TEAS OF TO-DAY

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 22, Issue 29, 14 April 1911, Page 7

TEAS OF TO-DAY

On our front page this morning appears an announcement from a worldfamous firm—Nelson, Moat,e and Co., growers, importers, and blenders of high-class teas. Mr J.. Nelson, one ot the principals of the firm, has recently returned from an extended visit to India and Ceylon, and in the course of an interview he stated, “ There is no more land to open up in Ceylon, it has all been planted; in fact?there has been a slight decrease in the area under plantation, due to rubber cultivation. Rubber is being grown in tea plantations, and as soon as it comes into bearing the tea will go. It will at certain altitudes entirely displace tea. I speak approximately, but rubber is limited to lands up to 2500 feet altitude, whereas tea can be grown up to, say, 6000 or 7000 ft.” “The public taste.” he said, “has undergone a change for the worse within comparatively recent years. Once it was very particular about its tea. Quality was the first and only consideration. To?day it is price—a good, strong, rough, dark syrupy tea, and as cheap as you can sell it, is what the majority of the people want to-day. That taste has been met. The rise in prices iff general, but it began with the common teas. Time was, not so long ago, when dust and tannings were regarded as tea factory refuse, and treated as such.” Nelson, Moate’s teas have a reputation that nothing can shake. They have been before the public for so many years that they have become a national institution.