Chapter XXXVII

WEIGHING AND BULKING OF INDIAN TEAS AT CUSTOM HOUSE.

One misapprehension with some exists on this head. The _weighing_ is done by the Customs to ascertain the amount for duty. The _bulking_ is done at the request of the vendor, the broker who is to sell it, or the purchaser, and it has to be paid for.

Two distinct injuries are inflicted on the producer by the present Custom House system--

1. The Tea is much damaged by exposure.
2. The quantity found is _always_ less than the actual.

Now as to No. 1. When we consider how damp the London atmosphere is at the best, how in foggy days it teems with moisture, is it not very certain that Teas exposed to it, often for days, deteriorate? What care we take in India heating before packing--carefully with lead and solder, excluding all air--and then the Teas on arrival here are treated as above! It is simply monstrous.

The following extract from a letter to _Home and Colonial Mail_ sets out the case forcibly:--

The blame ought not entirely to be laid upon the planter, however,
for certain facts have come to our knowledge during the present week
as regards the manner in which Indian Teas are bulked at some of
the London warehouses, which somewhat explains how depreciation in
quality comes about. We bought several breaks of Tea in the sales
this week, which were stated to be bulked and ready for sampling six
days before the sale; and yet we know for a fact that some of those
very Teas were not put back into the chest till the day after the
sale, if even then. More or less moisture is always to be found in
the London atmosphere, particularly in rainy weather, and there can
be no question that incalculable injury would be done to a fine Tea
by seven days’ exposure on the floor of a warehouse. The damage and
loss falls entirely on the buyer. The effects of it are not seen at
once, but there can be little doubt that a gradual depreciation sets
in, consequent on the absorption of moisture. No redrying process
follows; the Tea is simply filled back into the chests when seven
days of neglect have done what mischief is possible. Is it to be
wondered at that samples drawn from such a break of Tea a few months
after it has been bulked in London will have lost all their freshness
and malty smell?

J. C. TAYLOR AND COLMAN.

I have no reason to think the delay above is very unusual, and I must add to the above, that when the chests are closed no attempt is made even to cover the top with lead, much less to resolder it. Some paper on top is all attempted. I need say no more to prove that the quality of Indian Teas is _most_ seriously damaged at the Custom House.

Now as to No. 2. The loss in quantity to producer.

The following article, which I wrote to the _Indian Tea Gazette_ in 1881, shows how invariable the loss must be:--

The loss of Tea by the mode adopted at the Custom House in England is
great.

When Teas are sold at Calcutta, though the English Custom House
regulations do not then affect us immediately, they do so indirectly.
If purchasers in Calcutta gain by our Teas, they will bid more; if
they lose, they will bid less. Besides, many Teas are sold in London.

To understand what follows, it is necessary to remember that--

Garden Invoices _never_ go to Custom House. Custom House arrives at
weight of Tea by weighing the package for “gross,” and then turning
out Tea, weighing box, lead, nails, iron hooping, in fact all but
Tea, for “tare;” gross weight, minus tare, is the weight of Tea they
demand duty on, and the weight so found by Custom House is all the
producer or importer gets paid for.[106] It follows, therefore, that
the less Tea declared by Customs means a loss to producer and a gain
to buyer. To the latter in two ways, _viz._, less Tea to pay for
than is really there, and a saving of 6d. per lb. duty! But to show,
now, how the loss occurs. When weighing for gross, the fractions of
a pound are discarded; when weighing for tares, the pounds above the
actual weight are written. The _greatest_ loss that can occur by
this method, on one package, is 1 pound 14 ounces of Tea. It (this
greatest loss) _must_ always occur when the gross is 1 ounce short of
a pound, and the tare 1 ounce more than the pound.

NO. 1 EXAMPLE.

Gross and tare can be put at any figures as to pounds. It will always
come out the same. Say, therefore,

lbs. oz.
Gross 132 15} actual weights taken at
Tare (deducted) 37 1} Custom House.
----------
Actual Tea in chest 95 14

By rule quoted the gross and tare weights are set down at Custom
House--

lbs.
Gross 132
Tare (deducted) 38
-----
Actual Tea thus paid for = 94 pounds--on which duty is also paid.

Therefore the loss on the chest is 1 pound 14 ounces.

The _least_ loss that can take place (when ounces occur in gross and
tare) is 2 ounces. To insure this the gross must be 1 ounce more than
the pound, and the tare 1 ounce below.

NO. 2 EXAMPLE.

Say any figures in pounds.

lbs. oz.
Gross 133 1} actual weights taken at
Tare (deducted) 36 15} Custom House.
--------
Actual Tea in chest 96 2
========

But again, by rule quoted, it is written by Customs--

lbs.
Gross 133
Tare (deducted) 37
-----
Actual Tea paid for 96 pounds, on which duty is also paid.
=====

Therefore the loss on chest is 2 ounces only.

Now did weights turn out the same in London that they were on the
garden, we could, by doing as in last example, insure only the above
trifling 2 ounce loss. But it is _not_ so. The wood dries and thus
makes both the gross and tare less. The loss then comes out anything
between 2 ounces and 1 pound 14 ounces.

I find the following simple rule will give the exact loss on each and
every weight of both gross and tare.

_Rule._--Add the ounces above a pound in the gross to the ounces
short of a pound in the tare. The sum of the two, in ounces, will be
the loss of Tea on the package.

This is only part of the article. I break off here to add a few remarks more appropriate now than what I then wrote.

There are means by which this varying loss, of which the maximum is 1 pound 14 ounces, can be reduced to 4 ounces only on each and every chest.

I admit the procedure is scarcely practical, but as nothing can demonstrate better the absurdity of the system as pursued at the Customs, I give it here.

How can we insure the _least_ loss, taking into consideration the fact that the weights of both the gross and tare, because of the wood drying and lightening in transit, can never come out the same at the Custom House in London as they were on the garden.

We can do it thus: the Tea if well packed in a chest in no way alters in weight during transit. If dry, when put up, it cannot become lighter; if the leaden covering is air-tight, it can absorb no moisture, which would of course make it heavier. I therefore beg the question that it is a _fixed_ quantity, for it must be so if well packed.

We have therefore only to consider the gross and the tare, and, as shown, the loss in Tea, varying from 2 ounces to 1 pound 14 ounces, depends entirely on the weights these are found to be at the Custom House. In other words, if we can insure the gross there being but little over any even number of pounds, and the tare there being but little below any other even number of pounds, we attain (approximately) the least loss we can be mulcted in.

Begging the question that we can add to, or detract from, the gross weight of each chest in the Custom House (before it is put into the scales by the officer there) by the addition or subtraction of a few nails if the weight is nearly what we want, or pieces of hoop iron if the actual varies much from the desired weight--I say, if we can do this, we can insure approximately the minimum of loss. I go to show how this is to be done.

Pack the Tea in the usual way, but whatever the quantity it is desired to put into the chest (it can be varied with each class, for it matters not what the weight is in pounds) add to it 4 ounces, and be very careful that the whole weight of Tea is exactly the number of pounds required, plus 4 ounces--for the whole success of the plan depends on this weight being exact. Nothing more is required to be done at the Factory than has been done hitherto, for it matters not one straw, as regards the success of the plan, what the gross and tare of each package is, nor what the weight of Tea is, as long as exactly 4 ounces above an even number of pounds is there; neither does it signify how much the wood lightens in transit, and thus decreases the weights which were found at Factory for gross and tare.

The next step must be taken at the Custom House in London. Let the importer or the producer’s agent attend and weigh each package himself nicely, any time before the weights are to be taken by the Customs. Then let him _make_ each package 2 ounces above the even number of pounds. This will be easy enough, by the addition or subtraction of a few nails or hoop iron. For instance, suppose the chest to weigh 140 pounds 6 ounces, he would take away nails or hoop iron weighing 4 ounces. If it weighed 140 pounds 13 ounces, he would, by adding 5 ounces more nails or hoop iron, make it 141 pounds 2 ounces. All would then be finished, and each and every package so treated would give a loss in Tea of 4 ounces only.

If my plan could be carried out (as the minimum loss otherwise is 2 ounces, and the maximum 1 pound 14 ounces the mean is one pound), we save a loss of the said pound on _each_ chest, minus the loss we compound for, _viz._, 4 ounces. That is to say, we gain 12 ounces on each package which, in a break of 2 or 3 hundred chests, means a good deal to the producer or Customs!

I will give one example in figures. Any other possible figures can be tried: it will always come out the same, _if_ the weight of Tea is exactly 4 ounces above any given number of pounds.

NO. 3. EXAMPLE.

lbs. oz.
Results at Garden. Tea, any number of pounds
with 4 ounces added (say) 100 4
Tare (any figure) (say) 43 6
-------
Gross at Garden 143 10
-------

The wood lightens in transit any amount (it is immaterial),
say 15 ounces.
lbs. oz.
The weights at the Custom House {Gross 142 11
then become {Tare 42 7
-------
Weight Tea as before 100 4
-------

At Custom House (as detailed) by adding 7 ounces
of nails or hoop iron make lbs. oz.
Gross 143 2
The tare will thereby necessarily be}
increased 7 oz. and become } Tare 42 14
-------
Weight tea as before 100 4
-------
lbs.
These weights are written at {Gross 143
Custom House {Tare 43
----
Weight of Tea found by Customs is 100 pounds

which is a loss of 4 ounces only as stated.

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:--

TEA BULKING AT THE EAST AND WEST INDIA DOCK COMPANY’S WAREHOUSES, IN
CRUTCHED FRIARS.

It is not a little strange that the importance of effecting
improvements in the present system of Tea bulking, which has
exercised the minds of Tea growers and importers so much of late,
should have hitherto been neglected or ignored by the proprietors of
the various bonded warehouses in London wherein the Tea is bulked
and stored. That Tea may be, and only too commonly is, bulked by an
antiquated and unsatisfactory process is a fact which is well known
to all who are interested in the matter. How this result is arrived
at will be seen later on; at present we desire to show that at least
at one warehouse the question has received the attention which it
deserves, and to explain, so far as may be possible, the steps which
have been taken in the matter.

It is, then, that old and powerful body, the East and West India Dock
Company, who have taken up the matter. At the instance of Mr. Du Plat
Taylor, the able and energetic secretary of the company, supported
by the equally energetic warehouse superintendent, Mr. Robert Adams,
the arrangements for bulking Tea at the warehouse of the Company have
been very greatly improved. More than this; there has been invented
and set up a special and very ingenious machine for the bulking of
Tea in a manner which avoids all the failings of the old system. What
this machine is, and what its peculiar merits are, will best, and
perhaps only, be clearly understood by a brief description of the
two systems as we lately saw them in operation at the warehouses of
the company in Crutched Friars, which we may mention are nearer than
any others to Mincing-lane, an advantage securing to planters and
importers the certainty that their Teas will be sampled by the trade
generally.

Under the old system, then, each chest of a break, after having been
subjected to certain preliminary formalities, is opened, and the
Tea turned out in a heap on the floor of the warehouse. When this
is done the Tea is bulked by means of wooden spades, each spadeful
being thrown to the top of the central heap, so that it falls over
and on all sides. Here the Tea lies until it is placed back again in
the chests after they are tared, there being a considerable interval
at some of the London warehouses between the bulking and refilling.
The refilling is thus accomplished. The Tea is first put into bags
and weighed on a machine at the side of the bulk. The bag and chest
are then taken off the weighing machine and the contents of the bag
are emptied into the chest. The Tea, however, requires some pressure
to force it into the chest, and this pressure is obtained by an
expedient of a very primitive kind. When the chest is partly filled
a man gets in and presses down the Tea by treading on it. So soon as
the Tea is all in the chest the package is properly secured, and the
operation is completed.

Now the serious faults of this plan are at once apparent. In the
first place the Tea, being in heaps on the floor of the warehouse
with a large surface exposed to the atmosphere, runs the risk of
losing a great deal of its freshness and aroma, this risk being
largely increased by the doors of the warehouse being kept open in
order to discharge or to receive merchandise in all weathers. No
atmospheric influences are calculated to benefit Tea. Then, again,
the shovelling of the Tea by means of wooden spades, and the treading
into the chests, can hardly do otherwise than injure the Tea--the
filling in a minor degree and the treading to a more serious extent,
the result being, of course, that the Tea is depreciated.

The East and West India Dock Company have made the best of this
primitive method of Tea bulking. In the first place it is insisted
on in their warehouses that previous to trampling the Tea into the
chests, a cloth shall be placed over it to preserve it from the dirt
of the man’s boots, and to some extent from injury--a precaution
which, strange as it may seem, is not taken in every bonded
warehouse. Then, again, Mr. Adams, the warehouse superintendent--who
could hardly have the interests of planters and importers more at
heart were he “in Tea” himself--uses his best endeavours to refill
the boxes with as little delay as possible, and thus to prevent it
from being injured by undue exposure to the atmosphere. He also keeps
the floors of the warehouse as clean as practicable. But feeling
that the best efforts, however well devised, and however strenuously
carried out, must necessarily be attended with but partial success,
the East and West India Dock Company have erected--as has already
been mentioned--a Tea bulking machine, a device which is ingenious
and meritorious, and which seems to be, so far as it has been tried,
a great success.

This machine, designed by Mr. Tydeman, of the company’s engineering
staff, and constructed under his supervision, consists, firstly, of
a large hollow revolving drum weighing nearly two and a-half tons,
and of sufficient capacity to thoroughly bulk about 50 chests of Tea.
The drum is made to hold about 100 chests of Tea, which leaves ample
space for the bulking of the above quantity. Inside this drum are
frames fitted at intervals with iron rods, and extending at varying
angles from the axle of the drum to its extremity. Externally the
drum has two openings for the reception of the Tea, and two smaller
ones for its discharge. In a line with the axle of the drum, some
height from the floor, is a platform to which the chests are conveyed
by a double lift which simultaneously ascends with a full chest and
brings down an empty one. Adjuncts to the machine are a weighing
machine, a presser, and four beaters--of the two latter the nature
and object will be immediately apparent. The process of bulking
as effected by this machine is briefly as follows: The drum being
revolved till its receiving openings are level with the platform,
a chest of Tea is raised, as before explained, and the contents
examined on the door of the drum, which falls back into a horizontal
position for that purpose, then by closing the tray or door the Tea
is passed into the drum. The lift then brings up another full chest
and takes down the emptied one, which is at once taken to a scale for
taring purposes, and so the process is continued till the break is
exhausted. This filling process can be carried on at both sides of a
drum at once, as there are two openings and two lifts. The Tea being
in, the drum is made to revolve, when the iron frames thoroughly mix
the Tea in a very few revolutions--three would suffice.

The drum has now to be emptied, and this operation is effected in
the following manner:--The revolution of the drum is stopped when
the openings through which the Tea is released are brought over the
weighing machines--there are two for greater expedition--on which are
placed the chests ready to receive it. The delivery doors (worked
by levers) being opened, the Tea is allowed to descend till the
chest is about half full, when the presser and beaters are brought
into play by hydraulic pressure. The presser is a piece of flat
iron about an inch in thickness, removable at pleasure, and varies
in size to fit either a chest or a box. The beaters are four pieces
of the same metal, which support the chest so soon as it is on the
weighing machine. When the chest is partly filled, the beaters are
released, and, by the action of a wheel, are made to strike all four
sides of the chest, and thus shake the Tea down. The presser is
also brought down to press the Tea in. The action of both of these
agents can be regulated to any required degree of force. Thus by
degrees the chest is filled, and (the supporting beaters having been
released and the presser raised) is weighed and ultimately removed.
Such, in brief, is the action of the new Tea bulking machine. One
or two points, however, remain to be mentioned. The power by which
the machine is actuated is hydraulic. The presser will not injure
the Tea. The beaters serve the triple purpose of holding the chest
in position on the weighing machine, of supporting it should it be
of weak construction, and of materially assisting the repacking of
the Tea. The beating action does not in any way injure the chests.
Our readers will also be pleased to know that certain very marked
improvements even upon the above described are already in hand by
this Dock Company--improvements which will greatly increase the value
and usefulness of their machinery for bulking Teas.

To descant on the advantages over the old system of bulking which are
possessed by the machine which has been described would be little
better than a waste of time. Yet some few points may be briefly
referred to. First, cleanliness is secured, for from first to last
the Tea is never touched by hand or foot. Again, the Tea cannot be
injured, nor can it lose its aroma, for it is never exposed to the
atmosphere at all. Instead of being allowed to lie on the floor
of the warehouse for any period, the entire process of bulking is
completed without break or delay. The Directors of the East and West
India Dock Company are not, of course, so sanguine as to imagine that
the old system of bulking will be at once abandoned; indeed, they
have, as has been mentioned, taken steps to improve that system;
they do, however, think that it should be abandoned, and to that end
have adopted the Tea Bulking Machinery as an alternative, and an
immeasurably superior process. That they are justified in this view
there can be no doubt in the minds of those who have witnessed both
the systems in operation.

The said machinery is at the CRUTCHED FRIARS Warehouse alone, and it is, of course, very desirable the machinery should be adopted in all Tea warehouses. This end will be quickly brought about if those who send their Tea home, and the importers here, insist on their Tea being sent to this one warehouse that has the machinery.

What an advantage to owners and managers of Tea estates is the fact that Tea bulked by machinery at CRUTCHED FRIARS is not exposed to the changeable English atmosphere, or at least not for more than a few minutes, and consequently is not so likely to be classed as “flat.” How many planters are there who, after taking especial care in the manufacture of their crop, find to their chagrin that on arrival in London (and after exposure probably for some days), the shipment is described as “flat,” and worth so many pence per lb. less than if the atmospheric exposure had not occurred.

It appears to me that very little, added to the help this new machinery gives, would now do away with _all_ the injury the producer and the Tea has hitherto borne in the Customs. So much has now been accomplished by this machinery, the Tea is well bulked, and _receives no injury whatever thereby_. But two further improvements are required:--

1. That the actual weight of Tea in each chest (discarding ounces)
be recorded, and that thus the loss to the producer and the Customs,
detailed above, be avoided.

2. That the lead at top of the Tea be carefully replaced and
resoldered, so that every chest shall leave the Custom House in as
good condition as it entered it.

Very little addition to the machinery detailed above would accomplish the first. The chest ready to receive the Tea, plus the lid and top lead (which should have been carefully removed), might be weighed on the platform at the side of the big drum (by simply making the said platform a weighing machine) and weighed again when filled, with the lid and lead laid on it. The difference of the two weights would, of course, be the weight of the Tea.

The second is a question of expense; it would not be great if done systematically. The chest should be carefully opened, and the top lead removed in a square piece _nearly the size of the box_. When replaced, a narrow strip of lead, soldered down on either side, would make the covering complete.

Justice will not be done to Indian Teas till this last is accomplished.

Who should bear the expense? The chests are received into the Customs for the benefit of the Revenue, and who can doubt, were the question tried in a Court of Law, that they are bound to return them in as good condition as they were received. They do _not_, and have never done so, and I only wonder the trade has stood it so long, and has not sued them. Were the course I advise followed out, there would remain no cause of complaint, and the trifling cost of soldering on the lid again should doubtless, therefore, be borne by the Customs.

But in reality the Customs would sustain no loss--in fact, the other way. I have shown clearly at page 278 _that were the weight of Tea correctly recorded, the Customs would receive in duty upwards of £11,000 each year from Indian Tea more than it does now_. To re-solder the lids on the boxes would cost nothing like that; and highly as Indian Tea is thought of now, how much higher still would it stand were it not injured to the frightful extent it is in passing through the Customs.