THE 



201 



T II K 



lot was put up, which price was determined by adding 

 together the prime cost at Canton and the bare charges of 

 freight, insurance, interest on capital, and certain charges 

 on importation ; but by the mode of calculating these 

 items, and the heavier expenses which always attend every 

 department of a trade monopoly, the upset prices were 

 greatly enhanced. The prices realised at the Company's 

 sales were however in still greater proportion beyond the 

 upset prices, a result easily produced by a body who mo- 

 nopolized the sole supply, as it was only necessary that 

 the quantity offered for sale should not be augmented in 

 proportion to the growing demand of a rapidly increasing 

 population. The"l8Geo. II., c. 26, passed immediately 

 alter a large reduction of the duty had taken place, pro- 

 vided for such a contingency as this, by enacting that if 

 the East India Company faifed to import a quantity suffi- 

 to render the prices as low as in other parts of 

 Europe, it should be lawful to grant licences to other per- 

 lo import tea. This would have constituted a very 

 efficient check if it had been acted upon ; but eventually 

 the mode of levying the duty gave the government almost 

 the same interest in a restricted supply as the East India 

 Company, the duties being collected ad valorem on the 

 amount realised at the Company's sales ; and thus the very 

 circumstance which enhanced the price raised the total 

 amount of duty. The duty was nominally 5X) and 100 per 

 cent, ail rn/orrni, but being charged on a monopoly price. 

 the difference on the cheaper teas consumed by the work- 

 ing aiid middle classes amounted to above 300 per cent, 

 on the cost price of the same teas at Hamburg ; and in 

 1830 the difference between the prices realised at the 

 Comi , and the Hamburg prices amounted to a 



sum of 1,889,9?5/. The sales in the last year of the East 

 India Company's monopoly are shown in the following 

 table : 



An Account of the 

 of Tea sold 



1834: 



of the Quantity and Prices of several sorts 

 England from May 1st, 1833, to May 1st, 



Total . . 31,164,065 



The Company's sales were in March, June, September, 

 find December, the latter being the largest. About 

 2,000,000 Ibs. were offered belonging to the officers of the 

 Company, who were allowed to import a certain quantity 

 their own account. In 1839 there were only 

 :!2)bs. offered for sale by the East India Company"; 

 he change effected by the 3 & 4 \V'm. IV., c. 5)3, 

 which, on the 22ml of April, 1834, opened the trade to 

 China, i.-; now complete. The importation of tea is no 

 longer confined to the port of London. In 1839 eighteen 

 ed inwards from China at different outports, 

 ifii of which were entered at Liverpool. In the four 

 ending 1K.'U (lie average annual number of ships 

 a China at the poits of the United 

 Kingdom was 23, in the four following years the average 

 ''I!, and other commodities besides tea have been ex- 

 iled, and a corresponding increase in the 

 quantity and variety of the exports to China has taken 

 place. The exports of tea from the United Kingdom, 

 which formerly did not exceed a quarter of a million Ibs. 

 annually, amounted to 4,347,432lbs. in 1841, and have 

 averaged above three million Ibs. a year since the open- 

 ing of the trade, a fact which shows that prices here are 

 no longer so much above those of the principal conti- 

 nental ports. The quantity retained for consumption has 

 also considerably increased, although accompanied by an 

 extraordinary Increase in the use of coffee. 



The tea-duty produces about one-thirteenth of the total 

 revenue ; and only three articles, spirits, malt, and sugar, 

 yield a linger sum. The tariff of 1842 has made no 

 alteration in the tea-duty. As it was foreseen that on 

 the opening of the tea trade there would be a considerable 

 reduction of price, and that an ad raln/vm duty would 

 not, even witii the increased consumption, be so pro- 

 ductive as formerly, a fixed duty per Ib. was imposed, 



wlncn, from 1R34, to July, 1&30, varied according to tne 

 different kinds of tea; but as this mode of collection was 

 attended with considerable trouble and difficulty, it was 

 altered to an unvarying duty of 2-v. Id. per Ib. on all kinds 

 without distinction. Since March, 183G, the tea-dealers 

 have been relieved from the vexatious interference of the 

 excise, the duty being collected entirely as an import duty 

 by the officers of the customs. Previously, each of the 

 hundred thousand tea-dealers in the United Kingdom were 

 visited once a month by the officers of excise, who took 

 an account of their stock ; and no quantity exceeding 

 six pounds could be sent from their premises without a 

 i; rtuit, of which above 800,000 were required in a year. 

 In short, this system of supervision was very troublesome, 

 costly, and answered no useful purpose. The number of tea- 

 dealers in 1839 was 82,794 in England ; 13,G11 in Scotland ; 

 12,774 in Ireland : total, 109,179. Tea is now sold by the 

 importing merchants by public auction and private srfles. 



The following table "shows the revenue which the tea 

 duty has yielded in each year during the present century, 

 and, to some extent, it is an index of the prices in each 

 year : 



Net Amount of Duty collected upon Tea in the United 

 Kingdom in each year from 1800 to 1841 inclusive : 



1801 1,423,660 1822 3,941,484 



1802 1,632;467 1823 3,848,122 



1803 1,929.613 1824 3,865,477 



1804 2,599,738 1825 4,031,018 



1 805 3,336,523 1 826 3,738,042 



1806 3,446,670 1827 3,705,588 



1807 3,525,173 1828 3,177,179 



1808 3,90.V_>;r> 182D 3,321.722 



1809 3.592,705 1KJO 3,387^097 



1810 3,647,737 1831 3,344,918 



1811 3.752,111 1832 3,509,835 



1812 3,822,979 1833 3,444,102 



1813. Records burn!. 1834 3,589,361 



1814 3,058,054 1835 3,832,432 



1815 4,058,091 iKJij 4,674,535 



1816 4,362,496 1837 3,223,8-10 



1817 3,431.364 1838 3,362,035 



1818 3,872.693 1839 3,658,803 



1S19 3,689,805 1840 3,473,964 



1820 3,484.220 1841 3,978,188 



1821 3,707,270 



Between 1831 and 1841 the population increased 14 per 

 cent., and the increase in the consumption of tea was 161 

 per cent. The low prices of 1836, and the general pros- 

 perous condition of the country, raised the quantity which 

 paid duty for consumption to' nearly 50,000,000 Ibs. In 



1840 prices were about 25 per cent, higher, large classes 

 of consumers were in a distressed state, and the consump- 

 tion fell to 32,000,000 Ibs. In 1841 the distress still con- 

 tinued, but prices were lower, and the consumption rose to 

 above 36,000,000 Ibs. On the 5th of Jan., 1840, the stock 

 of tea in London, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, and Leith 

 was 35,478,490!bs. ; and at the corresponding period in 



1841 the quantity was 46,545,6 10 Ibs. The proportion of 

 black to green teas consumed in England is about as 5 to 

 1 ; but in the United States the use of green tea is greatest. 



(Papers issued by the Chinese and East Indie: Assn/'in- 

 tion ; Parl. Papers, &c.) 



The total export of tea from Canton to Europe and 

 America exceeds 50,000,000 Ibs. Russia is supplied with 

 G,500,000lbs. via Kiakhta ; the United Slates of America 

 require about 8,000,000lbs. ; France about 2,000,0001bs. ; 

 and Holland imports about 2,800,0001bs. The green 

 tea districts are about 700 miles, and those where the black 

 tea is made about 200 miles from Canton. The article is 

 brought from Canton by land carriage, chiefly by porters 

 and by the canals; and the number of tea merchants who 

 resort to Canton in the season when the trade is most 

 . that is, from October to March., is said to be about, 

 700. The functions of the Hong merchants, through whom 

 Europeans make their purchases, have been already ex- 

 plained. [CANTON.] The trade has not been interrupted 

 m consequence of the present, dispute between England 

 and China, nor is it likely to be, as it is one of the greatest 

 importance to the Chinese ; and whenever, in former dis- 

 putes, it has been temporarily suspended, no difficulty has 

 occurred in obtaining the usual supply through the traders 

 of other nations at Canton. 



2P2 



