WILL TEA BECOME DEARER.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2929, 1 August 1911, Page 7

WILL TEA BECOME DEARER.

I There are distinct signs which point to a rise in the price of the : cup that cheers but does not inebriate. Tn the 6rst place, the use of | tea in foreign countries is rapidly Jn- ! creasing, the result being a bigger ; demand on the resources of the tea I plantations of India, Japan, China, : and Java. Last year, for instance, I there was altogether an increase in ! the shipments of tea to foreign coun- | tries of 14,000,000 pounds as compared with 1909. On the other hand, there was a de- : crease in the shipments from India ! to the United Kingdom of over 9,000- ! 000 pounds last year, which is exI plained by the greater demand for j tea abroad ; and, although Indian ! production has shown a good in- ! crease during the last two years, 1 apparently it is not sufficient to mest the steady growing demand, and one really short crop in India. says the 'Daily Telegraph," might

make tea dear for years, so closely are supply and demand now adjusted. Some of the Indian companies hold much spare land,, and some of it is suitable for tea, but they have been and still are deterred from extension by difficulty in getting labour. Then again, for increased production growers have mainly to rely upon good weather. There is always a risk of hailstorms and floods, blight and drought, which have to be faced, while working expenses are likely to increase by degrees, owing to the difficulty of finding all the labour for the various branches of tropical agriculture now being developed in the East. '

RUBBER V. TEA

There is another reason why the supply of tea is only just enough to equal the demand. In Ceylon, for instance, only 10,000 acres have been added during the last four years, rubber having monopolized attention, and rubber estates are competing with tea for the coolies of India that both need. Moreover, the yield of the plantations is beginning to diminish by reason of the rubber trees interplanted amongst 75.000 acres of tea. Jt is now proved, says an expert, and recognised that the heavy shade of rubber trees amongst tea is

seriously affecting the output of the latter product, and as time goes on we must look for a sharp shortage in the output of. tea so situated. This would mean an increase in price to the customer.