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--