A GREAT TEA SWINDLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1918, Page 7

A GREAT TEA SWINDLE.

HOW SOME RETAILERS ARE ROBRING THE PUBLIC. If you go into a. grocer's shop to-mor-row morning (says a writer in the Manchester Sunday Chronicle) and ask him for a quarter of controlled tea, the chances are that the man or woman behind "the counter will reply: "Sorry, I haven't any; but I have a little tea at 4s per lb, and I can let you have two ounces." What, are the odds that he is telling the truth? What are the odds that the "four shilling" tea which he has is not really the 2s 4d controlled tea which he says he has not? I am making a serious charge, not against the trade, but against an indefinite number of grocers. There are honest grocers still, and those that are honest are men of character, for the temptation to dishonesty was never greater, the rewards never larger, the risk of being discovered never slighter. This combination of circumstances has been too much for any in the trade, who are evading a Government attempt to stop profiteering in regard to the cup that cheers, and are inflicting great hardship upon the very poorest people, to whom a cup of tea has become an essen> tial. What are the facts upon which I base the charge? These: Since July 1 there have been set aside certain quantities of tea which the Government said must bd sold at— A grade 2s 4d, B grade 2s 8d to 3s, C grade 3s to 3s 4d, D grade 4s a pound. Thirty per cent, of the total amount was to be A grade, 33 per cent. B, 25 per cent. C, and 10 per cent. D. Now, the curious and highly significant fact is that it is possible to get the grade of which there was the least, and it is not possible to get the qualities of which there was the most. HOW IT IS WORKED.

On the face the facts present a paradov and suggest a swindle. And there is a swindle. The Government passed out these teas to the wholesalers on the strict understanding that they were ,to pass the goods on to the 'retailers. And the Government, with that simple faith in human nature which in these cases seems to distinguish them, trusted that the retailer, being a good, honest man, would not jump at the chance of making shillings profit instead of pence. A very large wholesaler tells me that it is common knowledge in tbe trade that many retailers get the packets or 2s 4d, xs Bd, 3s, and 3s 4d tea, immediately break open the packets, deposit the tea into caddies and call it all 4s tea.

Then, when someone comes in for Government tea he is met with an apology and a proffer of a few ounces at the maximum price of 4s a pound. The customer pays 4s for tea which the Government say must be sold at 2s 4d. He can congratulate himself on the fact that the-Aaximum was not fixed at 10s. Do you see how this swindle can be prevented? The temptation is pretty big. The profit is enormous. The difficulty of proof of fraud is so simple that I am amazed the swindle has been allowed to go on so long. A writer in the Sunday Chronicle recently advocated one price for each article of food, irrespective of quality. This plan would prevent profiteering. But it would be at the price of ruining the tea. Perhaps you don't know that all qualities of tea come from one plant. The dearest and choicest blends are the young buds. The cheapest and strongest are from the coarse leaves that grow until tbe autumn. If all teas were one price the tea planter would let all his leaves grow rank and coarse, because thereby he would produce tile greatest bulk. AN EFFECTIVE REMEDY. I believe that the Government are contemplating buying up the whole product of the Ceylon and Indian plantation* at a. fiat rate. If this is so, it must guard against the planter's desire for quantity rather than quality. But there is a method which would be as effective as the flat retail price, and which would still enable planters to study quality. It is for the Government to become the sole importers and blenders. The grading and blending could be done under Government supervision,

The tea could then foe sent out in Government sealed packets, and it could be made an offence punishable by fin? or imprisonment for any retailer to sell any tea. whatever other than that in Government packets, upon which the price would he plainly stated. And while the Government were' doing this they could also make up penny packets. At the present time the very poorest people who ask for a penn'orth or ha'p'orth of tea Me being robbed right and left. They are being given an unwcighed pinch in a screw of paper, Yet for a penny a woman is entitled to half an ounce of tea. at 2s Sd. But the people who buy penny packets are not articulate. They suffer ia «Uesce fox a, long timt,