EASTERN CARGO

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 92, 9 July 1927, Page 16

EASTERN CARGO

TEA FOR AUCKLAND RECORD SHIPMENT LANDED GROWING BLENDING BUSINESS J-JEREWITH is presented a pieture of the largest tea shipment to one firm that has landed in New Zealand. Aucklanders in Queen Street the other day when the shipment was landed from the Maheno, gazed in wonder at the 24 waggons, forming a procession extending from the wharf up to John Court’s corner. All were laden with Roma tea, a product blended and packed in Auckland, and the entire shipment comprised 65 tons of tea. Shipments of tea reach New Zealand every week; of Roma, alone, there is a huge quantity landed annually, and the consignment brought by the Maheno is distinctly the largest yet imported. SPECIAL METHODS In Auckland, at the Roma tea company’s factory in Upper Shortland Street, the tea is cleaned by special electrical machinery of the most modern type. Of the various processes through which it passes, before it is ready for the consumer, none is more interesting than that which extracts every particle of the obnoxious tannin dust. Treated by ingenious appliances, the tea is freed from this disagreeable accompaniment, and nowhere else in New Zealand, it is claimed, is the process undertaken so thoroughly. Sweet and clean, the Roma tea is now ready for pafcking, and is distributed in packages of different sizes— Jib and lib packets, and in tins up to 121 b in weight. It is all part of the romance of a mighty business undertaking—the preparation of tea for the world's markets. CHINA SHOWS THE WAY Tea-drinkers, sipping their cup of Roma, will find it difficult to believe that tea as a popular drink was unknown until last century. China had used tea as far back as thvi third century, and by the ninth its popularity extended to Japan. Then the early explorers, following little-known trails across Asia, or beating round the tempestuous Cape of Good Hope, on the voyage to distant Cathay, returned with report and samples of the strange beverage of the Orient. The East India Company’s monopoly cramped tea-production in India until 1834. but after that the industry expanded, and Britain became a leading consumer, though in that respect she was to be outdone by her colonies, Australia and New Zealand, which have made tea the national cup. New Zealanders are epicures among tea-drinkers. At the tea-marts of Colombo. where leaf-grown on the hot, moist hillsides of Ceylon is auctioned, the men who direct that phase of the business know that the New Zealand market will take—or rather, will appreciate—only good quality tea. A {angle tea rarely possesses rich colour, strength and delicate flavour combined, and from that arose the practice of blending together different teas. ROMA CAREFULLY SELECTED To meet the demands of the New Zealand market, carefully-selected lines are purchased, and from these the perfected Roma product is blended by tea experts. In Auckland its suc-i cess has been a factor in the advancej of the commercial community. Thel preparation of Roma tea is one of the staple industries of the city. Through

its parent organisation, the Roma Tea Company, Ltd., it is bound up with the mercantile history of Auckland. These are incidentals that teadrinkers may reflect upon. Cheered

l I and soothed by the morning cup of i Roma tea, the housewife can compare the modern system, by which ■ tea is sent to the w'orld’s markets in l I airtight, lead-lined chests, with days

when the sales of withered leaf were freighted on camel back, or tossed perilously in the narrow hold of a barque navigating little-known seas. Business in these days does not

seem to be coloured by the same suggestion of high adventure. But reflection may discover the fact that to-day there is in business as much romance as ever. What is more im-

portant, as revealed in the preparation of Roma tea, there are hygienic principles and modern methods of handling. How far those factors influence popularity can readily be gauged from

the picture of the record shipment lately landed at Auckland. The procession through the city was organised by the Roma Tea Company’s carriers, Messrs. Carr and Has-

lam. The horses attracted a good deal of admiration, and were skilfully handled by experienced drivers, who entered fully into the spirit of the display.