96 



TEA. 



tion, and it will no doubt continue to develop. Tea now constitutes 

 one of the most prosperous industries of India.* 



This product is nearly all shipped from Calcutta, as the details of 

 the last-named year's exports, 1874-5, will show : 



Lbs. 



Bengal 21,023,941 



British Burmah 5,905 



M;;dras 87,872 



Bombay 13,817 



Siud 6,052 



Total 21,137,087 



The total crop of India tea for 1875-6 was expected to reach about 

 29,000,000 lbs. Tea companies which have never given a profit for 

 years are now declaring an ad-interim dividend. Of the five tea 

 districts, Darjeeling, Cachar, and Kumaon produce well.f 



The successful results of tea cultivation in India must be regarded 

 under two points of view — 



1. The tea supply and tea demand in the world. 



2. The tea supply in India, and the demand for Indian as 

 opposed to China and other similar teas, such as those from Japan 

 and Java. 



First, then, of the tea supply and tea demand in the world. What 

 is the present supply ? China stands at the head of the list. The 

 exports from that country (for we are not concerned here with what 

 is consumed within the empire) may be put down roughly as con- 

 siderably over two hundred and fifty millions of pounds. India 

 comes next ; the internal consumption is a mere bagatelle,' and the 

 export may be stated at twenty-five millions. Perhaps a similar 

 amount, viz. twenty-five millions (on this point we are open to cor- 

 rection) will cover the exports from the other two places named. 

 Assuming, then, China, at the outside, to export three hundred 

 millions, we have a grand total of produce for the tea-drinking, but 

 non tea-producing countries of three hundred and fifty millions of 

 pounds. 



Of the above. Great Britain alone takes, in round numbers, nearly 

 two hundred millions — that is, over one hundred and seventy millions 

 from China, and rather over twenty-five millions from India. 



We have then only about one hundred and fifty millions left for all 

 the other non-producing but tea-drinking countries. 



It is true that some of these cannot fairly be included as con- 

 sumers of this said balance, notably Russia and a portion of many 

 parts of Asia, to which tea is imported direct overland from China. 

 Including the tea that goes to those countries (the China produce, by- 

 the-by, is probably far in excess of the three hundred million pounds 

 we have assumed, but correct figures on this head are not obtainable, 

 nor do they here concern us), the fact remains that to supply all the 



* Statement of the Trade of British India. 



t A paper on " Tea Cultivation in India," by Mr. C. H. Fielder, is published in the 

 * Journal of the Society of Arts,' 17, p. 291. 



