86 



TEA, 



The expenditure of this sum is 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 l*d. a lb. ... ... ... 337,500 



Shi^jping charges, &c., in China 25,000 



Preight,''<i-c., China to England, about 2d. per lb 450,000 



Insurance, M. per lb. 112,500 



Commission, about id. per lb 56,250 



Tasting charges, (tc, about i of a penny per lb 28,125 



Interest for 6 months on £3.709,375 at 5 per cent 92,734 



Total outlay in China £3,802,109 



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



Landing charges, Sec, in England 39,000 



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



Duty received by government at 2s, per lb., about ... 5,985,482 



£10,271,707 



Profit divided among tea-brokers, wholesale and retail 



dealers, &c 1,878,293 



Total outlay by British pubUc for tea, at 4s. 6d. per lb. ... £12,150,003 



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

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

 Britain was 61,020,000 lbs., employing 115 vessels in its trans- 

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

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

 the export has increased 10,000,000 lbs. to the Ignited States, and 

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

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

 of sHpping 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 352,86(3.012, 

 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 foiu' lb. 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 accm'ate 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 

 five lbs. is the annual allowance of each individual. 



If we multiplv the population of China bv fom\ we have — 



lbs. 



Total coiisumption of tea in China I,411,464j048 



Export of Grreat Britain and Ireland, for the year ending 



June 30, 1851 64,020,000 



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



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



"China" 3,000,000 



