Tea Advisor
Aspects of Tea Production
The London venture capitalists were quick off the mark. On 12 February, 1839, only a month after the first auction of Assam tea, a group of merchants met in the City and decided to look into the possibilities of forming a company. Next day, some of them met the Chairman of the East India Company, who approved in principle the granting of land to the new enterprise, and the transfer to it of the Company's tea assets in Assam. The day after that, the merchants met again, and agreed to raise £500,000 to form the Assam Company. A few days later all the shares had been subscribed.
Quick as they had been, the London merchants were not the first to propose a commercial tea venture in Assam. In Calcutta, there had been a proposal to form a Bengal Tea Association, also to take over the Company's assets and exploit tea cultivation in Assam. The members were well connected, and included the chairman of the 1834 Tea Committee. They were able to force the Assam Company into an amalgamation whereby the London company put up the capital, but the men of Calcutta gained control of the enterprise. Favourable terms were given to the Indian-based merchants to acquire shares and seats on the London Board, and the local management and direction would be left entirely to them.
J.W. White was put in charge of the company's operations in Assam. He set up headquarters at Nazira, where they still are. C. A. Bruce transferred his services to the company - an absolute essential for them, since he would be the only one of their senior employees to know anything about the cultivation and manufacture of tea in Assam. He ran the company's northern division, and was based in Jaipur. Presumably his old base at Sadiya had become less attractive after an 'unfortunate affair' in 1839, when an uprising had wiped out Colonel White and his garrison.
Tea | By Roy Moxham
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