134 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1890. 
the packets ia dispute and would assert that iy 
contained not less than 40 per cent of Ceylon. A 
a matter of fact the whole of the tea was Oeylon 
sometimes ; the proportion depended altogether upon 
the state of the market, The firm did not only study 
prices in baying tea : their object was always to give 
good value in the packets, and to accomplish this 
they always made careful comparisons of the real 
values of the tea they purchased for blending. 
Of course it was the natural tendency for the 
percentage of Oeylon tea to run down if the price 
rose. 
Mr. Gbay : — Now, supposing that there is 40 per 
cent of Oeylon in the packets: do you think that the 
label, as it is arranged, is a correct description of the 
contents ? 
Witness Certainly. 
Mr. Gray Do you suggest that a person buying 
a packet like the one before the magistrate, after seeing 
the label, gets what he expects ? 
Witness : — I decline to suggest anything to the 
magistrate. 
Mr- Gray : — I am asking for your opinion. If you 
asked in a shop for cofiee. 
Witness (interrupting) : — We don’t deal in coffee. 
Mr. Gray: — I am not supposing that you do. But if you 
privately purchased what you believed to be coffee, and 
found that only 40 per cent was coffee, the remainder 
being chicory, would you be satisfied with your 
purchase ? .... 
Witness I have told you that I know nothing about 
coffee ; I cannot say. . , , , 
Asked what dale the tea in question left de- 
fendant’s warehouse. Witness could not say pre- 
cisely but it would be after May 1st, because 
the tea duty was reduced from that date and a small 
label was attached to the packet produced notifying 
that the price was reduced in consequence. As to the 
brand “ Blaekmoor Vale Estate,” that was simply a 
fancy name. He refused to say whether the words 
printed on the label did not imply that the tea 
was actually grown on an estate called “ Black- 
moor Vale.” , , T 
Pressed by Mr. Gray to say what the words were in- 
tended to imply when they put on the packet. Witness 
asserted, with some warmth, that they were intended 
to imply nothing at all. He repeated that “ Black- 
moor Vale Estate” was purely a fancy name. Asked if 
he thought that the ordinary purchoset would consider 
it to be so, he answered in the affirmative. 
Mr. Gray: — T hen you think that the old lady 
who goes into the shop for a packet of tea 
would suppose that the name of an estate printed 
on the package had no connection with its con- 
Witness : — My experience of old ladies has been 
that they think more about the interior than the 
exterior (Laughter.) The tea was sold on its merits, 
and those who bought it did so because it had a 
reputation. 
Mr. Gray said it seemed to him that as the pro- 
portions of the ingredients were constantly varying, 
the reputation could not always be the same. 
Witness replied thatthevalueofthe blend never varied 
although the proportion of Oeylon did. It was putting 
the case rather unpleasantly to suggest that when the 
label was made defendants intended to use China tea 
if it would pay them to do so. They intended to use it 
if it improved sufficiently to justify them in making 
the change. Witness would admit that no Ohina had 
ever been used, aUhough the label with China” 
upon it had been in use for three years. lie did not 
know when “ Ceylindo ” tea had been first blended. 
The certificate of registration would show, but it had not 
been brought to the court. Pressed as to whether it was 
not the fact that ihe “Ceyiindo” brand was adopted in 
consequence of a warning letter from the Ceylon As- 
sociation, witness denied any knowledge of such a let- 
ter. He did not know even of the Association’s exis- 
tenco at that time. 
Mr. Gray proposed to read a copy of Mr. Leake’s 
ettcr to defendants, but Mr. Asqiiitb objected. 
Continuing’, Witness said that the “ Ceylindo’ 
blend had been used for about 18 months. It was 
composed of Indian and Ceylon teas only. He was not 
prepared to admit that “Ceylindo” and “Biackmoor 
Vale” were practically the same tea. The latter was 
not, by a great deal, the most largely-sold blend ; in 
fact “Ceylindo” had completely eclipsed all other 
brands sold by defendants. The “ Ceylindo” label did 
not give any prominence to the word “ Ceylon the 
brand having been introduced because the trade at that 
time were becoming rather doubtful of Ceylon tea. He 
admitted that the firm had a great many retail shops of 
their own. The shops of the “ International Tea Com- 
pany” belonged to them, and they also owned the shops 
carried on under the name of “Hull & King.” The 
name was as well-known as St. Paul’s Churchyard. 
(Laughter.) 
Mr. Gray: — Y ou have half-a-dozen shops under 
that name, I believe ? 
Witness : — You are only about sixteen short. (Laugh- 
ter.) 
Mr. Gray: — Now, to go to another point, you say 
on your “ Blaekmoor Vale Estate” label, “ Imported 
by Kearley & Tonge.” Is that correct 1’ 
Witness: — No; we do not actually import the 
tea. But it is a very usual thing in the trade, and 
in all trades, to use that expression. 
Pressed by counsel as to what meaning the words 
were intended to convey when they were put on the 
label, witness said that they were intended to convey 
no meaning at all. He certainly could not justify 
their use under the circumstances. The label so 
printed three years ago was still in use. 
Counsel here produced a large show-bill, bearing 
a brightly coloured picture representing a tea estate, 
surmounted by the words “Blat-kmoor Vale Estate.” 
Witness did not think the show-bill implied that the 
picture was a representation of the estate where 
“ Blaekmoor Vale ” tea was grown and packed ; it 
was merely an attractive form of advertisement. His 
firm did not buy their teas at public sale.s , they bought 
them from other people who did buy at public sales 
on commission . 
Mr. Gray : — Then the importation is two removes 
away ? 
Witness: — I have already admitted that we did not 
import the tea. 
Mr. Gray You heard the evidence of the experts 
last Saturday ? 
Witness; — I heard the evidence of the so-called 
experts. 
Mr. Gray : — Never mind that ; we call them experts. 
Continuing, WITNESS said he had no independent ex- 
perts to give evidence rebutting the testimony of Mr. 
Stehn and Mr. Anderson. But he had in court the actual 
mixer of the teas and the person who had given him 
instructions a.s to the proportions to he used. He did 
not agree with the witnesses who had said that it was 
possible, and easy, to distinguish between Indian 
and Ceylon teas. It was very difficult ; often Ceylon 
tea was so “ Assamy” that the most exp»rienced men 
could not decide whether it was Ceylon or Indian. To 
say that the two growths were as distinct in flavour as 
port and sherry was ab.snrd. 
Mr. Gray :— Then if Ceylon tea were wrongly cata- 
logued as Indian the buyers would be unable to tell the 
difference ? 
Witness ; — Sometimes not. (Laughter). 
Mr. AsauiTti, re-examining witness, produced cer- 
tain contract-notes giving particulars of teas bought by 
the defendants. 
Mr. Gray said that these particulars gave no inform- 
ation as to the proportions used in the packets in ques- 
tion ; and Mr. Marsham shared this view. 
Witness proceeded to state that between January 
and May in the present year his firm had 
bought about 100,000 pounds of Ceylon tea and 150,000 
pounds of Indian. 
Mr. Gray again remarked that this was not 
material evidence; the magistrate concurring, and 
pointing out that evidence as to the quantities of tea 
purchased was no proof of what the tea was in the 
packets. 
