272 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

 i 



WEIGHING AND BULKING OF INDIAN TEAS AT CUSTOM HOUSE. 



ONE misapprehension with some exists on this head. 

 The weighing is done by the Customs to ascertain the 

 amount for duty. The bulking is done at the request of 

 the vendor, the broker who is to sell it, or the purchaser, 

 and it has to be paid for. 



Two distinct injuries are inflicted on the producer by 

 the present Custom House system 



1. The Tea is much damaged by exposure. 



2. The quantity found is always less than the actual. 



Now as to No. I. When we consider how damp the 

 London atmosphere is at the best, how in foggy days it 

 teems with moisture, is it not very certain that Teas 

 exposed to it, often for days, deteriorate ? What care we 

 take in India heating before packing carefully with lead 

 and solder, excluding all air and then the Teas on arrival 

 here are treated as above ! It is simply monstrous. 



The following extract from a letter to Home and 

 Colonial Mail sets out the case forcibly : 



The blame ought not entirely to be laid upon the planter, however, 

 for certain facts have come to our knowledge during the present week 

 as regards the manner in which Indian Teas are bulked at some of the 

 London warehouses, which somewhat explains how depreciation in 

 quality comes about. We bought several breaks of Tea in the sales 

 this week, which were stated to be bulked and ready for sampling six 

 days before the sale ; and yet we know for a fact that some of those 

 very Teas were not put back into the chest till the day after the sale, if 



