116 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [AtTo. 1, 1899. 
THE PROPOSED ABOLITION OF THE 
DRAFT POUND. 
MEETING IN LONDON. 
A meeting of the members of the wliolesale and 
retail tea trade was held at the Commercial Sale 
Rooms, Mincing Lane, on Wednesday last, to 
oppose the proposed abolition of the draft pound 
by the Ceylon and Indian Tea Associations. The 
Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, who was 
called to the chair, explained the purpose for 
winch the meeting had been called. He said that 
he had great pleasure in presiding over that 
numerous and influential meeting, because he felt 
that it was a matter of great importance to every 
wholesale and retail dealer throughout the United 
Kingdom. From time immemorial the pound draft 
had been a concession to the trade, sanctioned by 
the importers to cover all tlie various losses of 
the retailers occasioned by leakage, samples, &c.. 
and now the Ceylon and Indian Tea Associations 
had made the astounding proposal that this one 
pound draft should be abolished. He would give 
the two chief reasons for their seeking to 
introduce so serious a change. First, it had the 
unanimous approval of committee of the two 
associations named. This seemed a very inade- 
quate reason, for those represented by tlie asso- 
ciations W'Oulel benefit by the change. Second, the 
profits on tea had been greatly reduced of late, 
but those present had only to take the dividends 
paid by the leading tea companies to see that this 
was greatly exaggerated. He had looked up the 
matter and found tliat the four leading companies 
interested paid dividends averaging from 15 
percent to 12^ per cent, and those were profits 
that could hardly be complained of. Personally, 
he (the Choirmanl had given the subject very 
great attention, and in his juiigment the i>ro- 
possd abolition of the one pound fliaft was most 
unfair aud unreasonablfi, &vA fur. liei , the assigned 
reasons were wholly inadequate. He then called 
upon Mr. Thomas Lough, M.P., to propose the 
first resolution, viz : " That this meeting expresses 
its great surprise and regret at the ill-considered 
and drastic proposal emanating from tiie Ceylon 
and Indian Tea Associations to abolish the draft 
allowance on teas sold under sale conditions in 
London, whicli would inflict a very serious loss 
upon the tea trade in this country ; and this re- 
presentative gathering of the entire wholesale 
and retail tea trades protests against this one- 
sided and unreasonable change in the sale con- 
ditions." 
Mr. Lough, in proposing this, complained 
strongly of the secrecy of the proceedings to which 
they had been subject, saying that he had heard 
nothing, of the proposal till a fortnight since, 
although he heard now that as long ago as last 
March circulars had been sent out to India and Cey- 
lon and distributed among all the tea-growers 
and their consent obtained to the proposal. He 
said there was only one party who would benefit 
by this proposed change, and that was the sellers. 
Another thinp lie had to complain of was that they 
had to pay 40 per cent, of the price of tea 
before they got the order of delivery. He said 
that those in the tea trade had a number of 
grievances that they did not complain of, but 
which would never be tolerated in any other 
trade, and that this pound draft, whicii was now 
their sole refuge, was not a concession because 
in tlie majority of cases it barely covered the 
losses arising from leakage, samples, &c. When, 
therefore, this was abolished it would leave the 
trade exposed to the full misery of the situation, 
and the real reason was the private profit of 
those represented by the association. The as- 
sociations had in their circular stated what a large 
number of pound packages they had given away 
through this one pound draft, but this amount 
was only 1 per cent, on the whole sale of tea in 
this country. He trusted that they would un- 
animously accept the resolution, and that, with 
the consent of buyers and sellers, no change would 
be made. 
Mr. Hudson Kearley, M.P., seconded 
the resolution. He also said that it was a matter 
of history repeating itself, for in 1870 when 
Chinese tea had the monopoly, a similar proposal 
had been made and had been rejected unanimously, 
as he was confident this one would be. Such an al- 
teration would seriously disturb the tea trade, and 
he thought that the fact of its being an old estab- 
lished custom ought to be suffieient to prevent 
the abolition of this one pound draft. He begged 
to make a single suggestion, and that was that if 
there was not already an organisation strong enough 
to represent the interests of the tea trade that they 
should form one out of that meeting and figlit the 
importers' association. 
Sir William Pink, Mr. J Lecky, Mr. Heath 
Clarke, and Mr. J J Meakins, amongst others 
supported the resolution, and reiterated the opinions 
expressed by the previous speakers. The resolution 
was then formally put to the meeting and carried 
unanimously. Various gentlemen representing large 
firms in the provinces then warmly opposed the pro- 
posed abolition, giving as their experience that the 
one pound draft in the majority of cases barely co- 
vered tlie losses arising from leakage, samples, &c., 
and in some cases actually it did not cover them. 
The Chairman then said that he had received 
a large numter of letters and telegrams from firms 
in most of the large towns. Tlie names of rlie 
towns and firms were then read. The Ciiainnan 
called ui)on Mr. J. Innes Roger to propose the 
second resolution, viz. : — " That representatives of 
the following firms be appointed a General Com- 
mittee, with power to add to their number, and to 
form an Executive Committee to deal, in conjunc- 
tion with the Committee of the Wholesale Tea 
Dealers' Association, with any questions that may 
arise from time to time in connection with the sub- 
ject now before this meeting." Budgett, Samuel, 
& Co., Limited ; Burbidge, Pritcliard, and Bart- 
lett ; Brooke, Bond, & Co., Limited ; Co-opera- 
tive Wholesale. Limited ; Edwards & Sons ; Han- 
son, S. Son and Barter ; Harrisons and Crosfield ; 
Home and Colonial Stores, Limited ; Kearley and 
Tonge, Limited ; Lipton, Limited : Lloyd, David, 
Pigott & Co.; Mazawatte Tea Co., Limited ; 
Payne, Geo., & Co., Limited ; Rowley and Davies 
Shiittleworth, W. S. & Co. ; Tetley, Jos., & Co.' 
Travers, Jos. and Son, Limited ; Tower Tea Co. 
This was seconded by Mr. T. Smith, for- 
mally put to the meeting, and carried unani- 
mously. After further shoot addresses from ge:;- 
tlemen present, all to the same purpose, the meet- 
ing concluded with a vote of thanks to the chair- 
man. — H and C Mail, June 9. 

THE PROPOSED ABOLITION OF THE 
DRAFT POUND. 
To the Editor of the Home and Colonial Mail. 
Sir,— As a regular reader of your valuable 
paper, I have noticed a letter in your issue of 
the 2nd inst., signed "A Tea Dealer," in which 
he argues that it would be more productive to 
squeeze a little off the Calcutta and London 
agents than to abolish the draft pound. In sup- 
