The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-18 00:00:00

THE TEA DUTIES.

ADJOURNED MEETING.
mn,orters wis held at the London Tavern
y4trr'ay afternoon the adjourned meeting of the tea
dealers a
nresiding as before. The gentlemen
tm ;
n Sir James Thke, M.P., Mr.
Mr. Moffatt,
dney, and nearly all the
Gprreeszengotoi,ncmlu.dpeid,
Alderman
leading members of the tea trade.
The Chairman announced that .7'ftey the meeting yesterday
the committee then appointed waited upon the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, and suggested to him ttis!'
t d t 'th
alteration they
thought it would be desirable to make in his eltt ge vf,ll.
regard to the tea dutis. Instead of going for the :4 'LI:
the committee thought it would be better to propose %
medium course, and they therefore suggested to the right
honourable gentleman that for the next three years the
duty should be permanently fixed at ls. 4d. per pound,
a course which would put an end to those flactuatione
which the trade had of late years too much reason
to complain of. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
appeared to be favourably disposed towards the proposition,
but wished to know whether it had received the unanimous'
approval of the trade. The right bon. gentleman was
assured that he could be easily satisfied on that point, and
with that view he (Mr. Moff.tt) had now to move the
following resolution, viz :—" That this meeting views with
deep regret and astonishment any departure from the pro,
visions of the act of parliionent by which the duty on tea'
was fixed at Is Sd for the ensuing year ; that an altera,
tion to any higher rate of duty involves serious incon-
venience in the arrangements made for importations.
from China, causing deplorable disturbances of ex-
isting contracts which have been extensively made
throughout the United Kingdom on the faith of the act,
but owing to the alleged exigencies of the State, this
meeting re'uctantly acquiesces iu the recommendation of
its committee for the adoption of a fixed duty of is 4d per
lb for the next three years, as although that alteration
involves loss on existing contracts, yet it prevents any
further fiscal disturbances of the regular position of tiztde
until the final reduction of the dots to Is per lb., as
o iginatly proposed by the government."
Mr. Gregson, M.P., seconded the resolution, and in do.
ing so observe-I that neither the government nor the public
might be under any apprehension as to a deficiency in the
supply of tea, as the stocks on hand already amounted to
8/ .000.000 I be. (ITear. hear.)
Alderman Sydney and Sir James Duke, M.P. supported
the resolution ; the latter stating that he would use hi*
influence with parliament to get it adopted.
The resolution was carried unanimously.

On the motion of Mr. Kirkman Hodgson, seconded by
Mr. Neal Currie, the following resolution was also carried
unanimously, viz :—" That a petition to Parliament,
embodying the foregoing resolution, be prepared and signed
by the merchants and traders of London, and that similar
petitions be solicited from the provinces. Mr. Corrie re-
marked that, in addition to the stock in hand, there were
26,000,000 lbs. of tea afloat, making the total supply for
present wants something. ii!:e 130,000,000 lbs. (Cheers.)
The proceedings then terruinatqd, with a vote of thanks
to the committee and chairman.