No. 3. Example.
Were the plan feasible, the gain to the Indian planters would be large. Say this year (1883), fifty-seven million pounds are imported, and ninety pounds per chest is taken as the average, this gives over 600,000 chests, and 12 ounces saved on each = 450,000 pounds, of Tea, which at 12 annas per pound, Rs. 3,37,000.
The gain to the Customs would be 450,000 sixpences = £11,250.
This increase to the Customs would be attained by simply (though still keeping under the actual weight of Tea in each chest) taking the contents more correctly.
The above shows, if figures will show anything, that a great loss to both the producer and Customs takes place by the system in vogue. As the only object of the Customs should be to arrive at the true weight of Tea in the most expeditious and simple way, how very absurd is the system pursued! What the tare is can in no way signify to them; all they really want is the weight of the Tea. The absurdity of the system is proved by the fact (demonstrated) that the results to both producer and Customs can be altered by the addition or subtraction in the Custom-house of a few nails! How easy to weigh the Tea itself! What possible objection can exist?
The Indian Tea Districts Association having failed to move the Customs, have quite lately addressed the following Memorial to the Secretary of State for India:—
To the Right Honourable the Earl of KIMBERLEY, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India.
The Petition of the Indian Tea Districts Association sheweth—
That your Petitioners are a body representing the interests connected with the cultivation of Tea in British India, in which enterprise British capital to the extent of over fifteen millions sterling has been invested.
That the industry dates from the year 1838, when the first consignment of Indian Tea, consisting of 456 lbs., reached the London market.
That the imports of Indian Tea for the year ending 30th June, 1882, were 49,503,000 lbs., having a value of more than £3,300,000 sterling; while the estimated importation for the current season is upwards of 55,000,000 lbs., or fully one-third of the entire consumption of the United Kingdom for the year.
That the contribution to the Revenue accruing from Customs’ import duty on the above quantity of Tea will exceed a million and a quarter sterling.
That the whole of this large quantity is manufactured and packed on between 2,700 and 2,800 separate estates, situated on various parts of H.M.’s Indian dominions.
That the boxes in which the Teas are packed are in great part made of such wood as can be obtained on the several estates, or purchased from the neighbouring Forest Department, and it is very important on economic grounds, as also in the manifest interests of the districts, that this should be exclusively the case.
That it has been found, under these conditions, practically impossible to meet the imperative Custom-house standard of close uniformity of tare weight when the chests reach the Bonded Warehouses here.
That your Petitioners have reason to complain of the system of weighing the Teas in the said warehouses for the purpose of levying the duty.
That the present system of weighing is to weigh each package in the gross, then to turn out the contents, weigh the empty case, and thus arrive at the nett weight of the contents.
That the only exception to this rule is when the package, i.e., the empty cases, in a Break closely approximate in weight.
That by the said system of weighing, two serious injuries are inflicted on the grower and importer of Indian Tea, viz.:—
In the first place, a loss of weight is sustained by the fractions over the even pound in both gross and tare being given against the seller, and in favour of the buyer, amounting, it may be, to 1 lb. 15 oz., or an average of about 1 lb. in every package weighing over 28 lbs. gross, in addition to the usual trade allowance of 1 lb. per package.
Secondly, and by far the more serious grievance, very great injury is caused to the Teas by the process of turning them out of the packages, in which they arrive hermetically sealed, for the purpose of weighing the empty packages. The Teas are thus exposed to the atmosphere, the humidity of which they readily absorb, and sustain further serious injury and depreciation by breakage from rough handling in the process of repacking: the lead linings also are so torn in the process as to be rendered comparatively useless for the purpose for which they were intended, eliciting loud complaints from the trade of the rapid loss of condition of the Teas.
That the concession of this Petition, by rendering it unnecessary to turn out more than a small percentage of the chests to test the correct weight of contents, would admit of the Teas being bulked in India; and while it would free the industry from an injurious and vexatious restriction, and admit of the Teas reaching the consumer in a purer and sounder condition, it would also greatly simplify and reduce the work of the Customs.
That the foregoing statistics significantly demonstrate the importance of the Indian Tea industry to both England and India, and constitute a claim to the favourable consideration of both Governments, especially that of India, on the ground of the benefit accruing to the districts in which it is conducted, and the increment of State revenue to which it has directly and indirectly conduced.
That having regard to the existing close and hardening competition with China, Japan, and other Tea producing countries, your Petitioners naturally feel aggrieved that the important industry they represent should be hampered in the contest by the restrictive and superfluous impediment forming the subject of their petition.
That your Petitioners have unsuccessfully urged on the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Customs the adoption of this change of system, and therefore venture to address your Lordship.
That your Petitioners beg to refer to the accompanying copies of correspondence between the Association and the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Customs annexed to this Petition.
That the accompanying Memorial signed by the leading mercantile firms and others in Calcutta, interested in the growth and export of Indian Tea, is an illustration of the feeling in India on the subject of this Petition.
Your Petitioners therefore pray—
That your Lordship will kindly take such steps as may be necessary to secure for your Petitioners the relief sought for.
And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.
T. D. FORSYTH,
Chairman of the Association.
ERNEST TYE,
Secretary.
The following reply was received:—
India Office, S.W.,
28th February, 1883.
Sir,—I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of the Memorial addressed to the Earl of Kimberley by the Indian Tea Districts Association, respecting the method of weighing Indian Tea at the Custom House. In reply, I am to inform you that the Memorial has been forwarded to the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, with the expression of Lord Kimberley’s hope that whatever is practicable may be done to remedy the grievance complained of by the memorialists in the interests of the Indian Tea trade.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
(Signed) J. K. CROSS.
The Secretary, Indian Tea Districts Association.
It is possible, therefore, that some improvement will now be accomplished.[107]
But at the Crutched Friars Warehouse (belonging to the East and West India Docks) a great advance has already been made. The Tea there is now bulked, and re-packed by machinery. The Directors most kindly invited me to come and witness the process. I went, and was more than pleased with what I saw. The machinery, and all connected with the process, is so well described in an article in the Home and Colonial Mail, I cannot do better than give it here:—