Minutes of Evidence p.1401-1509 - Parliament of Victoria

.r. P. G?ulstune, were pack;ng nncler the "Orient Tea Companv'' bnand ; we stopped t.hem; and another person who put
zr~ 0 :f~~uf~im. them under our " Challenge'' and "Stamlard''lJrauds, npon our bringing them before the party who was
packilJg them, he at once stopped it.
-19058. Is your trade increttsing ?-It io greatly increasing, though since we st.arted I cannot tell you
how many rival firms have st.arted packing, nncl others buy teas from Chinn packed there. But the trade
has gmdnally increased, last yettr more especially QUl' trade increased a good 25 per cent.
49059. Are there a number of tea blenders in the city ?-Yes, a number now, but none npou the
same principle as onrsel ves. vV e select teas to suit our brands, but I think the majority merely pack wh!;tt
suits their stocks.
49060. By JYfr. Grimwade.-As to passing those entries and pHtting the incorrect value upon them,
are you not liable to a fine ?-No, not at all, the Customs ha.ve no control ovet· it. They only recognise
the quantity of toa at a fixed rate of duty. '
49061. In passing entries of other things, if you pass them at a wrong value, you are liable to a
penalty?-That is in importing.
49062. Or exporting ; is not that so, Mr. Drysdale? If you overvalue, either carelessly or intentionally,
are you not liable to a fine ?-(Mr. Drtjsdale )-I do not know that you are, but the clerk has to be
careful in getting the val!le.
49063. B.t! the Chai1·man.-Bnt if the duty had been an ad valorem and the drawback were
according to valu3, you would. have to mo,ke a declaration according to value?-Yes, but it is only upon the
qnantity.
49064. Does that apply only to import ?-It applies both to drawback and to expm"t entries.
49065. B!l the Hon. Jrfr. Lorime1·.-I see there is a penalty•for false declaration, and I see upon the
baek of the entry it is plain that the value is part of the declaration T!te witness)-! do not think the
value is part of the declaration.
49066. Bp Mr. Jffcintyre.-There is the penalty of perjury ?-But there is no penalty in this case.
There is a form of declaration upon the back of the export entry.
49067. B,.J the Hon. Mr. Lorime1·.-Yon have had large experience as a tea merchant, have you
not ?-I have been engaged in the. trade now about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years.
49068. In the direct trade as well as in the mixing business both.
49069. Selling original packages ?-Yes.
49070. Can you give us your views as to whether the public are better protected with a duty upon
the ten,, with Customs supervision attendant on the duty, or if it were altogether free?-With regard to
teas, I think they are very much better protected by the Customs.
49071. Will you explain the practice, when tea is bonded, with regard to weights ?-Generally they
take a percentage of the number of packages forming a line, then m1lculate the gross and tare, and take the
average.
49072. And that is maue out upon the certificates ?-Yes.
49073. Then the tea being sold in bond, the public are protected by the weights upon the certificates?
-They are.
49074. Is it not a fact that the trade generally prefer a duty on that account ; it prevents dispute?
-They do.
49075. The weights arc guaranteed by the Customs supervision ?-That might apply more
especially to China packages, which are pretty nearly of an average weight in a break; but with Indian
packages, in the same parcel, even if it is only a matter of twenty chests from a garden, I have found
them to vary from twelve to twenty pounds in the weight of a package. ·
49076. Do not you think the risk of adnlteration would he also increased if there were no duty?­
I do not think it. In the time I have been in business in the colony, except in the early times,Ihaveseen
very little adulteration; some came in black tea.
49077. But after it has come in-after it gets out of bond ?-I do not see how it is to be do1,1e.
49078. A grocer could do it ?-I do not know by whttt means.
49079. It is impossible for the wholesale merchant to do it just now, under the existing plan?­
I think it is as possible for him as for the grocer.
49080. How could he do it ?-That is what I say, I do not know how it could be done.
49081. If a man had it in his warehouse would not some system of adulteration be possible by
mixing ?-Mixing is not aclnlLeration. Aucl if you sell a mixed tea, and are dealing fairly with a man, you
sell by a sample of the mixture. As a rule tea is sold by sample, and you bny the mixed sample of tea.
It is done, I believe, in the city-that merchants' packages are used for refilling again, and that a commoner
tea may go out in a package that has conveyed, to this port, a very much finer quality of tea. For
instance, I may say that ten may be imported by a house here at a cost of 2s. a pound, well known in the
market as a :first crop tea, and those packages would be refilled by a commoner tea, and sent out as first
crop tea.
49082. vVould not thnt be much easier to do if there were no Customs supervision ?-The amount
of that done, I think, would be very small.
49083. Would not the plan of free tea facilitate it ?-I do not think that it would-it might possibly
-but I do not think it would be done that way. · ·
1452
Tlte witness withdrew.
.rohn Whiting,
3rdMay 1883,
John Whiting sworn and examined •
49084. By the Cl1ai1·man.-What are you ?-Importer.
49085. Of tea ?-Of teas and oilmen's stores.
49086. Tea is t.he question we are on just at the present moment. Did you hear the evidence of Mr.
Goulstone ?-Yes.
49087. Have yott anything further to add to the eviclence he has given ?-I agree v,1th very much
that Mr. Goulstone stated. I have a very decided opinion that to remove the duty from tea woulll be in
many ways injuriocts.