Dec 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
399 
REFORM IN THE TEA TRADE. 
(Produce, Markets' Beview, October 31.) 
DOCK CHAKGKS. 
Some time back we printed a short couipari- 
son of the charges made by the London Docks 
and Wharves upon Tea, especially upon Indian 
Tea as compared with Indian Coffee. We now 
append a fuller table of the charges on each, 
calculated so far as possible upon the same basis, 
and it will be seen that a ton of Tea costs £4 Os 2d, 
and the same weight of Coffee costs only 17s 2d, 
or less than a quarter of the charge on Tea. 
DOCK AND WHARF CHARGES ON INDIAN TEA 
IN LONDON. 
Charges on one ton of Indian 
and sold at public sale, taking 20 
ton : — 
Landing and Housing Bate, Is 6d 
per chest 
Public Sale charges, iA per chest 
Bulking and Taring each chest, 2s 
per chest 
Thirteen weeks' Rent, hd per chest 
of grocery produce, and it will be seen from this 
how enormous is the surchaige upon Tea: — 
CONSOLIDATKD BATES PER TON ON VARIOUS 
GOODo COMPARED. 
Less 10 per cent 
Weight Notes 
Warrant Stamps 
tea landed 
chests to a 
£ s. d. 
1 10 0 
0 6 8 
2 0 0 
0 10 10 
4 7 6 
0 8 9 
3 18 9 
0 0 8 
0 0 9 
M 0 2 
Note.— The Landing and Housing Rate com- 
prises : Landing, wharfage, housing, separating 
into chops, weighing, average taring, furnishing 
lading weights, examining and turning out and 
in for damage, mending, laying down for private 
inspection, lotting, nailing tio>vn, placing in deli- 
very pile, and delivery by land. 
DOCK AND WHARF CHARGES ON COFFEE 
IN LONDON. 
Charges on one ton (16 bags) Indian cofTee, 
for the same period as tea, sold at public sale. 
There are no charges for arranging coffee for 
public sale. 
a. d, 
Consolidated Rate, including bulking 
and sampling, 8J per cwt .. 14 2 
Sorting and Lotting, Ijd per bag . . 18 
* Seven weeks' Rent, Oil per ton . . 3 6 
Less 12J- per cent 
Warrant Stamp 
19 4 
2 5 
16 11 
0 3 
17 2 
If there is no bulking done the eonsolidated 
rate is 6d per cwt. 
The Consolidated Rate includes : landing, 
•wharfage, weighing, gross, mending, boesing, or 
piling, accounts of landing weights, .original 
warrants, six weeks' rent free ; weighing on 
delivery, and delivery. 
Lest it should be thought that the comparison 
with Coffee is of an exceptional nature we have 
compiled the following table, showing what the 
charges are for the consolidated r.'j.teoiioUier articles 
Indian Tea (placed on 
about the same 
basis) 
56s 
Coffee 
. . 14s 2d 
Refined Sugar 
4a 6d 
Currants 
7s 6d 
Valeuciaa (J-boxes) . . 
123 
Tapioca 
8s 6d 
Rice 
. . 3s 9d 
Salmon (in tins) 
4s 
Sardines 
5s 6d 
It seems to ns impossible to account for the 
extraordinary difference in the charges upon Tea, 
except on the supposition that an antiquated 
system of business has lasted longer than in any 
other goods, owing to the absence of competition, 
and of modern methods of trading in Tea. Thirty 
years ago the wholesale price of Tea in bond, on 
the average, exceeded Is 9d per lb., while it is now 
less than 8d , and, probably, if we went back sixty 
years the difference would be still more striking. 
Yet, as compared with the charges of a generation 
ago, we believe the dock and wharf rates on Tea 
in London to be, if anything, higher than they 
were then. 
TEA BONDED WAREHOUSES. 
It is always said that competition is the life- 
blood of business, but if so, the Tea warehouses 
are in a bad way, for there is no competition 
whatever between them. A good many years 
back the sy?tem of secret discounts to importers 
was introduced, which was responsible to a very 
great extent for the cutting down of the wages, 
which led to the great Dock Strike of ten years 
ago. The system of discounts is in itself a most 
objectionable one, for there can le no object in 
sending a bill foi £100 and on a subsequent 
occasion returning £h> or £25 out of it, unles.s 
it be that the original invoice is intended to 
be forwarded to some one who is not to receive 
the discount. After the Dock Strike, the dis- 
honest nature of the system became so apparent, 
that the Dock Companies felt themselves obliged 
to publish their discounts in their rate books, 
so that the Tea growers, when they sent Tea to 
this market, could have an opportunity of seeing 
that only the proper prices were charged to them. 
The publication of the discount, however, was 
with the condition that it should not be given 
away, so that beyond the Tea planters knowing 
that they are charged 10 per cent more than 
their agents really pay, there is no gain to them 
in the publication, as is the case with similar 
pickings in freights and insurance charges. 
TEA CLEARING HOUSE. 
In order to bring about greater fixity in the 
charges on Tea a sort of Trade Union was for- 
med, at the time we speak of, between the im- 
porters, the warehouse-keepers and the wholesale 
trade. By this arrangement a Clearing House Was 
established, which somewhat facilitated the daily 
work of getting Tea through the Customs, and the 
members agreed, first, that they would only buy 
Teas lying at specified warehouses, and secondly, 
the warehouse-keepers agreed that they would 
only charge certain rates, allowing a discount, first 
off the importers' charges, and secondly, off the 
dealers' charges, in both cases on the conditions 
that these discounts should not be given away. 
The Board of Customs was also brought upon the 
