64 TEA 



remained fixed at this rate until the year 1890 when it 

 was reduced to 4d. per Ib. 



On March 6th, 1900, Raised to 6d. 

 April 16th, 1904 8d. 

 May 1st, 1905, Reduced,, 6d. 

 May 14th, 1906 ,, ,, 5d. at which figure 



it now stands (1909). 



It is a debatable point if the public really fully 

 realise that at present they are paying a duty of about 



65 per cent, on all the tea they drink. It is not brought 

 home sufficiently to the consumer that the duty is the 

 same on a tea sold at Is. 4d. as on one retailed at 2s. 

 In the former case the duty is 31*25 per cent, of the 

 amount paid for the tea, while in the better grade, the 

 duty works out at only 20*83 per cent. If 3s. per 

 pound is paid, the duty will be only 13*88 per cent. 

 Consequently by consuming higher priced teas, the pro- 

 portion paid to the Government is reduced, the result 

 being that better value is available, in that, the differ- 

 ence between Is. 4d. and 2s., viz., 8d., is expended in 

 securing better value in the actual tea, without paying 

 anything more in duty. The following statistics are 

 taken from the Chamber of Commerce Journal : 



" Tea yielded a net revenue of 6,046,000, as against 

 5,808,000 in 1907-8, a very substantial increase 

 (238,000) even after allowing for considerable fore- 

 stalments at the end of 1908-9. An increase at this 

 rate is somewhat remarkable in a time of industrial 

 depression, and must, the Commissioners say, ' be 

 ascribed in part to the fact that, in such times, tea 

 is often made to take the place of solid food.' The 

 quantity retained for home use advanced from 

 279,167,804 Ib. in 1907-8 to 290,628,968 Ib. in 1908-9. 



