Chapter XXXV

MAKING INDIAN TEA KNOWN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Several plans have at times been proposed in India with a view to make the merits of pure Indian Teas known in England. When I was last out there I saw the following letter in the _Calcutta Statesman_, and it appeared to me the plan suggested was in every way an excellent one:--

HOW TO PUSH THE SALE OF TEA.

_To the Editor “Statesman.”_

Sir,--Referring to your leader of to-day on the subject of selling
Tea at home, I agree with you that Tea-growers should combine for
retailing, as they have, through the Syndicate, combined for opening
up new markets, but there must be the same spirit of enterprise in
the one case as in the other. Now, the mere opening up of shops for
the sale of Indian Teas, involving, as it would, rents, expensive
establishments, and bad debts, would not afford the necessary scope,
nor would it meet the case.

The system of auction in Mincing Lane must with all its drawbacks
continue, but it is surely possible to extract some good from it. Let
agencies for such a combination as you propose be established in all
the large towns in Great Britain, and weekly auctions of packets of
Tea from 2 ounces to 5 lbs. or so be held in different parts of each
town, so that every day except Sunday there would be an auction going
on somewhere. Let the sales be _bonâ fide_ to the highest bidder
and for cash on the nail, and I will promise that before a year is
over, as high prices will be paid at these auctions as are at present
realised by Cooper and Cooper, whilst the demand would soon greatly
exceed the supply.

If something of the same kind were done in the bazaars of India, the
taste which so decidedly exists among natives would develop rapidly.

MATT. DREWS.
Calcutta, _January 4th, 1882_.

I wrote the following remarks on the above to the same paper:--

INDIAN TEA SALES AT HOME.

_To the Editor “Statesman.”_

Sir,--Your article of Wednesday on the above, and a letter from Mr.
Drews in Thursday’s paper, have interested me much. As you truly say,
it is more than absurd that the public at home should pay 150 per
cent. for our Teas above the prices at which they are sold in Mincing
Lane, and that this tremendous profit, minus 6_d._ duty, should all
go into the hands of the retail dealer. Absurd as it is, it is still
a great fact, and the absurdity can only be increased in one way, and
that is, if we remain quiet, accept the position, and do nothing.

That we ought to move, and move quickly, is very certain. How best to
act requires serious consideration, and ample discussion.

You advocate a company or association to sell our Teas retail in all
the large towns in Great Britain, and advocate a subscription of
Rs. 10 per month by each garden in India, until the business could
support itself. Nothing _can_ be done unless we all subscribe a
small sum to set it going, and the amount you mention (Rs. 120 for
one year; the necessity would most assuredly last no longer) should
frighten no one, while, if done generally by the Indian gardens, it
would be ample. I would suggest, therefore, that we should begin the
matter as set out below.

The following none of the very many interested in Tea can deny:--

1. The large profits made on Indian Teas at home are not realised by
the producers, but by the retail dealers.

2. We can easily undersell the said retail dealers, to the tune of 50
per cent. or more, and still work at a large profit.

3. If the retail dealers were so undersold, an enormous custom would
ensue to us, or rather the agents we employed.

4. If Indian Teas were procurable at a fair price all over Great
Britain, because Indian Tea is superior to China, because those who
have drunk Indian never revert to China, because thousands would then
taste our Teas for the first time, and continue their use--I say,
because of all this, little by little, the consumption would increase
in a ratio we do not dream of now.

5. The consumption so increased, we should necessarily, because
demand exceeded supply, get good prices at the public marts in
Calcutta and London, and in consequence thereof the value of all Tea
property in India would be greatly enhanced.

I believe all the above would _certainly_ follow on a general
well-combined movement on our part; but let us take the worst view.
No one can deny that they _might_ do so. Would Rs. 120 be a large
stake from each garden for even the chance? Let us _begin_ thus:
Open a list in your office for the names of those gardens willing to
join. One year’s subscription, at Rs. 10 per month, should be the
limit from each garden. When enough names are collected to warrant
further movement, call a meeting in Calcutta, and let the next steps
be decided on, and in the interval--agitate; I will help to the best
of my power, and collect opinions from all sides.

Open the list with the names of the three gardens I represent (as per
enclosure), equivalent at once to a subscription of Rs. 360.

Now, as to the question--_how_ to do it? I give you my views, but let
them be criticised and discussed. We want to do it, and to do it the
best way.

What I have been suggesting for months in the _Tea Gazette_, as
the best thing to do in India--_viz._, to sell Tea by auction in
convenient forms as to quantity for native consumption--is really
what I advise for England. I am quite at one with Mr. Drews on this
point. (I wish you would reprint his valuable letter above, and then
my allusions to it would be understood.) Retail shops and all they
would entail, _viz._, intricate supervision, rents, establishments,
and what not, necessitate details quite outside our legitimate
sphere as producers. No organisation we could devise would carry on
successfully two or three hundred shops at home. We (that is, the
company or the association) _could_ not efficiently superintend such
a complicated business, and we should be cheated right and left. But
let others, I say, do the work for us at their own risk, as follows:--

Sell Teas in whole, half, and quarter chests, in tins of 10, 5, and
1 lbs., in packets of 8, 4, and 2 ounces once a week (the market
day) in country towns; daily, in different localities in London,
Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, and such like cities--all by
auction to the highest bidder for _cash_, in lots which would suit
both retail dealers and retail purchasers. Never mind if there be a
loss at the commencement; the quantities sold, till we felt our way,
need not be large.

What would be the result? Retail dealers would shortly sell as much
Indian as China Tea, _if they could get it_. Our Teas would go into
thousands of houses where it has never been tasted yet. The demand
would increase on all sides; prices in Mincing Lane, and consequently
in Calcutta, would rise, and no fear of a glutted market could then
exist. In two words, Indian Teas would, I believe, six months after
such operations were commenced, become the rage in England, and we,
the owners of Tea property, would add 50 per cent. to the value of
our estates.

Is not even the _chance_ of all this worth an outlay of Rs. 120 for
each garden? I am proud to head the list with my Rs. 360, and I do
beg of all interested in Tea to follow my lead.

In the plan I have sketched, like Mr. Drews, all the operations would
be simple. The necessary supervision would be small: the details
easily arranged. The Teas would of course be bought in the open
market in London and distributed for public auction to the different
localities. There might be some loss at first (it is for this the
capital is wanted), but if always sold to the highest bidder, there
would be none--nay, a handsome profit after a time; and though I do
_not_ think with Mr. Drews, nor should I wish, that the prices would
eventually equal Cooper and Cooper’s, I do think that the said firm
would soon find it useless to advertise their _cheapest_ Indian Tea
at 3 shillings a pound--Tea for which they certainly paid no more
than 13 pence!

I may add that I quite agree with the last paragraph of Mr. Drews’
letter; but a sale for India and a sale for England are two different
things, and I will not treat of both together.

EDWARD MONEY.

Western Dooars, _January 7, 1882_.

Alas! in this case, like the one of supply of Tea to natives, nothing practical came of it. A _very few_ gardens agreed to subscribe, and the matter dropped.

Of all the plans that have been mooted, this of Mr. Drews I believe to be the best. I wish a small company in England would try to initiate it. No greater boon, in my opinion, could be conferred on the Indian Tea industry; and were such a Company, with good names, launched in England, a large proportion of the shares would probably be taken in India. A very moderate capital would suffice.