'Merchants' Petition to Government Suggesting Means of Improving a Bad State of Affairs The causes of depression China's tea trade and a number of suggestions for its improvement which will result in its monopoly by native merchants, instead of foreigners, are contained in the course of a lengthy, but most important, petition which has, been Awidgessed to the National Govern-tment by the National Tea Traders Guild, who appeal to the authorities for ce-operation, The petition reads:—Chinese tea is one of the world's most important products and its Export occupies an important place in our foreign trade. to the opening of treaty ports, Chinese tea was exported by foreign mis sloneness in Kuangtung, Fukien and Chekiang. More than ten provinces grow tea, our well-known producing: tenttes being Chimen, Wuyuan ant Tuanchih in Anhui: Ningchow and Fuliang in Kiangsi: Tungting, Anhwa, Taoyuan, Shangshan, Kao-chino, Pingkiang, Livyang and Tenghsien in Hunan:—Ichang, Tuchih, Tungchen, Tsungyang and Shengning in Hupeh: Kuanhsien in Szechuen: and Puh-erh in Yunnan When China's tea trade reached its peak, the value, of our tea ex: ports was more than Tls. 60,000,000. Mity figure did not include domestic consumption, China's tea exports have now dropped to less than Tls. 26,000,000 annually, Many causes are responsible for this sharp drop, the principal being the keen com petition of foreign teas (Japanese, Ceylon and Dutch), and conserva jam on the part of China's tea planters and merchants. In addi-ion, the Government has refused to ce-operate with the tea traders.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.