Sept. 1, 1899.] TttE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
18^ 
pleasant relations between both parties are es- 
sential for the smooth and profitable conduct of 
the industry— (hear, hear)— and 1 venture to think 
your joint Committee— as you will hear when the 
report is submitted to you— has done all it could 
do to promote good feeling and harmony. Both 
sides must recognise that it is a qnesrion that 
appeals to the pockets of both, and that, there- 
fore, it is necessarily a disputable question, and 
one' that will be fought out. But there is no 
rea-son why it should not be fought in a pleasant 
spirit. The retailer must recognise the position 
into which the industry has drifted. We wish 
the retailer a prosperous time. But there is 
nothing to be gained by threats to boycott tea 
sales and to cease dealing with those who 
produce what the retailer must have. (Applause.) 
Has there ever been in the history of the tea 
industry such unanimity as has been displayed 
on this occasion ? I venture to say, never. (Hear, 
hear.) There have been in the past many ques- 
tions that have moved the trade deeply, and to 
deal with which special committees have been 
appointed. But on no subject has there ever been 
such an approximation to absolute unanimity as 
on this particular question. Now, I think that 
must impress the retailers and the public at 
large. (Hear, hear.) Nothing, I venture to say, 
but dire necessity, the compelling neces.sity of the 
res angusta, could have possibly driven the pro- 
ducers of tea into line like this. I think that the 
amount of Indian and Ceylon tea imported into 
London last year was about 227,000,0001b., and 
those responsible for 215,OUO,000 lb. of that total 
have already signified their assent to the present 
movement, and fresh assents are still coming in. 
So that practically the Indian and Ceylon tea- 
growing industry is unanimous. Then we have to 
see what the other side have got to say. Their 
argument seems to be, " We have always received 
tliFs little tip for buying your teas, and there- 
fore it must remain a factor in all our dealings." 
Time will show which side to prevail. I have 
now only to thank you for the kindness with 
which you have listened to tiiese few remarks of 
mine, and to ask you to listen carefully to 
those who will follow, and then to signify your 
opinion as to the course that should be pursued. 
(Applause.) 
MR RUTHERFORD'S VIEAVS. 
Mr. H. K. KUTHERFORD :— As chairman of the 
joint committee ot the Indian and Ceylon As- 
sociations appointed to consider this matter it 
falls to me to present to you the committee's 
report, which is already in your Hands, and to 
announce to you the recommendation of that 
committee. But I daresay, there are some few 
here who will ask, " What is the use of such a 
meeting seeing that you have all signified your 
assent to the proposal ?" Well, in its delibera- 
tions the committee realized that the more this 
question was studied the greater appeared the 
injustice to the importer (hear, hear) ; and we 
also wish the importers who are present today 
to thoroughly understand the matter. We want 
as much light thrown upon the subject as possible, 
not only on behalf of yourselves, gentlemen, 
but of the dealers, the Government and the 
public. (Hear, hear.) All of these parties are 
concerned and interested in the weighment of tea. 
This question of the abolition of the draft cannot 
be taken apart from the system of weighing-out 
tea. We must insist upon that, (Applause.) At 
tUe mass meeting oi dealers und retailers held ya 
JuneTtii reference to the system of weighment of 
tea by the Customs was studiously avoided. Now, 
we held that the two questions are inseparably 
connected. (Hear, hear.) It is well that we should 
all know something about the history of weighing- 
out tea by the Customs. In October, 1885, a joint 
signed written agreement was entered into by the 
Indian Tea Association of London and the Whole- 
sale Dealeis' Association — there was no Ceylon 
Association in those days — that all teas should be 
weighed net. That, gentlemen, I take it, was 
an honest attempt to get at an accurate and true 
system of weighing-out teas. That agreement was 
in force for 3j years or so, and then the Whole- 
sale Dealers gave notice that the trade would ia 
futuie, from June, 1889, refuse to buy any more 
teas weighed on that system. A joint Committee 
of the Indian and Ceylon Associations and the 
Wholesale Dealers' Association was then appointed 
to consider the subject and if possible to come to 
some mutual understanding. While that Com- 
mittee was at work the Wholesale Dealers' Associa- 
tion approached the trade, and then intimated to 
the Indian and Ceylon Associations that it was 
useless further discussing the subject as the trade 
had come to a unanimous conclusion that they 
would absolutely refuse to buy any teas that were 
weighed net, and that all tea must in future be 
weighed gross and tare — a system that on an 
average gives them 1 lb, more in every package 
than they pay for, in addition the 1 lb. allowed 
for draft. You will see by this that it was the 
Wholesale Dealers who broke away from the joint) 
signed agreement, and the system which they 
tinis arbitrarily brought into force continues at the 
present time. In October, 1890, Her Majesty's 
Customs, finding they were losing by this system a 
certain amount of duty, ordered that in future all 
teas must be weighed and charged for duty to the 
half pound. (Hear, hear.) That was the second 
attempt to get at a just system of weighing, and 
it had thesupijort of the Indian and Ceylon Asso- 
ciations. But the trade resolutely opposed the pr«- 
posal of the Government, and the Governmeut were 
weak enough — I suppose in view of a general elec- 
tion being near at hand (laughter) — to withdraw 
or to suspend the operation of their own order, 
and it has been suspended since that time. Well, 
you will see from these facts that it has been 
impossible to get the dealers to accede to any 
reasonable proposals for the pioper weighment of 
our tea. (Hear, hear). That brings us up to the 
origin of the present movement. From time to 
time the Indian and Ceylon Asssociations have 
been approached by the various representative 
bodies in India and Ceylon, and also by individual 
growers and importers in this country, asking i£ 
nothing could be done to mitigate the great Tos3 
in weight the teas suffered when put up for sale 
in London. Well, after the attempts made by 
the Associations to get something done they did nojj 
see what further they could do in the matter. 
However, owing I presume to the lessened profits 
from tea cultivation, owing to the various causes 
of exchange and low prices, the planters recently 
approached the Asssociations more strenuously 
than ever, and their demands became more ac- 
centuated. In March last, the two Associations 
conferred together to see what was best to be 
done in the circumstances, and they came to the 
conclusion that it would be hopeless without the 
good offices of the Government to try again to geb 
anything done to bring about the proper weighing 
of the teas. And they came to the conclusit n 
that to uieeti the case they must approaclj the 
