400 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTUKIST. [Dec. 1, 1899. 
scene, and lias since practically refused to fully 
license new londed Tea w.trehouses, so that as a 
matter of fact, it is practically impossible at the 
present n)onient to obtain a new bond for the 
warelioDsimi- of lea in London, 
Tlie result has been unsatisfactory — though at 
the time well intended, because the obji'ct was to 
protect the niininuini wap;es of the dock labourers. 
The combination has now clearly become injurious 
owing to the changed circumstances of the case. 
The distributor can no longer afford the enor- 
mous charges made, and the whole trade, 
whether importers or wholesale or retail dis- 
tributors, recognise that the cost of distributing 
Tea is enormously out of proportion to that of 
distributing any other article of grocery produce. 
After carefully considering this question, we can 
only arrive at the conclusion that this state of 
things is due simply to tradition, and that sim- 
plification and much greater cheapness are pos- 
sible in dealing with Tea. 
CUSTOMS KESTKICTIONS AND SUPPORT OF THK 
COMBINE. 
The fiist step towards modernising the Tea 
trade is to obtain greater elasticity in the Cus- 
toms regulations. In the first place, what reason 
exists for insisting that the duty on Tea shall only 
be payable at bonded wa.rehouses ? It is obvious 
that this at once limits the trade to those happy 
warehouse-keepers who were the parties to the 
Tea-clearing warehouse fcherne. So far as we 
can judge, there is no reason whatever why the 
Customs should not gladly welcome the payment 
of duty on Tea over the sliijj's side, as is (we are 
told, but we do not know) the practice with other 
goods. A covering amount should be paid as the 
cargo was put over into lighters, and an officer 
should then attend at the destination of the Tea 
(at the cost of the owner, of course) and collect 
the balance, if any be due or return it if the 
duty be overpaid. To the commercial mind it 
appears that this would be an obvious gain to 
the Revenue ; but the authorities, on the other 
hand, appear hitherto to have thought it more 
advantageous to insist on Tea being warehoused 
— to take charge of it in detail, and to look after 
each particular chest for months and years at a 
time. It is quite clear that until our present res- 
tricted Tea warehouse system is broken through, 
our Indian and Ceylon planters will not have a fair 
chance in this matter of charges. They should 
at once bring pressure publicly to bear on the 
Customs, to insist on sufficient new bonds being 
granted to ensure free competition in Tea ware- 
housing—at present a highly profitable monopoly. 
The Investors' Eeview has lately shown in a 
series of articles how largely the planters' agents 
in this country are interested as owners or share- 
holders in Tea warehouses, and therefore in the 
maintenance of the present system. Tlie matter 
will thus be a difficult one to fight, more especially 
88 the wholesale Tea trade have also become 
interested, through the discount system, in the 
maintenance of the existing plan. We think, 
liowever, they are open to reason on the matter, 
for their gaia from this source is absolutely trivial 
when compared with the ci.mplications and high 
cost of tlie system of selling Tea, which are 
,^^iiaering the wholesale Tea trade so difficult. 
WEtGHT NOTliS AND WAPvRANTS. 
'' Apart from warehouse charges in themselves, 
there are many details in the working of the trade 
■vvhich are ijuite of an exceptional and unnecessary 
character! There has been no change in the 
number of packages entered upon a warrant since 
the time that Tea was three times its 
piesent price, and this seems sirnply absuid. 
The old system was to have six chests upon a 
wairant, and th.e present proportionate document, 
therefore, should have jtlaced on it eighteen chests 
or thirty-six half-chests, as representing the for- 
mer value of a much smaller number of packages. 
The warrant in Tea is still accompanied by a 
weight note, a system which has been given up 
in every important branch of the grocery trade, 
though it is .still kept up in some minor commo- 
dities such as spices. The issuing of a weight 
note, of course, means that ttie work in connec- 
tion with Tea is done twice over, for which 
there can never have been any reason that we 
can see, but which is, at any rate, a simple 
waste of time and of money at the present mo- 
ment. We are aware that the wei.L;ht note in its 
present form is considered to be necessary as a 
security for the deposit paid on the purchase of 
Tea. We are not, however, aware that any par- 
ticular sanctity is attached to tl e deposit system 
ill itself, as it also has been abandoned in the 
lar^e grocery trades. Supposiiit" it, however, to be 
continued, security might readily be given by a 
coupon attached to the warrant. The weight notes 
are not only unnecessary in themselves, but they 
embody an immense number of equally futile de- 
tails. For instance, they give full import parti- 
culars in excessive detail, either in writing or 
printing', which also appear on the warrants. In 
addition to this, the weight note is supposed to 
bear three separate signatures, and often does so, 
and it tlienforms a sejiarate contract for the sale and 
purchase of each six chests, being signed by all the 
parties. In addition to this, each weight note works 
out, in detail, for every six chests of Tea, the 
weight and price at so much per pound. From 
this result the deposit is deducted separately, and 
the lot money, 4d, is then separately added to the 
total. The weight notes give the particulars of 
the country of origin of the Tea, the name of the 
importer, the date of importation, the variety of 
Tea, the name of the ship, the name of the cap- 
tain, the port of origin, the name of the selling 
broker, the date of sale, to whom the warrant is 
issued, the date of the prompt and of the com-nence- 
ment of rent. Several of these particulars are 
repeated twice over upon this valuable document 
— the weight note— though they all appear on the 
warrant also. What could be more childish and 
absurd than all this? There is no doubt that a 
very considerable economy in money may be 
efiected by enlarging the number of packages on 
the wairant and by abolishing the weight note 
altogether. This is a simplification which forms, 
in our opinion, the initial step towards the 
cheapening of the distribution of Tea. To those 
accustomed to modern systems of trading, the 
weight note appears simply a farcical, though 
unfortunately a costly, absurdity. If the Coffee 
trade can be conducted with the utmost ease 
without such documents, why cannot the same 
be done with Tea ? 
DELIVERY ORDERS FOR CLEARING. 
Further great simplilication might be caused 
by using delivery orders for clearing and deli- 
vering tea, as is done in other trades. There 
is, however, a considerable practical difficulty 
in this matter in the case of tea. Many years 
ago Mr. Gladstone, as Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer, in one of his great Budgets freeing 
trade from Customs imports, unfortunately made 
a detailed change which was worked a great 
