184 
The TROtlCAL 
AGRICULTUKIST. 
[Sept. 1, 1899. 
dealers in order to have the draft allov ance on 
teas abolished. (Applause.) It was obvious, of 
course, that no great change such as this coulti be 
effected without the entire support of tlie importing 
community, and as you have seen by tlie circular 
that the Committee has issued that the support is 
practically unanimous. (Hear, hear). I may also 
add that the Planters' Association in Kandy have 
passed a resolution entirely approving of this move- 
ment, and last which we received a telegram from 
the Chamber of Commeree in Colombo, inform- 
ing us that they gave the movement their 
entire support. (Applause.) Well, gentlemen, 
such an overwhelming acquiescence in our proposal 
is a convincing proof, if any further proof were 
wanted, of the injustice of this 1 lb. draft allow- 
ance in addition to the allowance already made 
in the weighing-up of our teas. (Hear, hear). 
I need not tell you anything further about the 
movement as the account of it is set forth in the 
Committee's circular to you. That, tlierefore, brings 
the whole thing up to date. Witii your per- 
mission, however, I would like to make some re- 
marks as to the arguments of the dealers in op- 
posing this proposal. The reasons they give for 
their opposition to the abolition of the draft are 
two : one is that the draft allowance is an ancient 
custom ; the second is that the allowance is ne- 
cessary, in order to pay for the loss they sustain 
in leakage of packages, by bad bulking, and by the 
presence in the packages of nails and lead as well as 
the loss of weight incurred in tlie process of pack- 
ing the tea in small quantities for the retail 
market. We admit it is an ancient custom, 
coming as it does from an ancient people. In 
China tea is subjected to squeezes all through, 
and the last squeeze was made by Englisiinien — 
though what they took from the Chinaman in 
this last case they had to give back wlien the 
tea got here. (Hear, hear.) But in London the 
dealers have to deal, practically altogether, direct 
with the growers of Indian and Ceylon tea. At 
least 90 per cent of tea in London is in the 
hands of the producers, and I think we are made 
of sterner stuff than to submit to be squeezed 
as the Chinaman does. (Applause). In recent 
years India and Ceylon have developed markets 
for their teas in Australia, Canada, and other 
colonies in Amerca, and in Russia and other 
parts of the continent of Europe. In none of 
these countries are we subject to this 1 lb. draft. 
It seems a most extraordinary tiling that only 
in this free country of England are we counter- 
vailed to this extent. (Hear, hear.) We are on 
the same line as our brother planters in sugar ; 
we want to trade on right terms with all countries 
alike. (Hear, hear.) As to the re-weighment of 
tea in small quantities, we were all staggered 
the other day by the evidence given by some 
large tea-dealers, who said it was an ancient 
(not an honourable) and universal custom for tea 
to be sold short weight to the public. (Laughter 
and hear, hear.) Well, gentlemen, is it high 
time that this " ancient trade custom " was swept 
away. (Hear, hear ; and a voice : " But it isn't 
a custom.") We were told in the police court 
that it was a custom. Growers have always 
thought it a mystery how the dealers were able 
to sell so cheaply to the public. (Hear, hear.) 
But the recent proceedings have unmasked the 
mystery. (Hear, hear.) If any of you growers 
calculate the value of tea given away in draft, 
the value given away in extra weight by 
the Customs' system of weighing, and the 
loss the Government suffer in the amount of 
duty not paid on the extra weight, but which 
the retailer adds to the value of his tea when 
he sells it, and if you assume that only 50 per 
cent of the retailers sell short weight to the 
public, you will lind the value amounts to no 
less than £.380,000 per annum ! Whether the 
abolition of the draft is carried through or not, 
or whether it is equalised by an arrangement of 
price, still i think that all this indefensible 
system of carrying on the tea trade of the country 
ought to be done away with, and tlie trade put 
on a more euquitable footing all round. (Ap- 
plause.) The other ai gniiietit is I hat the draft 
goes to cover defects and the presence of foreign 
substances in tlie packages. That is the weakest 
argument of all, because the incidence of the 
penalty falls on the importer whose woi k is in 
good order, more heavily than on the man whose 
work is defective. (Hear, hear.) If the 1 lb. 
draft were removed the importer who does his 
work badly could be made to suffer ; while it 
remains the same detects will remain. This 
draft allowance is a premium on bad work, and 
a penalty on those who do their work well. 
(Hear, hear.) I theretore propose for your con- 
sideration the recommendation of the Committee, 
vdiicli is: — "That it is the unanimous recom- 
mendation of the joint Committee of the Indian 
and Ceylon Associations appointed to deal with the 
question of the 1 lb. draft abolition on tea, that 
notice be immediately uiven to the Tea Brokers' 
and Wholesale Dealer.?' Association that on and 
after the 17th inst., all teas shall be sold on the 
condition that the 1 lb. draft allowance shall 
not be made to the buyers." (Loud applause.) 
I trust, gentlemen, this recommendation will 
meet with your entire and unanimous approval 
and support, and that we will be able to show 
the trade that the great tea-planting interest of 
Indian and Ceylon have at length awakened to 
the fact that they must have a voice, that they 
insist on having a voice, in determining how 
their produce shall be ofl'ered for sale. (Loud 
applause.) 
THIC FIRST KKSOLUTIOK. 
Mr. C W W^VLLACE (Messrs. R G Shaw & Co.) 
moved the following resolution :—" That this 
meeting adopts the unanimous reeonmiendation 
of the Committee, that on and after the 17th 
inst. all teas shall be sohl on the condition that 
the lib draft allowance shall not be made to the 
buyers.'' (Applause.) The speaker said he agreed 
with the Chairman when he alluded recently to 
the applicability of the phrase of Rudyard Kipling 
about " The men who bear the white man's bur- 
den in a foreign land " to the tea-growers in 
Assam and Ceylon. I hope to steer clear (the 
speaker proceeded) of anything that sounds either 
bellicose or hostile to any section of the trade 
in London. For, sir, I hold that it is necessary 
for every section of every comn:unity to treat 
every other section with forbearance' and good 
will. But there luill arise occasions in every com- 
munity when from some reason or other it is 
found that one section is appropriating too many 
of the loaves and fishes which belong to the 
whole. (Hear, hear.) This may arise in various 
way.s- some fair, some unfair. Those of which 
I speak today are perfectly fair, but they are 
none the less hard. In most cases this sort of 
thing comes about owing to the survival of an 
"ancient custom," or because changes necessary 
to the evolution of society have at last made a 
former practice intolerable. A statement which 
has been made is that we lose lib in the weighiug. 
