K<> TEA. 



The expenditure of this sum ia distributed as follows, in round 

 numbers : 



Net cost of 54,000,000 pounds, average Is. per pound 2,700,000 



Export duty in China of Hd. alb 337,500 



Shipping charges, &c., in China 25,000 



Freight, &c., China to England, about 2d. per Ib 450,000 



Insurance, id. per Ib 112,500 



Commission, about d. per Ib 56,250 



Tasting charges, &c., about $ of a penny per Ib 28,125 



Interest for 6 months on 3,709,375 at 5 per cent 92,734 



Total outlay in Chin* 3,802,109 



Profit to exporters hi China, (about 12 per cent.) 445,116 



Landing charges, &c., in England 39,000 



Cost price in bond in England ...4,286,225 



Duty received by government at 2s. 2d. per Ib., about ... 6,985,482 



10,271,707 

 Profit divided among tea-brokers, wholesale and retail 



dealers, &c 1,878,293 



Total outlay by British public for tea, at 4s. 6d. per Ib. ... 12,150,000 

 The tea imported into England in 1667 was only 100 Ibs., while 

 for the year ending June 30, 1851, the export from China to Great 

 Britain was 64,020,000 Ibs., employing 115 vessels in its trans- 

 portation ; and to the United States, during the same time, 

 28,760,800 Ibs., in sixty-four vessels. Within the last five years, 

 the export has increased 10,000,000 Ibs. to the United States, and 

 17,000,000 to Great Britain. These statistics will show the im- 

 mense importance of this article to commerce, and the vast amount 

 of shipping it supports. But let us follow out the statistics a 

 little more in detail. 



The population of the Chinese provinces, as quoted by Dr. 

 Morison, from an official census taken in 1825, was 352,860.012, 

 and we may fairly conclude that during the last twenty-eight years 

 this population has extensively increased. If we 'assume the 

 annual consumption of tea at four Ib. per head on the above popu- 

 lation ; and this is no unreasonable assumption in a country, where, 

 to quote from Murray's valuable work on China, tea " is the na- 

 tional drink, which is presented on every occasion, served up at 

 every feast, and even sold on the public roads ; " we shall have a 

 tolerably accurate result as to the total consumption in the empire. 

 Indeed "this computation falls short of the actual relative con- 

 sumption in the island of Jersey, where, as we have seen, nearly 

 live Ibs. is the annual allowance of each individual. 



It' we multiply the population of China by four, we have 



Ibs. 



Total consumption of tea in China 1,411,464,048 



Export of Great Britain and Ireland, for the year ending 



June 30, 1851 64,020,000 



Export to the United States, same period 28,760,800 



Kxport to Holland, returned at 2,000,000 in Davis's 



"China" 3,000,000 



