226 



[September, 1908* 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES IN 

 NATAL. 



Tea. 



To judge by comments of correspon- 

 dents in the public press, the actual 

 facts concerning the tea industry in 

 Natal are apparently unknown to the 

 public, and there has been widespread 

 misapprehension of the truth, leading to 

 wholly erroneous criticism and misstate- 

 ments. The Commissioners deem it well, 

 therefore, in the interests of truth, fair- 

 play, and well-advised future action, 

 that the facts should be made known, as 

 received in evidence. 



In the early days of experimental tea 

 planting in Natal, the revenue duty upon 

 tea in Natal was 7d. per lb. Not before 

 1885, however, did Natal tea appear on 

 the market in any appreciable quantity, 

 in which year the revenue on tea was 6d. 

 per lb., and the idea of this 6d. rate 

 beiug a permanent one, for revenue pur- 

 poses, was a sufficient inducement for the 

 investment of capital in the industry. 

 It will remembered that for many years 

 6d. was the rate of duty on tea in the 

 United Kingdom, where it was regarded 

 as a duty for revenue purposes only. In 

 1883 the price for imported tea paid by 

 the consumer in Natal ranged from 2s. 

 to 3s. 6d. per lb., inclusive of the duty. 

 About that period, very considerable 

 developments took place in the tea in- 

 dustry, several new plantations were 

 opened up, and the area of land under 

 tea very considerably increased, and 

 from that time the extent of the in- 

 dustry has gradually increased year by 

 year. In 1901 the price of tea had fallen 

 on the World's markets, but in Natal, it 

 had fallen to from Is. to Is. fid. per lb., 

 from the 2s. to 3s. 6d. of 1883, and it is 

 contended that this local drop in prices 

 exceeded the fall in outside markets. 

 Natal tea is now sold to the consumer at 

 from 9d. to Is. 3d. per lb. according to 

 quality. The Commissioners fail to see 

 any indication, from these figures, that 

 the consumer in South Africa is suffer- 

 ing in his pocket from the existence of 

 tea growing as an industry in Natal. 



In 1904 the duty in South Africa on 

 imported tea was reduced to 4d. per lb., 

 and later, in 1906, a duty of 15 per cent, 

 was imposed on wood imported for 

 packing purposes, and of 25 per cent, on 

 all printed matter for labels, etc., used 

 in the business. When it is borne in 

 mind that the packing cases and labels 

 used in the cases of imported tea are 



allowed to enter the country free of 

 duty, it will be seen that imported tea 

 is favoured in this respect as compared 

 with tea of local production. When it 

 is further borne in mind that in the tea- 

 growing country from which Natal tea 

 meets the severest competition, the 

 currency is a silver one, and that the 

 planter in that country, in consequence, 

 enjoys an advantage of some 33 per cent, 

 in the cost of nis labour, it will further 

 be appreciated that 4d. per lb. so-called 

 " protection," which the Natal planter is 

 popularly supposed to enjoy, is severely 

 discounted, 



But can that 4d. per lb. duty be fairly 

 termed a protective duty ? 



In almost every country in the world 

 where tea is consumed, this commodity 

 has been deemed a very suitable one 

 from which to obtain revenue by means 

 of a Customs duty. Of the 38 British 

 Colonies and Foreign Countries, whose 

 Customs tariffs are enumerated in Kelly's 

 Customs Tariffs of the World (1905 

 Edition), the duty ranges from 2s. lOd. 

 per lb. to 10 per cent, ad valorem. As 

 none of these countries produce tea, 

 except one, it is manifest that in all the 

 other cases tea must have been selected 

 on the ground that it is a fit and proper 

 commodity from which to obtain re- 

 venue. Further, with the exception of 

 four of these countries, referred to above, 

 the present duty on tea in the South 

 African Union stands at the lowest 

 figure. 



In 1906, the importations of tea from 

 over-seas into the States of the South 

 African Union amounted, in weight, to 

 4,822,000 lbs., of a money value of 

 £221,000. Figures have been produced to 

 show that the whole of this tea and more 

 could be produced by the tea estates at 

 present in existence in Natal. 



The money expended and distributed 

 in a multitude of ways, by the Natal tea 

 industry in South Africa, amounts to 

 between £50,000 and £60,000 per annum 

 at present. Disaster to the industry 

 would not only mean the loss of this ex- 

 penditure, but that there would cease to 

 be the competition between the local 

 producer and the importer, and the 

 latter would be in a position to raise 

 prices against the consumer. Dumping, 

 it is alleged, now seriously threatens the 

 tea industry of Natal. South Africa, it 

 is stated in evidence, has been made the 

 dumping ground for certain classes of 

 Indian and Ceylon teas — elsewhere un- 

 saleable. These teas, it is asserted, must 



