TEA.. 



83 



Kingdom for home consumption was charged with a customs duty 



as follows: 



Bohea . . . . . . Is. 6d. per Ib. 



Congou, twankay, hyson skin, orange 



pekoe, and campoi . . .22 



Souchong, flowery pekoe, hyson, young 

 hyson, gunpowder, imperial, and 

 other teas not enumerated . .30 ,, 



In 1836, the uniform duty of 2s. Id. per Ib. on all descriptions 

 of tea was imposed, which, with the additional 5 per cent, im- 

 posed in 1840, made the total duty levied per Ib. 2s. 2d. and a 

 fraction. 



During the years from 1831 to 1841, in spite of an increase of 

 nearly three millions in the population of the country, and not- 

 withstanding the impetus given to the tea-trade by the abolition 

 of the East India Company's monopoly in 1833, the increased 

 consumption was only 6,675,566 Ibs. Great as the increase has 

 been of late years, however, it is very far short of what we might 

 expect to see were the duty reduced to a moderate per centage on. 

 the value of the article as it comes from the Chinese merchant. 

 In Jersey and Guernsey, where there is no duty on tea, the 

 average consumption is 4| Ibs. per head per annum. The same 

 rate for the United Kingdom would require an annual importa- 

 tion of nearly 150 million Ibs. I asserted, many months ago, if 

 the duty could be gradually reduced from its present exorbitant 

 amount to Is. per Ib., the revenue would not suffer much, whilst 

 the comfort of the people would be much increased, and our trade 

 with China greatly improved. 



Years. Teas Imported, Ibs. Entered for Home Consumption, Ibs. 



1843 .. 42,779,265 35,685,262 



1844 .. 50,613,328 41,176,000 



1845 .. 53,570,267 44,127,000 



1846 .. 57,584,561 46,554,787 



1847 .. 55,255,000 50,921,486 



1848 .. 47,774,755 48,735,696 



1849 .. 53,460,751 50,024,688 



1850 .. 50,512,384 51,178,215 



1851 .. 71,466,421 53,965,112 



1852 .. 66,361,020 54,724,615 



Amount of duty received on tea : 



Prices of Sound Common Congou per Ib. 



1841 . . 3,973,668 Is. 7d. to 2s. Od. 



1842 .. 4,088,957 1 7 . . 1 10 



1843 .. 4,407,642 10. .12 



1844 .. 4,524,093 10 . . 1 



1845 .. 4,833351 1 . . 1 9| 



1846 .. 5,112,005 9 . . 9| 



1847 .. 5,066,860 8|.. 9 



1848 .. 5,330,515 8 . . 8| 



1849 .. 5,471,641 8*.. 9* 



1850 .. 5,597,708 . 10.. 1 1 



1851 .. 5,902,433 6 . . 8 



1852 .. 5,985,482 ........ 7|... 2 2~ 



Mr. Montgomery Martin, in his work on China, published in 



a 2 



