THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUELST. [Nov. 1, 1889. 
S|4 
LONDON CHARGES OF TEA COM- 
PANIES. 
Under this head the "Investors' Keview " is 
pnolishing a series of articles. We give the 
first of these, taken from the issue of Sep- 
tember 16 : — 
There is little doubt that the tea-grower is feeling 
the pinch of hard times rather severely. Under 
ordinary circumstances such a development as the 
rise in the Indian exchange from Is 0|d to Is 4d 
per rupee, with its concurrent advance in the cost 
of production in India and Ceylon, would have been 
accompanied by some improvement in the Euro- 
pean price for tea that would have served as a mild 
offset to the increased expenditure of the planter. 
The mania, however, for extensions some years back 
has quite put this natural remedy out of the ques- 
tion, for the knowledge of the enormous area of tea 
plants coming to Maturity, combined with the larger 
quantity of tea sent to market, has the effect of 
preventing any recovery. Consequently the average 
price of 8|d. per lb. for last season was no higher 
than the average price obtained when the rupee waa 
at its lowest, although last season was favoured 
by a little "boom" in the spring as a result of 
the accidental circumstance that for two seasons 
in succession the Indian crop as a whole had been 
poor in quantity Anyone acquainted with the 
real position of the industry feels that if only the 
average yield per acre returns to its normal figure, 
a further decline in the price of tea must be faced. 
This may be taken as an axiom, admitted but 
Dot talked about, by tea growers, and profits having 
been seriously eaten into already by the course of 
events, there has been a great searching to find 
economies that would in some respects guard pro- 
ducers against a further decline in price. Expres- 
sion of this quest was visible in the campaign 
against the " draft " which ended so disastrously to 
the producers, and, the wiseacres of that body 
having had their turn, some of the practical members 
amongst the tea-growing community are now beginn- 
ing to raise their voices. As things stand, where 
the chief evil is over-production, economies must 
be looked for rather from within than from 
, without, for the buyer knows he is in the 
stronger position, and he should therefore be 
cosseted and soothed rather than talked to 
with a club. But economies from within, in 
the shape of stopping leakages in profits, reduc- 
ing extravagant charges, and rendering un- 
necessary too much manipulation of the article 
produced, are just those reforms that lie open 
to every tea grower, and the closer he studies 
the minutise of his business the more he will fend 
off the reduction in his profits. Every decimal point 
per pound saved in cost of production and charges 
relating to tea is so much in his pocket, which he 
is more likely to save than if he attempted to put 
tip market prices against the buyer. 
Regarding the outlay on the estates, we cannot 
speak with knowledge, for that expenditure is of such 
a special character that experts alone can give an 
opinion worth having. As a matter of fact, however, 
we believe it is a'^mitted that as, generally speaking, 
this expenditure has been steadily reduced, if allowance 
be made for change having risen, salaries have been 
cut down, more economical forms of working have 
been adopted and in other ways prime cost of pro- 
duction has been lowered. Whilst this has been 
done of late years, there has been a growing dis- 
content with the burden of London charges, which 
range from a little over Id to Ifd per lb., and these 
charges upon an average price of 8|d for Indian tea 
and 8d for Ceylon tea appear to constitute an ex- 
cessive burden. They mean that the Indian planter 
has 7d per lb. left with which to pay all working 
charges close down to the arrival of the tea at Cal- 
cutta and evolve a profit for himself, which the Cey- 
lon producer has even less cf a margin. Before we 
go further, we ought to say that in many cases the 
burden of the London charges is rendered unneces- 
sarily heavy by the management at the estates. If 
the tea is not properly bulked before leaving the 
estate so that a break of chests of one grade diflfera 
materially in quality, " bulking " has to be conducted 
in the warehouses in London, and although this 
charge is said to be unreasonably high, the proce»a 
necessarily must be costly, for all the chests have to be 
opened, their contents spread out, and mixed one with 
the other, in order to produce a tea of equal quality 
through out the break. And the warehouse responsible for 
this work, if it does not do it properly, and it ifl 
often not done well, takes care than the samplea 
taken shall not be from the best part of tha tea, 
for in that case the buyer has a remedy against 
the warelioiise, and this bulking in London, there- 
fore, tends to hinder the tea-grower from getting 
quite full credit for the quality of the tea he sends. 
Then, again, tea loses iu value by being handled, 
and the weight suffers from the same cause. 
Another fruitful source of loss arises to the planter 
if he does not make the v.'eight of his tares equal, 
the bare weight, that is, of the packages iu which 
the tea is sent. If this precaution be neglected, 
the tea has to be " tared " in the warehouse, which 
means that the chests, or a certain proportion of them, 
are taken, the tea turned out, and the empty 
packages then weighed. The charge for doing this 
is also high, and, again, the loss in weight and 
damage to the tea ia considerable. A saving can 
also be effected by so packing the tea that it takes 
less space in the ship, and thus redncea the coat of 
freight. 
To give a concrete example of what attention to 
these details meanp, and also in elucidation of 
remarks to be yet offered about warehouse 
charges, we give the following examples of two ship- 
ments of tea by small Ceylon concerns, and the 
London charges upon them. The first example is one 
where the cost was low, amounting as it did to under 
96d per lb. The names of the estate and of the ship 
are quite fictitious, although every other detail is 
copied with strict accuracy 
EOTALB ESTATE CUOP, J 899, 
Report on Outturn of 113 Packages Tea ex Oceana. 
Averages : — d. 
10,5241b, sold, grossing £319 lis Id = T-QD per lb. 
gross. 
10,6401b. shipped, netting £280 9s 9d = 6-33 per lb. 
net. 
116 Loss in weight and charges = -96 per lb. 
Equal to 
per lb. 
on Shippng 
weight. 
Loss in Weight — 
Draft at lib. per package accounts 
for 1131b. and the actual shortage is 
therefore 31b. ... .. ... ^ d. 
Draft and actual shortage equal 
1'09 per cent on shipping weight ... "07 
Freight- 
Rate, 253 Meast. 565. Amount £14 
23. 6d. Equal to 941b per 50 cublic 
ft. on shipping weight ... ... 32 
Dock and scale charges- 
Amount, £15 7s Id. ... ... -Sa 
Brokerage 1 p.c, and commission 2 p.c. 
Amount, £9 lis 9d ... ... 22 
Remarks — 
All grades passed on an average tare. 
Total charges and loss in weight per lb. '96 
In the above example all grades were passed on an 
average " tare," so that the tea did not have to be 
handled before it was sold. The result was that, 
allowing the 1 lb. per, package for draft, the loss shown 
upon 10,524 lb. in the shipment was only 81b., a mere 
nothing. 
