The significant feature of the movement, however, is the very agreeable surprise, month by month, caused by the publication of the delivery figures. These compare for the last few months as follows:-- _Deliveries of the last Four Months compared with corresponding Months._ October. November. December. January. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 1882-3 5,132,000 5,174,000 4,457,000 5,502,000 1881-2 4,353,000 4,205,000 3,724,000 4,104,000 --------- --------- --------- --------- Increase 779,000 969,000 733,000 1,398,000 A continuance of similar large increases is most probable, especially as we compare with the relatively small deliveries of February to April inclusive of last year, when only 10,489,000 lbs. were taken from warehouse, against 12,782,000 lbs. in the same months of 1881--a decrease of 2,293,000 in three months. Part of the decrease may be attributed to the then higher range of medium and common Indian Teas. The net result of the above statistics is that--with no materially larger arrivals visible, even with the liberal allowance of 5,000,000 lbs. increased shipments for the crop year--the deliveries give every promise of showing very considerable expansion, and, as we have said, threaten for the complete year to more than absorb the extra supply. To enable anyone to check and form an independent opinion on the forecast we venture to give, we present below the imports and deliveries, half-year by half-year, for the four seasons 1879-80 to 1882-83 inclusive, with the totals of each crop year:-- IMPORTS OF INDIAN TEA. 1879-80. 1880-81. 1881-82. 1882-83. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 1st July to} 31st Dec.} 23,537,000 29,142,000 28,947,000 33,218,000 1st Jan. to} 30th June} 15,868,000 16,819,000 20,948,000 [91]21,782,000 ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- Season year 39,405,000 45,961,000 49,895,000 [91]55,000,000 DELIVERIES OF INDIAN TEA. 1879-80. 1880-1. 1881-2. 1882-3. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 1st July to} 31st Dec. } 16,847,000 24,352,000 23,755,000 27,109,000 1st Jan. to} 30th June } 19,465,000 25,106,000 23,386,000 [92]28,802,000 ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- Season year 36,312,000 49,458,000 47,141,000 [92]55,911,000