2l8 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



MAKING INDIAN TEA KNOWN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



SEVERAL plans have at times been proposed in India with a 

 view to make the merits of pure Indian Teas known in 

 England. When I was last out there I saw the following 

 letter in the Calcutta Statesman, and it appeared to me the 

 plan suggested was in every way an excellent one : 



How TO PUSH THE SALE OF TEA. 

 To the Editor " Statesman," 



Sir, Referring to your leader of to-day on the subject of selling 

 Tea at home, I agree with you that Tea-growers should combine for 

 retailing, as they have, through the Syndicate, combined for opening 

 up new markets, but there must be the same spirit of enterprise in the 

 one case as in the other. Now, the mere opening up of shops for the 

 sale of Indian Teas, involving, as it would, rents, expensive establish- 

 ments, and bad debts, would not afford the necessary scope, nor would 

 it meet the case. 



The system of auction in Mincing Lane must with all its drawbacks 

 continue, but it is surely possible to extract some good from it. Let 

 agencies for such a combination as you propose be established in all 

 the large towns in Great Britain, and weekly auctions of packets of 

 Tea from 2 ounces to 5 Ibs. or so be held in different parts of each 

 town, so that every day except Sunday there would be an auction 

 going on somewhere. Let the sales be bond fide to the highest bidder 

 and for cash on the nail, and I will promise that before a year is over, 

 as high prices will be paid at these auctions as are at present realised 

 by Cooper and Cooper, whilst the demand would soon greatly exceed 

 the supply. 



If something of the same kind were done in the bazaars of India, 

 the taste which so decidedly exists among natives would develop 

 rapidly. MATT. DREWS. 



Calcutta, January ^th, 1882. 



