THE TEA TRADE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10419, 23 July 1895, Page 4

THE TEA TRADE.

TO THS EDITOR.

Sm,—ln. your iseae of the 11th inst. I observe a copy of a petition to the House in tha name of Nelaon, Moate, and Go. with reference to the packing of Indian and Ceylon teas in small packets to suit the Now Zealand trade, they having the advantages of coolie and Ciugalese cheap labour. They (Messrs N., M., and Co.) and others, calling themselves tea bleadera, cannot compote, therefore petition the House to impose an extra duly or 2d per 1b on all teas in small quantities.

Messrs Nelson, Moate, and Co. know as well as I do that neither Indian or Coyioa—even with their cheap labour—can repack tea. a shade ltss, or, I may aay still further, »t the same rate as we can do here. In India sawn timber is a most expensive article, more particularly in Calcutta, wiiere the tea would have to be repacked, and costing more than double of timber secured in New Zealand, as it has mostly to be imported from Buroiab, which is double the distance of Melbourne from New Zealand. Even in Assam, where fine timber is plentiful, the sown article for tsa boxes costs 14* 6d per 100 ft at the mill, and Assam is 1000 miles from Calcutta.

Eighteen mouths ago I spsnt several months in India and Ceylon, and visittd many tea gardens iv both placeij. When there I went minutely into this same question of getting tea packed in Calcutta and Colombo in small quantities and sent to New Zealand, but found they could not re-pack a 6 B*tifit-»cr.ory prices. The Cingalese tea bores are aimo.il; all imported from Japan. Though 1 travelled over a large pare of Ceylon, I neither ea-.v njr heard ot a siDgie milling phot for sawn tiaibar. Lead, nails, boop, and paper have all to be imported from England, and pay duty to their Governments the same as we do, though not to heavily.

Need it ba wondered at that the imported Pmall packet should outdo the colonial article ? If you purchase the imported packet, you may rest satihfied you get pure Indian or Ceyloa tea, whereas the colonial packet, in the majority of casr-s, is composed of about two-thirds Indian or Ceylon tea, the balance made up of tbe cheap t.-aeh of China tea specially imported to New Zealand for blending purposes. I would a?lc: What becomes of this tea, unless used up in this way? It is unsaleable alone.

When in Calcutta I visited the tea store— the large&t in the world—packed from floor to ceiling:, and four to five storeys in heighc, with tea ready to ship. In all tnia hugo lot I did not see a single package less thau half-chests of about 451b each, neither did I see a cheat of China tea in the vast stare. So if tea is imported in small packets from India or Caylon, the public can rest satisfied they are purchasing the real Indian or Ceylon tea, which cannot be said of t2e packed tens in the' majority of blended articles go^ up in New Zealand.

There is one thing which appears a perfect anomaly to ms—how it is that oar Government pay in-pectors and analyst.-* to guard our coffees, spicea, &c, while the tea trade is completely left tolhe mercy of dealers, who b.rcome rich, and are able; to pay out no end of mouey in advertising iv many cases a mixed-up and inferior article. Itiis not so long ago I saw an account in the Sydney Morning Herald of a lot of tea there imported trom Uhina, which was condemned by the Government "as unfit' for human food. At the samu time a footnotowas added that this lot was shipped to New Zealand, and put of this scum Jot I saw sold by auction. .'.■.'. ... •

In conclusion, I will undertake to pack all Mesars Nelson, Moate, and Co.'s teas for them in packets at the cosb of doing so either in Calcutta or Colombo.—l am, &s., R. L. Bkgg (Of R. L. Bsgg and Sons, and of the Caylon and Ir.diin Tea Company, Dunedin) Mataura, July 16. - .