The Board of Trade Tea inquiry resumed its sittings to-day.
Ar, Charles Morrell, representing the British Chamber of Commerce of the Hast Indies, said he believed the marking of tea would adversely affect. the British export trade to the Bast Indies.
Mr. Erie MacFadyen, chairman of the "tea section of the same Chamber, stated that some sti firms had expandd their busines from India and Ceylon to. the st Indies because tet-plantings territory could be purchased Sumatra at 14/- an acre against 95 to £20 in Ceylon. He con-
Sidered that the standard of East Indi: s' tea had risen considerably in recent years and that marking tea containers entering Britain would restrict investments in tea produce in the East Indies, 'Opposition to posal was also voiced by the Joseph Travers Ca. One of Messrs. Lyons's representatives expressed the opin-Jon that it would create chaos in Britain, while the firm's tea buyer, Mr, Lil. C. Barton, said Java tea grown' by Dutchmen was very different from that grown by Eng~ lish firms in the same country. Dutchmen didn't understand tea, he said, and with one exception projsuced a lower grade article than the English growers, Jess Demand for Foreign Grades Dee, 18, The Board of Trade inquiry into the question of marking tea imported from sources outside the British Empire continued to-day, The evidence given in opposition to the appli included Messrs Liptons Ltd., the managing director vf which did' not think that such an order would be to the advantage of the trade of the country or the bulk of tea consumers. Ho said that ently there had been a more insistent demand for the lower grades of Indian and Ceylon teas and a less demand for the foreign grades.
A representative of Messrs, Wile liam Wright & Ca. said that it would not be possible to sell tea in Glas~ xow at 1/4 per pound uniees it were blended with a foreign tea, 'A representative of Messrs, David Loyd & Piigotts Ltd, dwelt on the dfieulties marking would make in the matter of distributing to the retail trades, He also said that it would enhance the price of tea for the poorer classes and open the door for fraud, The Board of Trade Committee decided to hear certain evidence in camera.
The inquiry was then adjourned tilt January 14—Renter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.