calcutta this Tea is sold at prices which would 

 pay the Indian Tea planter a handsome profit, while in the interior it 

 is sold at rates which would have been high fifty years ago. 



Surely a Syndicate which extends its efforts for the popularisation 

 of Indian Tea to such distant and widely separated markets as Aus- 

 tralia and America might profitably make some systematic effort to 

 promote its use among the vast population at its doors. 



The time may be far distant when the great bulk of this population 

 will adopt Tea as an ordinary beverage ; but the way in which the 

 habit of using it has spread during the last ten or fifteen years, among 

 all classes of the vast population of Calcutta, affords an indication 

 of possibilities very well worth testing. 



When last in India I wrote on this subject largely, but 

 all to no avail. The following was one of my letters which 

 appeared in the Tea Gazette : 



THE MARKET AT OUR DOORS. CONSUMPTION OF CHINA TEA 

 IN INDIA. 



The Statesman, in a recent article, observes as follows, while dis- 

 cussing the maritime trade of British India : 



" Perhaps the most anomalous import we have is Tea. It is hardly 

 conceivable that while Indian Tea continues to advance in public esti- 

 mation at home, we should not only use China Tea in India, but that 

 in increasing quantities."* 



In 1876-77 the imports of China Teas were a little under two 

 millions, but in 1880-81 as much over three millions ! The Statesman 

 states, and truly, that the reason of this is simply " that Indian Tea is 

 sold in too large packets to be easily obtainable by the general public, 



* With few exceptions it is bought by the Natives alone and for the 

 reason given above. E. M. 



