Note 4 — INTRODUCTORY

I cannot resist quoting the following paragraph from the ‘Pall Mall Budget’ for March 13, 1891:—

‘An enormous Price for Ceylon Tea.

‘Unusual excitement prevailed on Tuesday in Mincing Lane, on the offering by Messrs. Gow, Wilson, and Stanton, tea-brokers, in public auction, of a small lot of Ceylon tea from the Gartmore estate in Maskeliya (Mr. T. C. Anderson). This tea possesses extraordinary quality in liquor, and is composed almost entirely of small “golden tips,” which are the extreme ends of the small succulent shoots of the plant, and the preparation of such tea is, of course, most costly. Competition was of a very keen description. The bidding, which was pretty general to start with, commenced with an offer of 1l. 1s. per lb.; as the price advanced to 8l. many buyers dropped out, and at this price about five wholesale dealers were willing to purchase. Offers were then made up to about 9l. 9s. by three of the leading houses, the tea being ultimately knocked down to the “Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company” at the most extraordinary and unprecedented price of 10l. 12s. 6d. per lb.’

Naturally, when this news reached Ceylon the excitement knew no bounds. This, however, was intensified in the following month, when another sale of ‘golden tips,’ prepared on the Haviland estate (Mr. W. A. M. Denison), sold in Mincing Lane for 17l. per lb. Even this surprising price was, however, very soon surpassed, for the next consignment of ‘golden tips’ from Gartmore fetched 25l. 10s. per lb. This was quickly followed by the sale of a small box from the Kellie estate at 30l. per lb.; while, on August 25, another parcel was actually sold at 35l. per lb.