Not so many days ago Reuter informed us that a campaign had been started in Mincing Lane against the tea brokers who were believed to be controlling the market in their own Interest and without reference the price the consumer had to pa: For a considerable time past it has} certainly been favourable for them, for us soon as the effects of the post" war slump had been liquidated. the Duce of tea started to rise. This was due to one cause in particular, namely that, following the setback which started about 1920, growers all the world over proceeded to reduce production. On the London market Indian and Ceylon tea bulk {far more in importance and quantity than does the China article, and. when expecially the Indian planters reduced their area under cultivation the effect was very pronounced. Then tea began slowly to recover until it has again become a profitable industry, the result of the higher pri ces beng to create a moderate boom ju ten shares at Home. The tele-
Jkram conveyed the idea the brokers were making more out of the situ: fon than anybody else, and so a reference to the Royal Commission on Food Prices was hinted at. The threat has apparently had the desir-Jed effect, for tea is now on the downward grade, and presumably the! brokers are' allowing the market to take its normal course. The fuct that ce-operative societies have! secured heavy supplies should dono more than tend—to steadiness. Cheaper tea should mean' greater consumption, and the fact that there is 35,000,000. Th, more of the leaf in stock in London than a year ago should do no more than bring the market to a normal condition, always remember-Ing the difference between prices before and after the war.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.