TEA. 



83 



Kingdom for home consumption was charged with a customs dutj 

 as follows : — 



Bohea Is. 6d. per lb. 



Congou, twantay, hyson skin, oransre 



pekoe, and campoi . . .2 2 

 Souchong, floTrery pekoe, hyson, young 

 hyson, gunpowder, imperial, and 

 other teas not enumerated . .30 



In 1S36, the uniform duty of 2s. Id. per lb. on all descriptions 

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

 posed in 1S40, made the total duty levied per lb. 2s. 2d. and a 

 fraction. 



During the years from 1S31 to ISil, in sj^ite of an increase of 

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

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

 of the East India Company's monopoly in 1S33, the increased 

 consumption was only 6,675,566 lbs. G-reat 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 Gruernsey, where there is no duty on tea, the 

 average consumption is 4^ lbs. per head per annum. The same 

 rate for the United Kingdom would require an annual importa- 

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

 the duty coidd be gradually reduced from its present exorbitant 

 amount to Is. per lb., the revenue would not sufler much, whilst 

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

 with China greatly improved. 



Years. Teas Imported, lbs. Entered for Home Consumption, Iba, 



1843 .. 42,779.265 35,685,262 



1844 .. 50,613,328 41,176,009 



1845 .. 53,570.267 44,127,000 



1846 .. 57,53i,56l 46,554,787 



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



1S48 ., 47,774,755 43.735,696 



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 



Amonnt of duty received on tea : — 



£■ Prices of Sound Common Congou per Vo. 



Is. 7d. to 23. Od. 



1 7 .. 1 10 



1 0 .. I 2 



0 10 . . 1 0 



1 0 .. 1 9| 



0 9 .. 0 9^ " 



0 8^.. 0 9i 



0 8 .. 0 8^ 



0 8i.. 0 9^ 



0 104.. 1 1 



0 8'.. 0 8| 



....... 0 Ik... 2 2 



Mr. Montgomerv ^lartin, in his work on China, published in 



& 2 



1841 . 



. 3,973,668 



1842 . 





1843 . 



. 4.407,642 



1844 . 



. 4,524.093 



1845 . 



. 4,833,351 



1846 . 



. .5,112,005 



1847 . 



. 5,066,860 



1848 . 



. 5,330,515 



1849 . 



. 5,471,641 



1850 . 



. 5,597,708 



1851 . 





1852 . 



5,985,482 



