Aug.  I,  1896.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRiCULTURIbT. 
99 
year.  Still  the  public  taeto  in  tea  cannot,  more  than 
in  anything  else,  be  entirely  exempt  from  the  law 
of  the  pendulum.  We  are  apt  enough  to  console 
ourselves  that  the  home  market  has  been  won.  Be 
it  so,  we  have  got  to  hold  it.  It  therefore  behoves 
all  concerned  to  see  well  to  the  weak  points  in  our 
methods,  aud  leave  nothing  undue  that  is  needful 
to  insure  the  supremacy  of  British  grown  in  the 
public  estimation  at  home  and  abroad. 
One  matter  I feel  in  duty  called  upon  to  allude 
to  in  this  connection.  I refer  to  the  handling  of 
our  tea  in  the  London  warehouses.  This  is  perhaps 
not  the  place  for  free  criticism  or  full  discussion.  1 
shall  not,  therefore,  enlarge  upon  the  cruel  manner 
in  which  the  lids  of  the  chests  are  removed,  and 
the  lead  linings  opened ; or  the  exposure  of  the  tea 
for  a greater  time  then  it  ought  to  be  in  bulking  ; 
the  condition  in  which  the  linings  are  replaced, 
especially  those  which  have  accidently  been  in  contact 
with  a nail  ; the  refilling  under  the  heel  of  the  dock 
labourer  ; aud,  worst  of  all,  the  boxes  being  left  un- 
soldered till  they  reach  the  consumer  in  the  country, 
or  it  may  be  America.  I have  every  sympathy  with 
the  warehouses  in  regard  to  the  pressure  upon  them 
through  the  work  being  crowded  into  so  short  a time. 
But  no  one  can  say  the  teas  are  treated  as  they 
ought  to  be.  No  natural  atmosphere  is  absolutely  dry, 
and  that  of  London  is  often  very  damp,  and  tea  is 
extremely  absorbent  of  moisture  of  any  taint  in 
the  air.  The  papers  carefully  placed  under  the 
diminished  and  tattered  lead  linings  are  necessary 
to  prevent  the  contents  from  pouring  out  in  transit, 
but  is  altogether  inadequate  for  the  exclusion  of 
moisture  from  a substance  so  attractive  of  moisture 
aud  so  volatile  of  its  aroma  as  tea.  The  tea  cannot 
fail  greatly  to  deteriorate  under  the  treatment  the 
Indian  produce  generally  undergoes.  The  system 
also  of  dealing  with  the  fractions  of  pounds  in 
weighing  the  gross  and  tares,  telling  in  both  direc- 
tions against  the  producer,  is  manifestly  unfair. 
The  difficulty  of  interfering  with  long-established 
trade  customs  must  be  admitted,  and  I am  saying 
nothing  here  against  the  1 lb.  draft,  which  is  a 
known  quantity,  and  surely  ought  alone  to  be  a liberal 
trade  allowance.  Though  the  loss  in  taring  may  be 
averaged  and  allowed  for  over  large  operations 
by  the  buyer,  it  must  partake  of  the  nature  of 
a lottery,  and  is  most  unsatisfactory  and  objectionable 
to  the  producer,  especially  the  smaller  of  them,  «.ho 
feel  it  keenly  to  be  an  injustice.  Though  the  Cus- 
toms by  general  order  provide  for  tea  being  weighed 
net,  which  would  mitigate  the  hardship,  and  as  far 
as  I can  sea,  also  overcome  the  difficulty  of  uneven 
tares,  strange  to  say  the  concessions  remains  a dead 
letter.  The  remedy  for  the  evils  complained  of  seem 
simple  : — (1)  Bulk  at  the  factories,  with  tares  equal- 
ised for  each  break  ; (2)  repack  dry  at  once,  with 
the  packing  machine,  the  small  proportion  of  chests 
it  would  then  be  compulsory  to  open  on  this  side, 
repairing  the  linings  with  lead,  resoldering  or  other- 
wise hermetically  sealing  the  contents  as  may  obviate 
the  use  of  fires  it  need  be  ; aud  (M)  weighg  ross  and  net 
(not  the  tares)  under  the  general  order  referred  to,  am- 
ended if  necessary  to  meet  all  reasonable  requirements. 
It  is  satisfactory  that  at  least  one  warehouse  (St.  Olave’s) 
have  fitted  up  packing  machines  to  supersede  the 
trampling  process,  aud  this  laudable  arrangement 
merits  recognition  aud  encouragement  by  importers. 
In  this  great  metropolis  it  might  be  expected  that 
the  methods  of  dealing  with  such  an  important  article 
of  food  would  be  intelligent,  cleanly,  and  even 
scientific.  The  prevailing  practice  is  but  too  nnich 
the  reverse  of  all  this.  The  usages,  to  put  it  mildly, 
are  antiquated  and  unworthy  of  a great  industry.  It 
is  indeed  amazing  that  they  been  tolerated  so  long. 
They  are  productive  of  most  serious  loss  to  the 
producer  and  consumer  as  well  as  to  the  national 
exchequer ; must  be  an  annoyance  to  the  brokers  and 
dealers,  and  disadvantageous  to  even  the  warehouses 
in  the  long  run.  More  than  this,  they  are  grievously 
fettering  and  handicapping  the  British  tea  industry. 
The  time  is  certainly  ripe  for  combined  action  to 
secure  tlie  urgently  needed  reforms,  which  if  delayed 
cannot  fail,  sooner  or  latter,  to  injure  this  great 
distributing  tea  centre. 
APPENDIX  I. 
AREA  OF  BRITISH-GROWN  TEA,  ACCORDING  TO 
GOVERN- 
MENT  RETURNS  FOR 
1894. 
India — 
Acres. 
Assam 
..  154,281 
Cachar 
. . 59,588 
Sylhet  . . ... 
. . 54,928 
Darjeeling.. 
. . *70,038 
Julpaiguri  (Dooars)  .. 
..  *43,133 
Chittagong 
4,501 
Hazaribagh  and  Lohardaga.. 
3,394 
Kumaon 
. . 3,140 
Dehra  Dun 
4,512 
Kangra  Valley 
8,828 
Madras  (Neilgherries,  &c.) 
6,102 
Travancore  and  Cochin 
9,070 
Burma 
..  880 
Andaman  Islands 
. . 650 
423,008 
Ceylon  (for  1895) 
• • 
304,843 
Natal.. 
, • 
2,297 
Fiji  .. 
. . 
410 
Straits  Settlements  (area  not  known  at  Co- 
louial-officc  “ believed  to  be 
incousider- 
able”)  retained  under  cultivation,  say. . 
200 
Total . . 
730,756 
. APPENDIX  II. 
Table  Compiled  by  Mr.  A.  G.  Stanton,  Showing 
Gradual  Displacement  of  China  Tea  since  1866. 
WITH  PER-CENTAGE  OF  EACH  KIND  USED,  AND 
Quality  of  all  Tea  per  Head  of  Population. 
’60 
’67 
’63 
’69 
’70 
’71 
’72 
’79 
’71 
’7o 
’76 
’77 
’73 
'79 
’30 
’81 
’82 
’82 
’84 
85 
’86 
’S7 
’88 
’89 
’90 
’91 
’92 
’92 
’91 
’9.5 
m, 081,000  00 
101.682.000  94 
99.339.000  93 
101.080.000  90 
104.051.000  89 
109.415.0  0 89 
111.001.000  87 
111.665.000  8.5 
118.751.000  87 
122.107.000  81 
123.364.000  S3 
123,300,tXR)  82 
120.632.000  77 
1 26,340, OW  78 
114.180.000  72 
111.715.000  70 
114.462.000  69 
111.780.000  06 
ll0,843,a'0  63 
113.514.000  62 
104.226.000  59 
90.508.000  49 
80.653.000  43 
61.100.000  33 
57,530,337  30 
52,287,304  26 
34,483,408  17 
35,735.722  17 
25,805,313  12 
31,433,014  14 
6.360.000 
7.746.000 
10.716.000 
13.500.000 
13.956.000 
16.656.000 
2 >,216,009 
18.523.000 
23.220.000 
25.740.1  I'm 
27.814.0  I) 
36.714.000 
34.092.000 
43.830.000 
48.836.000 
60.496.000 
58.000. 000 
(2,217,000 
65.678.000 
68.420.000 
83.112.000 
86.210.000 
96.000. 000 
101,961,686 
93,491,931 
109,528,169 
108,143,602 
116,965,653 
116,343,316 
4 — 
6 - 
10  — Z 
11  — _ 
11  — 
13  — — 
15  — _ 
13  — _ 
16  — — 
17  — _ 
18  — 
23  — - 
•22  
28  — _ 
30  — _ 
31  — _ 
33 
1,000,000 
36  2,000.000 
37  3,217,000 
38  6,245,000 
45  9,941,000 
47  18,553,000 
52  28,500,000 
52  34,510,469 
49  51.227,602 
53  63,102,127 
52  64,218,061 
55  71,570,078 
53  7 ',023,810 
— IUZ,!J6o,0 
— 110,988,001 
— 106,815,001 
— 111,796,001 
— 117,551,001 
--  123,401,00: 
— 127,661,001 
— 1-31,881,00( 
— 137,279,00( 
— 115,327,00< 
— 149,101.001 
--  151,114,00 
— 157,396,00' 
16(»,432,00( 
158.321,00( 
160,051, 00( 
16i,958,00( 
170,780,00t 
175.060.001 
182,409, 00( 
178.891.001 
183,,561,00r 
185,416,0' IC 
185,6d0,00fl 
194,008,492 
202,4.56,837 
207,113,704 
208,097,385 
214,341,041 
221,800,1)0 
3- 42 
3‘68 
3*52 
3*6 1 
3*81 
3*92 
4*01 
4*11 
4 - 22 
4 -1 3 
1*19 
1-.50 
4-64 
4-68 
4*57 
4-58 
4*69 
4-82 
4*90 
5 '00 
4*92 
5*02 
5*03 
4*99 
5*17 
5 *39 
5*43 
5*41 
5 *.53 
5*57 
» These  figures  show  increases  from  180.3  and  pre- 
vious years  that  seem  much  too  great  for  Darjeeling 
and  too  little  for  Julpaigui*i. 
