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.