Ir there is one thing more conclusively established in China of recent years than another, it is the fact that the supply of an article called tea is practically unlimited, except by the demands of the Cha-szes. In other words, that so long as the foreigner continues buying at rates sufficient to pay for laying down in Shanghai, the tea manufacturer will continue, from one source or other, to bring forward fired toa leaves. True, the quality is not such as might be desired, and the article ig in London may find its fittest infusion in cold Thames water bat it is undeniably tea; that is, the leaf of the tea plant, and as such seems to fill up the list of exports and adds to the stock of rubbish accumulating year by year at homo as China tea. Year by year some sanguine Cha-sze listens to the tale of some Chinese charmer, who whispers in his ear the magic words "short crop;" and though the majority of the purchasers have Tearned by sad experience that such a state of affairs is practically unknown, yet, by the strange infatuation which characterises the trade, they follow the lead of the first sanguine buyer; and before they lave recovered their equanimity sufficiently to look calmly at the probably result of their action, find that they have already shipped a quarter or a third of the entire possible consumption in Europe. In August or September they awaken to the farther unpleasant knowledge that their activity and want of discrimination in pur. chasing at the beginning of the season, has encouraged the Chinese packers to buy up and fire all the old and spent leaves they could lay their hands on, and tothe additional consciousnessthat, however they may personally abstain, some individual more sanguine is sure to purchase the nasty stuff and send it forward to swell the nominal stock accumulating in London. There are undoubtedly peculiarities connected with the tea trade which have more or less led up to this state of things, but it is still more peculiar that it should be exactly reproduced year after year. "It isa fact that the tea produced from the young leaf in spring is far superior to that plucked when it becomes hard and matured, and so there has been a natural tendency to hasten the commencement of the season; but this tendency has undoubtedly been over done, and as the early picking of young leaves does not produce enough for the demand for first chops, the difference is made up by leaves kept over for the purpose from the last year, Some few years ago, a feeble attempt was made to stop. this practice at Foochow; and with characteristic mis-prison of the cause, the tea buyers appealed to authority to put down a practice which could never have grown up bad they themselves been in a less hurry to inspect and ship. Every year we hear of decreasing flavour, and increasing quantities of "black" Jeaves in the inow crops; yot the thought has scarcely impressed itself on the mind of the purchasers that, to their own haste to buy any article called tea, is really to be attributed the practice. In point of fact, sufficient discrimination is. not exercised between the various qualities of the new crop. The enhanced price to be obtained for an honestly prepared tea, over a mixture of n fow flavour leaves concealed in a mass of rubbish, is nob sufficient to induce the Chinese manufacturer to abandon the practice. In consequence, prices for Chinese teas have been going down year after year in the London market, and the purchasers in China have been compelled to buy at reduced rates. It is quite possible that the rates prevailing at the opening of the market this year would not have paid the native manufacturers for really first-class tea. At all events the fact remains that be had not sufficient inducement to produce it, as the difference at which the purchasers valued really good and mixed teas did not really represent the differences -in cost of production. The remedy for this unsatisfactory state of affairs: is not, we believe, to be found in combination. It would be far safer did each purchaser act on his own common sense. The latter would lead him to be more particular in his rejection of inferior chops, and when once the native found that old leaves really depreciated the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.