March i, i 
895-] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
583 
MK. A. la. STANTON'S PAPER ON TEA. 
Ou Wednesday night (Jan. 23rd) before the 
Society of Arts, Mr. A. G. Stanton, of the 
Erin of Messrs. Gow, Wilson, Stanton and Co., read 
a paper on •• Tea " before a large audience, includ- 
ing Sir Henry Peek, Messrs. J. Williamson and R 
Lyell (&. Williamson and Co.), W. Cow, W. T. Wil- 
son, L. F. Davies (Gow, Wilson, and Stanton), C. 
W. Wallace ill. G. Shaw and Co.), H. Todd (director 
Ceylon Tea Plantations Company), W. Mackenzie 
iCominrs-sionev for Ceylon to America). W. Martin 
l.eake 1 Secretary of the Ceylon Association in Lon- 
don 1. E. Tye (secretary; of tlic Indian Tea Association. 
Ljndonl, P. S. Halves I'Hawes and Co.;, W. Rich 1 direc- 
tor of Brook. Bond, and Cu.i. J. C. Sharpe (E\vart, 
Maocaughey. and Co.), S. Smiles and K. W. K. Ap- 
pleton (Appleton. Martin, and Smiles I. and Messrs. 
Kussell. Grant, Porbes Laurie, C. W! Christian, J. 
Hughes, G. Seton. J. E. M. Harrington. E. Tritchard, 
W. Somerville, T. Christie, W. Reid, A. J Slaney, 
J. W. Moncktbn, it: T. Page, and Stringer. 
In the absence of Sir Alexander Wilson through 
illness the chair was taken by Surgeon- General A. 
C. C. de Renzy. 
Mr. Stanton's Paper was as follows : — 
There is no civilised country in the world in which 
so large a quantity ol tea is used as in the United 
Kingdom of Great Britau and Ireland. The quantity 
we annually consume nearly equals thai of 'all other 
civilised countries combined. The people of ' these 
islands are the greatest tea drinkers, and wherever 
the British Hag is unfurled tea consumption invari- 
ably follows. To the English-speaking race, tea 
drinking seems almost as natural as the mother 
tongue. In our own native laud, perhaps there is 
nothing besides water so generally drunk, rich and 
poor, old and young, all contribute their quota to its 
use, but perhaps those who excel in its consumption, 
and even derive most enjoyment from it, are the fair 
sex ; and to deprive ladies of their afternoon tea would 
produce little short of a social revolution, while many 
people would not think the day properly begun if 
they did not have their cup of tea before beginning 
their daily woik. Whether the country be rejoicing 
in affluent years ol plenty, or impoverished by ad- 
\cisiiy and distress, the" use of tea continues unin- 
Mrup'tcd. and neither strikes nor distress appear 
capable ol checking the steady increase in its annually 
progressing consumption. 
To the National Exchequer, tea has been an untold 
boon, and the increased revenue annually 
derhed from it must often have proved a consolation to 
many a Chancellor of the Exchequer. Perhaps no 
tax is more cheerfully paid or more imperceptible in 
its weight than the small duty upon this nnivcrsally 
favourite bevevHge. Its price has, for the past haif- 
cetitury or so, continued steadily to decline, until it has 
become a necessity in the household of rich and poor 
alike, and has so ingratiated itself into our homes, 
and even our hours of toil and work, that it seems to 
have become almost a part of our national existence, 
and were the supply of tea suddenly to cease, it would 
bring consternation to many a family, and sadness 
to nianv a cheerful fireside'. 
The national character of tea drinking is at biico 
apparent when we remember that the small popula- 
tion of the United Kingdom annually uses nearly as 
nuu h tea as that of the whole Continent of Europe, 
North and South Anieiica. Africa, and Australia com- 
bined, which totals perhaps fifteen times the num- 
ber of people our islands contain. Every day in the 
year we use. on an average, nearly t>0o,000 lb. of tea, 
tlin approximate amount of liquid thus eousuimd 
reaching, probably, 4,000,000 gallons daily. 
73 
The vicissitudes which have taken place in the 
public taste concerning tea have been very remark- 
able. The green tea ol our grand-parents has almost ' 
ceased to be known in this country, and the Twankay, 
Hyson, and Gunpowder, with the old black tea called 
Bohea, are seldom if ever heard of, and perhaps' 
hardly even understood outside the tea trade itself, 
while the more modern names of Kaisow, Lapsang,'' 
and Moning are far less common than they were 
even ten years ago, so completely has the public 
taste changed, .until even the produce of the Chinese 
Empire itself, which at one time met almost the 
whole of bur wants, does not at present constitute 
more than about one-twelfth of our supplies, so general 
has become the use of Indian and Ceylon tea. 
But 1 the increase in the use of tea was for mauy 
years very gradual. In the year 1800 we consumed 
only 20.358,827 lb. The following figures show the 
progressive consumption from the beginning of the 
century :— 
tmaioiHiiaiuu aWwafb* 'bewowi «« fiffjaaaiqva 
1SOO .. 20,358,827 I860 .. 76,8OO,0C0 
1810 .. 21,186,-108 1870 .. 118,000,000 
1820 .... 25,712,035 1880 .. 158,321,572 
18X0 . . 30,04(5.935 1890 . . 193,949,452 
1840 .. 31,716,000 1894 .. 214,311,044 
1850 ... 51.000,000 
Ih 1800 the average consumption per head of 
population was 1"25 lb. ; in 1864 it had increased to 
2 95 lb. ; and in 1894 to 5 53 lb. 
THE OKAPVAL DECLINE AND FALL OF THE CHINA 
: TEA TllADE IN GKEAT BRITAIN. 
Indian Tea. — Up to the year 1862 practically all the 
tea used by us came from China, but after tnat date 
the consumption of Indian tea became a growing 
feature of tne industry. The progress it made was, 
however, for many years very slow. Thus, in 1864 
only 2.796,000 lb were used, or 3 per cent of the 
entire consumption ; in 1870 the quantity had only 
increased to 13,500,000 lb or 11 per cent of "the whole ; 
and in 1879 to 31,092.000 lb or 22 per cent. 
The year 1879 marks an epoch in the history of 
the tea industry, because up to and including that 
year the home consumption of China tea continuously- 
progressed and suffered little if any apparent check 
lrom the increasing use of Indian tea, which in the 
year was only 22 per cent of the whole quantity used. 
But the year 1879 marked the maximum con- 
sumption of China tea in Great Britain. Since that 
memorable year its use has steadily declined, the 
increasing quantity of Indian tea imported into 
the country from this date begin 11 iug very percep- 
tibly to interfere with the use of China tea. It 
soon became evident that a fearful struggle was 
about to take place between the two industries. Tea 
came pouring in from both countries, and the price 
in consequence fell lower and lower. More tea was 
being imported than was wanted, and over-supply 
was gradually crippling both industries, and it ap- 
peared as though either Indian or China tea would 
in course of time be crushed out of the market. 
Rise of Ceylon. — It was while this struggle was 
becoming acute that Ceylon suddenly entered the 
field. But her imports were at first so small — so 
insignificant — that little heed was paid to them. In 
the year 1880 only about 100.000 lo. were used, and 
in 1883 the quantity had only risen to 3.217,000 lb., 
but from this date for several years, progress was 
astonishingly rapid, the consumption risiug in 1886 
to 6.2 15.000 'lb. in 1887 to VI.9U.000 lb. in 188.8 to 
|s..-,:j:l.oonlk, in 1889 to ?S,5UO,O0U lb., and in 1890 to 
31. 516. 169 lb., in 1891 to 71,570.07s lb. It has thus 
continued to increase almost without a single check, 
every year showing a larger consumption than the 
previous year. 
The reason of its more rapid progress than 
Indian tea is traceable to the tiut tliat the latter 
was for many years blended with China tea, its; 
great strength being used 10 add body to the weaker 
tea from China. This process of admixture of Indian, 
tea had been in progress for many years btfortf 
