268 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. I, 1899. 
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE DRAFT 
DISPUTE. 
The foHowing petition lias been addiesseil to 
the Board of H. M. Customs by the tiecretarits 
of the Indian Tea Association (London), tlie 
Ceylon Association in London, and the Tea 
Buyers' Association : — 
Ceylon Association in London, 61 and 62, Grace- 
church Street, August 4, 1899. 
To the Hon. Board o£ Her Majesty's Board of 
Customs : — 
Gentlemen, — We, the undersigned, representhjg the 
importers of Indian and Ceylon tea, and also the tea 
buyers of the City of London, iiak your kind and 
favourable consideration of the following petition : - 
You are doubtless aware of a dispute between im- 
porters and buyers of tea at present unhappily exist- 
ing the Port of London. 
The importers having given notice of the with- 
drawal of the usual pound draft, and the 
trade having refused to buy their tea without 
the allowance, representatives from both sides 
have met and have arrived at a settlement, 
which, if it be accepted by your honourable 
board will terminate the dispute. 
The settlement agreed upon consists in a modifi- 
cation of the system of weighment of tares. 
We do not petition for any alteration in Her 
Majesty's Customs present method of gross-weigh- 
ing packages of tea on arrival, but we do peti- 
tion for an alteration in the method of taring pack- 
ages with the exception of boxes weighing 28 lb gross 
or under. 
We petition your honourable board to take the 
tare with a half-pound weight in the scale, giving 
buyer the tare as heretofore, on the half- 
pound or any fraction between that and the 
pound above, and per contra, if the scale 
does not lift ou the weight side, showing that there are 
only, say, from one to seven and three-quarter ounces 
over the pound, we petition your board to take the tare 
at the lower pound weight. 
Thus :— 
26 lb. and up to 26 lb. 7| oz. to be called tare 26 lb. 
26 lb, 8 oz. and up to 27 lb, to bo called tare 27 lb. 
Under your honourable board's orders, parcels of tea 
are allowed to be tared on an average tare if the parcel 
does not vary more than 2 lb. in weight. 
In order that these average tares may be arrived at 
with greater precision, we petition that your honourable 
board will order the number of packages to betaken for 
ascertaining the average tare in various parcels to be 
raised, and that the packages be selected fairly by 
your officer and not by tbe warehouse foreman. 
Present arrangements : — 
J'rom I to 10 packages . . . . 1 tarer 
From 11 to 40 packages . . . . 3 tarers 
From 41 to 120 packages . . . . 5 tarers 
From 121 packages up .. ..7 tarers 
We propose the following alterations : — 
Up to 20 packages . . . . 3 tarers 
From 21 to 60 packages . . . . 5 tarers 
From 61 to 120 packages . . . . 7 tarers 
From 121 packages up . . . . 9 tarers 
To arrive at the average tare we suggest the fol- 
lowing method of dealing with the fractions of a 
pound, viz. : — 
lb IL 
22 23 
23 23 
24 117 divided by 24 118 divided by 
24 5 equals 24 5 equals 
24 23 2-5. 24 23 3-5. 
— Tare 23. — Tare 24. 
117 118 
We also petition that your honourable board will 
order each package in every parcel of tea bulked 
in London to be tared separately, and that 
you will instruct your officers to see that 
the entire bulk of tea, as landed including 
overweight, is replaced in the packages. 
The reason we accept boxes of 28 lb. gross and 
under is that there is no trade draft on them, and 
it ia likely that they would be made habitually to 
ti,re below the half-pound, and the buyer would in 
H ich case not get full weight. 
If, on consideration, your hon. board can see their 
way to accede to our petition we shall be glad if you 
will issue au order to that efiFects, as dated from 
October 2, 1H99. 
Awaiting the reply of your hoa. board, We re- 
main, gentlemen, yours faithfully, 
Indian Tea Association (London). 
(Signed) Ernest Tye, Secretary. 
Ceylon, Association in London, 
(Signed) Wm. Martin Leake, Secretary. 
Tea Buyers Association, (Signed) A. Jackson, 
Hon. Secretary. 
The following reply has been received by tlie 
Secretaries of the Associations : 
Custom House, London, August 14. 
Gentlemen, — The Commissiouers of Customs direct 
me to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 4th 
instant, and to express their hearty satisfaction at the 
prospect you hold out of a termination of the dis- 
pute between the importers and buyers of tea in 
London through the adoption of special arrangmenta 
for taring on the part of this department. 
1. The proposal to tare to the half-pound (instead of 
the pound as heretofore), rounding up if the fraction 
be an exact half pound or over, and round- 
ing down if the fraciion be less than half a pound, 
will be gladly accepted by the Board of customs, 
subject to the concurrence of the Treasury. 
2. As regards the method of striking the 
average tare, the Board see no objection to your pro- 
posal that a larger proportion of packages be selected 
tor taring, viz : 
3 out of 20 or less. 
5 out of from 21 to 60. 
7 out of from 61 to 120. 
9 out of 121 or more. 
The method of calculating the average aeems to be 
practically that now in force. 
The selection of the packages will rest on the respon- 
sibility of Customs officers, as at present. 
3. Your request that each package in every parcel ot 
tea bulked in London should be tared separately, in- 
stead of leaving separate taring to be optional, as pre- 
scribed by general order 102/1894, does not seem to 
command the support of all the importers, as you will 
see from the enclosed copy of a letter, dated the 
9th inst., from Messrs. liadden and Co., and the 
Board suggest that you should give it further consider- 
ation before pressing it. 
4. Your concluding proposal is that the officers of 
this department should insist on the entire bulk of 
tea as landed, including overweight, being replaced in 
the packages, instead of allowing the use of " over- 
takers," as at present. The Board regret to say that 
they would not be justified in imposing on their offi- 
cers so heavy and novel a responsibility as would be 
involved in the suggested arrangement. Customs offi- 
cers are answerable for the security of the revenue 
derivable from goods in a bonded warehouse, but 
not for the custody of the goods themselves, and 
could not keep guard over every package of tea, after 
taring, until it had been nailed down. 
If importers and buyers are agreed upon a certain 
way of treating overweight, after bulking, the/ should 
adopt their own precautions for ensuring that this 
method is duly carried out. — I am, gentlemen, your 
obedient servant, 
(Signed) Johm Coubboux. 
The Indian, Ceylon, and Tea Buyers' Associations 
in London, 61 and 62, Gracechurch Street, E.G. 
The letter from Messrs. Hadden & Co., referred 
to in the foregoing reply, is as follows : — 
25, Fenchurch Street, London, E.G. Aug. 9, 1899. 
The Hon. the Commissioners of Her Majesty's 
Board of Customs. 
Hoa. Sirs,— General Order, 102/1894. 
