TEA. S7 



Inland trade to Eussia 15,000,000 



Export to Hamburg, Bremen, Denmark, Sweden, &c., 



seven cargoes, about 3,000,000 



Export to Sydney, and Australasian Colonies, at least . . 6,000,000 



Export to Spain and Erance, fom* cargoes 2,000,000 



Total lbs. 1,533,244,848 

 The above is exclusive of the hea^'y exportation in Chinese 

 vessels to all parts of the east where Chinese einigTants are settled, 

 such as Touquin, Cochin China, Cambodia. Siam, the Philippines, 

 Borneo, and the various settlements within the Straits of !^Ialacca. 

 In comparison with such an enormous quantity, the million lbs. 

 consumed in the United Kingdom sink into insignificance. 



£ 



The cost of tea to America, at the ship's side in China, say 



29,000,000 lbs., at an average of Is. per lb., would be . 1,450,000 



The cost to England, 64,000,000, at the same price . . 3,200,000 



The cost to otHer places, say 25,000,000 . . . 1,250,000 



Russia, 15,000,000 ...... 750,000 



Total ...... £6,650,000 



It is therefore clear, that were the demand to be doubled from 

 Great Britain, it would make very little difference in the Chinese 

 market ; since it would be only a question of letting us have six 

 per cent, of their growth of the article, instead of three. 



AVhen we remember that the tea plant attains to maturity in 

 three years, and its leaves are then fit for picking ; and that there 

 is a vast extent of coimtry to which it is indigenous, growing in 

 every climate between the equator and the latitude of 45 degrees, 

 it is evident that, were there a necessity for it, the actual produc- 

 tion of tea in China could be increased to an almost unlimited 

 extent in the space of three or four years, an extent far more than 

 compensating for the extra three per cent., which might be, in the 

 first instance, required by the British. 



The certainty of an increased consumption following upon a re- 

 duction in the price of tea to the actual consumers of it, is so 

 obvious as to requne demonstration to those only who have not 

 considered the subject. The population of Great Britain and 

 Ireland is, say in roimd numbers 30,000,000, the actual consump- 

 tion of tea is only 54,000,000 lbs., or little more than one pound 

 and three quarters for each individual. In the neighbouring island 

 of Jersey, there are nearly five lbs. of tea consumed by every in- 

 habitant yearly ; and as we may fairly infer from analogy that simi- 

 lar results would arise from a similar cause, the consumption in the 

 United Kingdom in the same ratio would amount to no less than 

 150 millions of pounds annually. 



Tea, observes a most competent authority Qlr. J. IngTara 

 Travers), is the favourite drink of the people : all desire to have it 

 strong and good, and none who can afford it are without it. But 

 in the agricultural districts the laborers use but little ; numbers 

 of them make tea with burnt crusts, because the Cliina tea is 

 too dear." In Ireland the consumption is greatly below that of 



