WEIGHING AND BULKING OF INDIAN TEAS. 287 



2. That the lead at top of the Tea be carefully replaced 

 and resoldered, so that every chest shall leave the 

 Custom House in as good condition as it entered 

 it. 



Very little addition to the machinery detailed above 

 would accomplish the first. The chest ready to receive the 

 Tea, plus the lid and top lead (which should have been 

 carefully removed), might be weighed on the platform at the 

 side of the big drum (by simply making the said platform a 

 weighing machine) and weighed again when filled, with the 

 lid and lead laid on it. The difference of the two weights 

 would, of course, be the weight of the Tea. 



The second is a question of expense ; it would not be 

 great if done systematically. The chest should be carefully 

 opened, and the top lead removed in a square piece nearly 

 the size of the box. When replaced, a narrow strip of lead, 

 soldered down on either side, would make the covering 

 complete. 



Justice will not be done to Indian Teas till this last is 

 accomplished. 



Who should bear the expense ? The chests are received 

 into the Customs for the benefit of the Revenue, and who 

 can doubt, were the question tried in a Court of Law, that 

 they are bound to return them in as good condition as they 

 were received. They do not, and have never done so, and I 

 only wonder the trade has stood it so long, and has not 

 sued them. Were the course I advise followed out, there 

 would remain no cause of complaint, and the trifling cost of 

 soldering on the lid again should doubtless, therefore, be 

 borne by the Customs. 



But in reality the Customs would sustain no loss in 

 fact, the other way. I have shown clearly at page 278 that 

 were the weight of Tea correctly recorded, the Customs would 



