TEA PRODUCING COMPANIES OF JALPAIGURI 69 For example, the subsidy to foodgrains and an 8.33 percent bonus have to be paid irrespective of loss or profit. There are certain other expenses the planters cannot reduce. For example, advance payment for various taxes and commissions and interest on loans have no relation with the declining prices. 6 Report of the Plantation Inquiry Commission, Vol 1 p 160. e Assam Review and Tea News, LXII, 6, August 19S3, p 160. 7 Ibid., LIII, 3 April 1965, pp 100-101. 8 Replantation means uprooting existing bushes and filling new plants. It results in temporary loss of revenue. Replacement is the extension of new plantation in areas where land is available. 9 Wickizer, op cit., p 161. 10 Ibid., p 169. 11 The Chairman of the Indian Tea Association remarked in 1967 "I cannot omit a reference to the devastating effect that devaluation has had on the personal incomes and fortunes of our expatriate planters whose endeavour it is to educate their children in Britain and eventually retire to that country... Measures have been taken by tea companies to mitigate these hardships but it is economically impossible, with the Indian tax structure as it is, to restore previous standards in full. The result has inevitably been that a larger proportion, possibly nearly 50 percent of our British Planters have left or are about to leave India". Assam Review and Tea J^ews.LVl, I. p28. 12 See S Mukherjee, ^Emergence of Bengalee Entreprencurship in Tea Plantations in a Bengal District, 18 79-1933 ", in Indian Economic and Social History Review, XIII, 4, October- December, 1976. 13 Special Business No 10 of Annual General Report of Anjuman Tea Company Ltd for the year 1957. 14 Resolution No 6 and 7 of the proceedings of the Annual General Meeting for 1965 of the Bengal Duars National Tea Company Ltd. 15 Director's Report for the year 1964 ofPalashbari Tea Company Ltd. 16 Director's Report ofAlimabad Tea Company Ltd for 1965, 17 Ibid. 18 The sales charges amounted to 10 percent of the total expenses and taxes another 15 percent of the sales realised. For example, for a crop of 4,46,250 kg in 1957, the sales charge at a Calcutta auction is as follows:- West Bengal entry tax Rs 51,696; freight and transit of tea Rs 37,327; tea transit insurance Rs 8,572; sale charge (sundries) Rs 25,469, (warehousing) Tea cess on Export sale Rs 29,184; brokerage 13,978: Total Rs 1,66,426 or Rs 0.40 per kg. 19 The prompt date - the date on which the payment for tea bought will be made by the buyer to the seller is the 15th day from the date of auction; but it takes 2-3 months to reach the money to the seller via a broker firm and bank. 20 Open sale here means declared sales which is subject to sales tax, excise levy and other taxes* It is a widespread practice among the merchant community to evade these taxes cither with the help of corrupt tax officials or through clandestine sale. In the case of tea the latter device is more easy because of the geographical location of the producing estates and the system of voluntary declaration of quantity of processed tea by the growers.