5 
July  i,  1892.]  THP  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
subordinate  principle  to  expediency.  Such  a course 
could  only  mean  that  it  would  be  considered  expedient 
to  continue  to  make  the  poor  man  the  milch-cow  of 
the  revenue  to  the  relief  of  the  rich  ; for  the  poor  pay 
by  far  th9  greater  portion  of  the  Breakfast  Talle  Taxes 
while  the  burden ‘of  making  up  the  reveuual  defici- 
ency caused  by  their  removal  would,  undoubtedly,  be 
transferred  to  the  rich,  principally,  let  ua  hope,  through 
the  agenoy  of  a substitutionary  tax  on  Laud  Values. 
The  abolition  of  the  duty  will _ afford  us  the  best  im- 
aginable opportunity  for  s'riHng  at  those  v;  lues. — 
Financial  Reformer  for  March. 
THE  TEA  DUTY. 
When  the  tea  duty  was  reduced  by  twopence  in  1S90, 
it  was  prophesied  by  the  pessimists  of  the  tea  trade 
that  the  reduction  would  not  benefit  the  public.  While 
they  admitted  that  an  increased  consumption  of  tea 
would  follow  the  reduction,  they  contended  that 
quality  would  be  lowered  in  a large  proportion  than 
price.  Consistently  with  their  belief,  they  prophesied 
that  cheap  China  teas,  with  all  their  drawbacks,  wo.uld 
once  again  become  popular,  to  the  comparative  ex- 
clusion and  at  the  expense  of  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas. 
We  can  now  look  back  on  twenty  months  of  results. 
During  the  greater  part  of  the  time  we  have  had  to 
face  a great  financial  crisis,  followed  by  heavy  busi- 
ness depression  and  by  a consequent  lessening  of 
employment,  which  has  materially  diminished  the 
purchasing  power  of  the  working  classes.  ^ For  several 
months  we  were  in  the  grip  of  a winter  oi  exceptional 
severity — to  the  cost  again  of  the  working  man  s 
pocket.  Further,  during  a large  slice  of  1891  we 
suffered  from  a positive  dearth  of  Indian  teas  of  the 
common  kind.  Scarcity  drove  them  up  to  famine 
prices  from  February  to  June,  and  lower  grade 
Ceylons  followed  their  lead.  Circumstances,  indeed, 
seemed  in  a conspiracy  to  minimise  the  increase  in 
the  consumption  of  tea,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
encourage  the  use  of  cheap  Chinas  preferably  to  their 
“ British-grown  ” competitors. 
Even  during  the  worst  of  the  “famine'  the  refusal 
of  the  public  to  take  to  China  teas  again  was  very 
marked!  The  price  of  these  was  driven  up  by  the 
gamblers  of  the  Clearing  House,  but  only  momen- 
tarily. It  rose  like  the  rocket  and  fell  like  the  stick. 
Whatever  the  height  of  Indians  and  Ceylons  dealers 
had  to  take  them,  grocers  had  to  buy  them  — at  the 
extra  rates— and  to  retail  them  at  a reduction  of  2d 
per  lb.  on  the  former  retail  price.  Their  low-priced 
Chinas  were  saleable  only  on  condition  of  being 
concealed  in  blends.  The  explanation  is  that  com- 
petition in  the  trade  was  too  keen  to  permit  of  the 
consumer  being  done  out  of  the  benefit  of  the  duty 
reduction.  In  all  probability  he  lost  no  part  of  it  even 
then.  And  be  it  remembered  that  the  great  rise  in 
market  values  during  this  period  was  entirely  confined 
to  the  lower-grade  teas.  At  one  time  there  was  but 
little  difference  between  the  values  of  Broken  Pekoes, 
Pekoes,  and  Pekoe  Souchongs. 
For  the  twenty  months  the  total  increase  of  “ Home 
Consumption”  has  been,  in  round  numbers,  17,000,0001b. 
The  remission  of  2d  in  the  duty  was  only  in  operation 
during  the  last  eight  months  of  1890,  so  that  the 
more  convenient  method  of  testing  the  increase  in 
consumption  is  to  compare  the  completed  year  1891 
with  1889. 
The  “Home  Consumption  ” in  1889  was  (in  round 
numbers)  185,500,000  lb. 
The  “Home  Consumption”  in  1891  was  (in  round 
numbers)  202,500,000  lb. 
An  advantage  to  1S91  of  17,000,000  lb. 
The  “poundage”  gain  is  far  less  on  paper  than 
in  reality.  The  increase  was  exclusively  in  Indian 
and  Ceylon  Teas,  and  was  accompanied  by  an  enor- 
mous decrease  in  the  consumption  of  China  teas.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  Indians  and  Ceylons  show, 
on  an  average,  50  per  cent  greater  strength  than  China 
teas ; that  is  to  say,  they  are  capable  of  more  eco- 
nomical use.  Consequently,  we  may  claim  that,  had 
China  tea  been  our  only  staple  last  year,  the  increase 
for  1891  over  1889,  in  consequence  of  the  reduction 
of  duty,  would  have  been  much  more  than  17,000,000 
b.  Even  without  counting  the  increase,  the  mere 
displacement  of  China  teas  by  British-grown  teas 
would  still  have  argued  a far  larger  number  of  cups 
of  tea  drunk  in  1891  than  in  1889. 
The  assertion  that  the  increase  is  due,  not  to  the 
reduction  of  duty,  but  to  greater  liking  for  the  new 
than  for  the  old  teas,  may  be  safely  rejected.  Prob- 
ably the  “greater  liking”  had  little  to  do  with  the 
increase,  but  it  was  itself  the  product  of  the  effect 
of  the  reduction  of  duty  in  lessening  the  price  of 
the  new  teas.  If,  for  argument’s  sake,  we  assume 
that  the  “greater  liking,”  and  not  the  reduction  of 
duty,  was  responsible  for  the  bulk  of  the  increase, 
we  are  bound  to  the  conclusion  that,  when  the  duty 
was  reduced,  the  public  got  better  value  for  their 
money.  The  cheapened  better  teas  drove  out  the 
cheapened  worse  teas. 
Before  the  reduction,  the  opponents  of  the  Tea 
Duties  contended  that  the  effect  of  even  a partial 
reduction  must  be  to  give  the  consumer  better 
quality  at  a reduced  price.  They  pointed  out, 
at  the  close  of  1889,  that  the  duty  was 
then  equivalent  to  130  per  cent  upon  average 
Chinas,  to  100  per  cent  on  average  Indians,  to  80  per 
cent  on  average  Ceylons ; that  any  appreciable  re- 
duction must  enable  smaller  capitals  to  engage  in  the 
tea  trade,  and  that,  as  a consequence,  there  would  be 
keener  competition  between  sellers,  with  the  probable 
result  that  the  public  would  get  even  more  than  tha 
full  money  benefit  conferred  by  the  reduction. 
To  measure  the  meaning  of  an  increase  of  “ Home 
Consumption”  in  1891  over  18S9,  it  is  useful  to 
note  that,  in  view  of  the  future  production  of  British- 
grown  teas,  our  Indian  and  Ceylon  planters  are 
congratulating  themselves  on  being  able  to  dispose  of 
9,000,000  lb.  of  leaf,  annually,  in  the  Australian  markets, 
but  the  reduction  of  duty  has  been  given  them 
already  a fresh  field  of  consumption  in  Great  Britain 
equal  to  two  Australias.  The  17,000,000  increase — 
effected  under  singularly  adverse  circumstances— is 
about  equal  to  twice  the  total  consumption  of  an 
entire  continent  whose  inhabitants  drink  more  tea  per 
head  than  the  inhabitants  of  any  other  country  in  the 
universe. 
Consider,  from  the  producer's  point  of  view,  the 
position  at  the  end  of  1889.  A fast-rising  rate  of  pro- 
duction in  India  and  Ceylon  was  met  by  a home 
consumption  tending  towards  the  stationary  stage  as 
regards  quantity  of  leaf.  “Bond”  values  for  tea  were 
rapidly  declining  to  a non-paying  level.  The  new  teas 
were  more  economical  in  use  than  the  old,  and 
the  prospect  before  producers  was  that  the  sup- 
planting of  the  old  teas  by  the  new  would  be 
accompanied  by  an  actual  decrease  in  the  quantity 
of  leaf  consumed,  because  of  the  50  per  cent  greater 
strength  of  the  new  teas.  To  supplant  80,000,000 
lb.  of  the  old  teas  only  54,000,000  lb.  of  the  new 
teas  would  be  required.  To  the  Indian  and  Ceylon 
producer  the  prospect  spelt  ruin,  unless  he  restricted 
his  output  or  else  confined  his  manufacture  mainly 
to  high-class  teas.  Either  alternative  would  have 
been  injurious  to  himself,  still  more  so  to  the  con- 
sumer. For  cheap  teas  the  latter  would  have  to 
revert  to  common  China  Congous,  or  if,  after  having 
acquired  a taste  for  the  new  teas,  the  prospect  was 
unbearable,  he  would  have  had  to  content  himself 
with  a smaller  allowance  of  the  new  tea — so  much 
the  worse  for  the  cause  of  temperance  and  morality  ! 
If,  notwithstanding  a fortuitous  combination  of 
adverse  circumstances,  the  reduction  of  twopence 
has  already  proved  an  important  benefit  for  the 
public  and  to  the  producer,  we  may  hope  for  vastly 
more  favourable  results  from  the  remission  of  the 
remaining  fourpence.— The  Speaker. 
THE  COCONUT  OIL  SITUATION. 
The  arrival  of  several  vessels  that  were  not  expected 
until  Borne  time  in  April,  together  with  several  others 
that  were  due  and  expected,  threw  (he  market  for  Cey- 
lon coconut  oil  into  a condition  bordreiog  upon  demo- 
ralization early  in  the  week.  As  it  v as,  a most  un- 
certain feeling  prevailed  for  several  days,  and  for  a 
time  it  lookel  as  though  a large  decline  in  prioes  was 
inevilablo.  There  were  reports  that  five  and  three- 
