HOW TEA LKAVES HOMK 83 



Thames, aiui arriving so nearly together that every 

 mile of the raeo half round the world munt have been 

 keenly sporting for those on board. The first steamers 

 to make inroads on the sail-propelled carrier's preser\'e8 

 were those of the I*, and (). Company, which were, in 

 fact, the earliest, and for some years the only ones, 

 in Chinese waters. 



Nearly all the tea forwarded to Kngland is the 

 property of the producers ; in other words, it lias yet 

 to be sold to merchants. I'poii its arrival in London. 

 a shipment of tea is usually met by an agent of the 

 producers, who sees it into bond. A duty of fivepenco 

 per pound is payable on tea ; the Covernraent not only 

 oblige by allowing payment of the duty to stand over 

 until such time as the tea is sold and the purchaser 

 wants to remove it from the custody of His Majesty's 

 Customs, but require the importing agents to put every 

 shipment into one of the oflicial warehou.ses in order 

 that it may be examined. For the law does its best 

 to prote<t the British public against adulterated tea. 

 Tea that is not tit for consumption stands but a poor 

 chance of parsing the Customs Authorities ; and if any 

 impure stock gets into the market, all dealers have 

 their own interests to serve in seeing that such stock 

 is destroyed, for, under the Sale of Food and Dnigs 

 Act, anyone who offers atlulterated tea for sale is liable 

 to prosecution. 



'J'he world's reoonl for the biggest Public Sales of 

 tea is held by I^ondon, and the scene of the auctioneering 

 activities is Mil ' me. The method of conducting 



the Sales is j !iy the same as that whi«h I 



explained to 5'ou in connection with the Colombo Tea 

 Exchange. Teas from all the important producing 



