Aug. 2, 1897.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
93 
bait to the mixers and blenders, who operate largely 
in them while the scarcity of other sorts lasts; and 
directly there is promise of a glut in Ceylon and 
Indian teas, and prices recede to their former reduced 
level, the dealers retire from the China division of the 
market audgo back eagerly to their old favourites. 
The New Move in China. — Chinese tea importers 
are hoping that the tea trade of China will mend 
on the strength of the new manufacturing methods 
which are to be adopted. There are some tall 
stories current about the coming revolution in the 
China tea trade, bnt at present these reports are 
mere rumour. The Grocer echoes this hopeful an- 
ticipation. It says : — “ Yet, notwithstanding all that 
may be observed to the contrary, there are still 
some old fashioned people who Hire China tea, and, 
preferring it to any other, will have it while it is 
at all possible ; and for this class of consumers at 
least the beginning of a new season is decidedly 
hopeful. Especially is this so at the present time, 
when ‘ machine-made ’ teas from China will be sub- 
jected to their severest test. Till now they have 
been regarded merely as an experiment, having first 
come under notice in November last, when W'e spoke 
of them as showing ‘ an improvement on the old style,’ 
also as being both ‘strong and pungent,’ and seem- 
ing ‘ to meet with approval.’ If half what one 
hears of these teas be true, they are likely to prove 
the great feature of the coming season, and should 
be the means of partly restoring China growths to 
a healthier position than they have stood in for 
many years past. In manipula,ting China teas for 
native use or exportation, the worn-out plan was to 
dry the leaves as they were plucked, first in the sun, 
before finally preparing them for market ; but it is 
said the new method recommended and adopted is 
to avoid the preliminary process of drying the leaf 
in the open air, and carry the freshly gathered leaves, 
full of their natural sappiness and moisture, straight 
to the pans or sheds for ‘ firing,’ curing, and 
being ‘ machined,’ preparatory to packing them fcr 
sale and shipment to foreign markets. China teas, 
which have become less and less a speciality with 
the home trade here, may, if made stronger by the 
new mode of manufacturing them, compete with 
the productions of India and Ceylon, the latter 
E articularly ; for, besides the newly-treated teas 
eing more suited to the modern requirements of the 
British public of today, they are just what are wanted 
by shippers to the European continent and elsewhere, 
who must secure teas of some richness and strength, 
or they will not please the drinkers of the beverage 
there. Weak, flat, insipid, and thin-liquoring teas 
are, it appears, practically out of the running ; and 
the smaller proportion they bear to the aggregate 
supply the livelier will he the demand and the more 
satisfactory the price for all teas of a finer and 
superior grade.” 
The Peofits on the Sale op Tea. — The Chan- 
cellor of the Exchequer, in his recent speech on the 
tea duty question, hurt the feelings of some members 
of the tea trade by stating that grocers made large 
profits out of the sale of tea. The president of the 
Manchester, Salford, and District Grocers’ Associa- 
tion has written to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach as 
follows : — “ Prom this morning’s papers I find that 
in the discussion in Parliament last evening as to a 
proposed reduction In the duty on tea you are re- 
ported to have said that ‘ the fact was, there was no 
article in the whole stock of a grocer that paid him 
so well, ft was an article out of which he made 
his profits as largely and as certainly as the inn- 
keeper made his profits out of alcohol. The poor 
man would pay at the rate of 2s a pound for a small 
quantity of tea — tea which the wholesale dealer 
had bought at 9d.’ As president of the Man- 
chester, Salford, and District Grocers’ Associa- 
tion, and a grocer having nearly for'y year,’ 
experience in the retail grocery trade, I 
be of to offer a most eniphatio protest against your 
remarks and an absolute repudiation of the above 
statement. As a matter of fact, a grocer would think 
he was doing well to obtain la 4d per lb for tea costing 
9d wholesale, but he would not thereby secure 7d 
profit to himself. To the first cost must be added 
I per lb duty, an additional tax of J per cent., cost of 
carriage, &o., making the co-t to the grocer at least 
Is Igd per lb. I may inform you that there are 
hundreds of retail traders in this district who pin- 
chase tea wholesale at Is 2d per lb to sell again in 
small quantities at Id per oz., or Is 4d per lb. 
It is therefore most unfair to the shopkeeper to 
advertise him assslli'gat 2s per lb. tea which costs 
him only 9d. — I am. on behalf of the Manchester, 
Salford, and Distii-t Grocers’ ^Association, yours, 
etc.” On this subject Mr. James Ijittle, of Manches- 
ter, writes as follows on the subject of the - grocer’s 
sell abnegation : — “ I don’t suppose people will take 
much notice of the absurd statement of the Chan- 
osllor of the Exchequer re good and respectable 
trades-people robi-iugthe public, because that is really 
what he suggests when he spuys tea dealers buy tea 
at 9d and sell it at 2s. Why, sir, the thing is 
preposterous. In these days of competition I sell tons 
of tea at Jd per lb profit. And a grocer if he got 2d 
profit would consider himself doing good business.’ 
— II. and C. 2Iail, May 21. 
THE JAPAN TEA TNDUSTKY. 
The position which Shizuoka ken occupies in the 
tea industry of Japan may be easily gathered from 
the fact that out of 40,281,669 catties sent from 
various parts of the empire to Yokohama and Kobe 
in 1895, Shizuoka contributed no less than 17,274,937 
catties, the amounts brought in during the same 
year, from other noted tea districts being as follows ; 
Miye, 5,516,000 catties ; Kyoto, 3,187,105 catties ; 
Osaka, 1,858,959 catties ; Shiga, 1,044,631 catties, 
Besides green tea, Shizuoka produces Oolong 
(Formosan) tea and black tea, the first, however, 
being predominant. The tea manufactured in Suruga, 
which province and Totomi make up Shizuoka ken, 
is collected in the local depots at Shizuoka, Fujiyeda, 
Numazu, Omiya, Yoshiwara, and Ejiri ; while that 
manufactured in the other province is collected at 
Kanaya, Kakegawa, Putamata, Hamamatsu, and 
one or two other places. The leaf is next 
sent to Yokohama through the wholesale dealers of 
the respective places. In the city of Shizuoka there 
is the Nippon Tea Manufacturing Company, which 
sends goods to foreign markets v.'ithont passing 
through the hands of foreign merchants in Japan. 
A special establishment for remanufacturing tea is 
also found in Jyoto Gun. The latest statistics on 
the Shizuoka tea industry are as follows : — 
Area under tea cultivation.. 12,744 c7/o. 
Annual output .. 1,600,000 catties. 
Value of output .. 4,800,000 »/en. 
Members of Tea Guild . . 74,675 
Licensed iustructors in tea 
manufacturing . . 571 
The rise of wages was during the last few years 
quite surprising. During 1895 the average daily wage 
of tea-pickers did not much exceed 12 sen, but was 
raised to 17 sen next year for men. At present 
wages paid to girls and women for picking do not 
differ from the rate of last year, but it is extremely 
probable that the tendency to increase will appear 
sooner or later. 
The ruling price of the raw leaf being very closely 
related to that of manufactured, it is not yet possi- 
ble to give any precise statement on the subject. 
But it is expected that this season the growers’ 
price will be midway between that of 1895 and 1896, 
that is, between 33 sen and 23 sen per kwainme, and 
will range between 27 and 30 sen. Wages of tea 
manufacturing operatives have risen even at a greater 
rate than in the case of leaf pickers' wages. Two or 
three years ago the average rate of wages was about 
30 sen, but last year it rose to 50 sen. Cut it is not 
the wages alone that tea nianufacturers have to 
pay on account of their men ; they must also sup- 
ply food to the men, and at an increasing cost. 
Tho rise in the maiket price of charcoal must 
also be taken into consideration, for it coustilutes 
