August 1, 1898.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
119 
CEYLON TEA IN RUSSIA AND TBE 
RUSSIANS AS A TEA— DRINKING 
PEOPLE : 
RUSSIAN TEA CONSUMPTION i'i PER CENT. ABOVE 
MR. T. N. CHRISTIE'S FIGURES ; 
THE NEED OF A REFORMED TARIFF ; 
LETTER TO M. DE WITTE, FINANCE MINISTER ; 
PKOPAGANDA FOR TEA-DRINKING HOUSES 
IN RUSSIA. 
"After all tlieie is nothing which would 
affect the prospects of our tea industry so bene- 
ficially as the liberal opening of the Russian 
market to Ceyl ,n teas. The Russians are a 
great tea-drinking people like ourselves, only 
they are prevented by a prohibitory customs 
tariff from obtaining a sufficiency of the beverage 
they all delight in." This opinion of a home 
resident with extensive proptietaiy interests in 
Ceylon, is one which is now largely shared both 
here and in the United Kingdom. Indeed, more 
and more do we find attention directed to Russia 
as the great hope of the tea producer and every mail 
iicreases the interest felt in the various at- 
tempts made to foster a taste tor our teas and 
to place the trade generally on a sound basis. 
Mutual trade interests and identity of certain 
social customs, ought to draw differing nationalities 
rapidly together, and we sincerely trust that the 
better the Russian people learn to appreciate 
Ceylon and Indian tea-', and the greater the 
trade in the same becomes, the more will a 
tie be created between large bodies of British 
and Russian subjects with which politicians 
will have to reckon when they think of disturb- 
ing good relations between the two countries. 
We owe a good deal of fresh information 
about Russia and its tea trade to Mr. T. N. 
Christie in the Report which ha made to the 
Planters' Association in February last, including 
detailed statistics such as had not previously seen 
the light. But strange to say our first task 
today will be to shew that so far as we can see, 
Mr. Christie understated the present consumption 
of tea in Russia by a very large figure. No 
doubt Mr. Christie got his figures from the best 
available authorities in Russia ; but we must 
remember the enormous extent of Empire from 
the White, Baltic and Black Seas eastward to 
the Pacific; from the Arctic Ocean to the 
borders of Thibet and Western China. It will 
be remembered that Mr. Christie gave the total 
annual consumption of tea in Russia in 
1896 at "about 52 million lb. of leaf teas 
and 40 million lb. of brick and slab teas " 
per annum and this is about the figure usually 
accepted by our leading London authorities. 
But we can see no escape from this being a very 
serious underestimate to the extent of over 
43 per cent ; and we think our information 
when it is considered, will be accepted as reli- 
able. It is based on a Report of the "Tea' 
section Sub-Committee of Shanghai dated 2lst 
January 1897 which was signed by the follow- 
ing :— 
Alex. Campbell, of Alex. Campbell & Co,, Chair- 
man ; J. F. Rodewald, of Bodewald & Heath; J. 
W. Harding, of TarnbuU, Howie & Co.; R. S. 
Freeman, of Barlow & Co.; E. Davis of Wisner & Co., 
Members. 
These names will, we have no doubt, carry 
weight. We are not going to deal with their Re- 
port (already freely noticed fh biiir dolunins many 
months ago), but with some of the valuable statistics 
appended to that Report. The fullest possible 
details are appended from 1871 onwards and one 
strange fact brought out is that the total 
volume of the China Tea Trade has not de- 
creased since that year, if we take into account 
the brick tea trade via Kiachta, and also an 
overland trade in leaf teas. The grand total of 
China exports in 1871 was 236 million lb. ; 
in 1896 it was 238,800,000 lb. ! In the in- 
terval there was a falling-off of over 100 
million lb. to the United Kingdom ; but there was 
an increase of no less than 105 million lb. in 
the ex])ort to Russia ! Here is the comparison 
afforded to us ; — 
Export of Tea from China to Russia : 
1871.— Congou and C-een Tea— viaOdessal,98i,0001b. 
Northern Ports 2,293,333 lb. Leaf Tea via Fanchengf 
12,149,6001b. Brick Tea mainly viaKiachta 11,172,0001b. 
Total 27,598,9331b. 
1896. — Coi goii and Green Tea — via Odessa 
•23,285,33810. Northoni Porta 21,893. 733'b. Leaf Tea via 
Faiichenfit 10,439,6001b. Brick Tea mainly via Kiachta 
178,949,200 lb. Total 132,567,866 1b. 
* lucludiug 631,733 lb. green tea tHyaons) shipped 
to Batoiim. 
t Leaf tea via the Han River and Fancheng doesf 
not come uuder the cognisance of the Foreign Cus- 
toms ; the statistics are given in a supplementary form, 
t Including 2,717,733 lb. via Odessa. 
We may be told that the brick tea does not 
count ; but Mr. Christie included ' brick and slab' 
tea in his figures and when it is carefully included 
by a Committee of Shanghai merchants in their tea 
tables of exports, we do not think its impor- 
tance can be denied, and in any case it is well 
to have the fullest and most reliable figures for 
Russian tea com^umption before us. To the 
total of 132^ million lb. exported direct from 
China, must be added the re-exports from L-^ndon 
(perhaps 7 million lii.) to get a pioper appreciation 
of how far the peop e ot Ru.ssian.-i fiave pro- 
gressed as a tea-drinking people. The census of 
January 1897 save the population of the Russian 
Empire at about liQ^ millions of people and so 
we see the consumption of tea at 140 million lb. 
(in place of Mr. Christie's 92 million lb.) is 
equal to 1-08 lb. per head. 
And now we come to a very practical as well 
as interesting question, namely, if so much as 
140 million lb. of tea of all kinds is con- 
sumed with the present adverse Russian tariff, 
to what would that consumption reach if gradual 
reductions were made as in the case of Britain 
during the past sixty years? For, curiously 
enough, — leaving brick tea audits exceptional tariff 
out of view- -the present normal tea duty in Russia 
is the same as prevailed in the United King- 
dom when Queen Victoria came to the throne ! 
In 1837, 24 millions of the British people 
drank 30 million lb. of tea paying 2s Id duty on 
the same; in 1897, Britons numbering 40 millions 
drank 231 million lb. of tea very much because the 
duty had been reduced step by step to 4d. The re- 
form which Mr. Cliristie thought it his business 
to take up after visiting Russia is the equali- 
sation of the duty and the removal of certain 
differential disadvantages that British teas in- 
troduced via Odessa, and from the West, 
seem to lie under. It is the opinion of the 
Russian Con.sul just retiring from Colombo, that 
some mistake has been made and that onlj' brick 
tea is treated more advantageously than the 
rest. Be this as it may the action of the Planters' 
Association at Mr. Christie's instance through the 
