America.
The following is from the Daily News—a Calcutta paper:—
We were glad to note that our American cousins were being induced to give some orders. If only Indian Tea was once taken up, and became popular, its future would be secured. The teeming masses of people in the States would consume more Tea we should imagine than all the English public, provided Indian Tea took the place of China. Australia so far has done well, but the market there would be easily glutted, whereas, if its use became general, it would be almost impossible to glut the American market. The millions of settlers in America and in Canada all use Tea at their meals very much as an Englishman takes his beer, so that the inland consumption must be very large. In Australia, every shepherd carries his pannikin of Tea, and the amount he swallows in twelve months must be pretty considerable. In the backwoods of America and Canada, each woodcutter consumes nearly half a pound of Tea weekly, so that, with its millions of people, America could easily dispose of millions of pounds of Tea, which would not only clear off all the surplus Tea in the London market, but would probably cause a deficit. We wonder if in our time this golden era will take place.
This from the Tea Gazette:—
Tea in America.
A petition has been presented to the United States Congress asking for the prohibition of the importation of adulterated Teas from China and Japan, which are at present extensively sold. This, it is thought, will lead to increased attention being paid to Indian Teas, which are well known to be pure and unadulterated.
Again from same paper:—
The circular lately addressed to the local Tea planting interest by the Committee of the Calcutta Syndicate, reporting the results of Mr. Sibthorp’s efforts to create a market for Indian Teas in America, opens up a vista of unprecedented prosperity in the future.
That the population of America, the bulk of which consist of the same races among whom Indian Tea has grown in favour so rapidly in the United Kingdom, should persist in rejecting it after a fair trial was à priori highly improbable. It was, therefore, reasonably to be presumed that whatever difficulty might beset the opening up of this new market would consist chiefly in the obstacles to securing such a trial.
Mr. Sibthorp’s report not only bears out this view of the case, but justifies a confident expectation that the obstacles in question, so far as they have any real existence, will speedily disappear. In Chicago, so far from having had to encounter any of those strong trade prejudices which were met with at first in Australia, Mr. Sibthorp found the leading importers, Messrs. J. Doane and Co., ready to render every assistance and confident of being able to dispose of five thousand half chests the first season, without forcing the market. Similar success seems to have attended his efforts in New York, and a telegram has been received from him ordering a thousand half chests for shipment to that port.
The importance of this new market is immensely enhanced by the circumstance that the American consumption of Tea is destined to increase, owing to mere growth of population, at a rate not to be looked for in any other country; at such a rate, in fact, that if India could only secure the annual addition to the demand from this cause, she would probably have to double her production in less than a generation to enable her to meet it.
So far from seeing any reason why she should not secure this amount of custom in the New World, we see none why the proportion of India to other Teas consumed in America should not ultimately be as large as in England, where there was once a strong prejudice against Indian Tea.
What possible foreign markets have we besides Australia and America? Russia and many European countries are on the cards, and if the Calcutta Syndicate will continue its work great results may ensue. Those who know the Continent often say, and it is true, that no good Tea can be had in France, Germany, or Italy (it is not so in Russia), and retail dealers have offered again and again (made the offers to me) to take large quantities of the Indian Tea of which I have shown them samples. As this is so, why not supply them? But it cannot be done well to any extent by individual planters. The Calcutta Syndicate could easily do it, and I quite believe they would find the work in Europe easier than in America.
The Amsterdam Exhibition, so soon to take place, affords a great opening, and from all I hear it will be taken advantage of. Inhabitants from all countries will be there, and the fame of our Teas should thus spread throughout Europe. The Tea Gazette says:—
The Amsterdam Exhibition.
It is intended to have Indian Tea well represented at the forthcoming Exhibition at Amsterdam; and we trust that the most will be made of the opportunity. There is no reason why we should not succeed in Holland as well as we have succeeded in America and Australia. The rapid strides going on in production must be met by exceptionally active exertions to open out new markets, and to see that those recently opened out are not allowed to drop for want of fostering.
The effect of this opportunity will be by no means limited to Holland, as in all probability thousands will flock to the Exhibition from adjacent countries, and many from all parts of the world.
We hope that every advantage will be taken of future International Exhibitions in any part of the world by an adequate quasi-permanent organization in Calcutta, and we sincerely trust that the existing Calcutta Tea Syndicate will not cease its most useful operations until all the world bows to the great god Indian Tea. The operations in countries other than Great Britain during the last few years show what important developments in the Tea trade of this country are now taking place, and every exertion is necessary to maintain these successful results—for which the industry is so much indebted to the Syndicate.