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.