LARGE STOCKS OF TEA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2140, 20 December 1890, Page 3

LARGE STOCKS OF TEA.

MESBBS NELSON, MOATE & CO.

ALBEET BOND, CHBISTCH¥ECH,

Bo one can possibly hare a conception of the immense trade which is done in tea in this Colony until they are privileged, as the writer was the other day, to inspect the bonded stores of Messrs Nelson, Moate and Co., on the South belt, adjoining the Christehurch Eailway Station. It has been left to Nelson, Moate and Co. to establish the largest combined wholesale, retail, and importing business in India, Ceylon, and Chinese teas in any of the British dominions, and their name kas now become famous in the Southern Hemisphere for their celebrated blends. As Christchurch is the main centre of business, all the tea must pass through here, and it is in consequence of that the stocks are so heavy. The bonded store is the one formerly used by Mr C. W. Turner as a grain and produce store, and is built of brick, with stone facings. There are three floors, each twelve feet high, supported by heavy pillars and massive beams of timber. Each floor is 100 ft by 80ft, and the two lower floors are literally packed to the ceiling with Messrs Nelson, Moate and Co.'s cases, six deep. Though the immense stock shuts out the light to a great extent, the passages admit of sufficient to enable the visitor to distinguish the different brands of teas, and to note the various methods of packing adopted. The chests, or cases, contain an average of one hundred j pounds net. On the occasion of the I visit under notice the books of the Customhouse officer in charge of the store showad that there were nearly eleven thousand chests of tea in the store, and five railway trucks were then unloading part of another cargo now being discharged from a vessel in port. The two lower floors being so thoroughly filled, arrangements are now being made to have the upper floor set apart also for Nelson, Moate and Co.'s teas. There are now afloat between two and three thousand more chests of this season's crop, consigned to the firm at Lyttelton, and the upper storey will be ready to receive these on arrival. As a proof that there is a demand for this enormous quantity, another view of the store is necessary. The exit door showed three drays carting away the cases and chests to supply the warehouse, where the various sorts are cut, mixed and packed in the neat familiar style so well known throughout this and the neighbouring Colonies. Some idea can be gained of the firm's output when it is stated that of the total amount paid for the duty of tea

f during the past financial year, Messrs Nelson, and Moate and Co. contributed at least a fourth. A hasty glance through the free warehouse in Colombo , street, where the cheßta are first taken, and the cutting, mixing, blending and packing are done, makes the enjoyment of a morning, under Mr Nelson's guidance, pass away only too quickly. As a wind up, a cup of the luxurious, beverage made from the very earliest sprouts of the plant, and sun dried, which costs one guinea per pound in China, makes the visitor feel that there is more in the tea trade than he ever knew before, and that Nelson, Moate and Co. have done more towards developing it successfully than probably any firm in the southern hemisphere.—Canterbury Times.