The immense traffic in the produce of this simple shrub, the growth of a remarkable country, hitherto almost entirely isolated from the western nations, is one of the most remarkable illustrations of the enterprise and energy of modern commerce. The trade in tea now gives employment to upwards of 60,000 tons of British shipping, and about ten millions sterling of English capital, producing a revenue to this country of nearly six millions sterling.
Every reflecting man will admit that articles of such vast consumption as tea and coffee (amounting together to more than 343,500 tons annually), forming the chief liquid food of whole nations, must exercise a great influence upon the health of the people. . . .
The first tea imported into England was a package of two pounds, by the East India Company, in 1664, as a present to the king; in 1667, another small importation took place, from the company's factory at Bantam. The directors ordered their servants to "send home by their ships 100 pounds weight of the best tey they could get." In 1678 were imported 4,713 lbs.; but in the six following years the entire imports amounted to no more than 410 lbs. According to Milburn's "Oriental Commerce," the consumption in 1711 was 141,995 lbs.; 120,595 lbs. in 1715, and 237,904 lbs. in 1720. In 1745 the amount was 730,729 lbs. For above a century and a half, the sole object of the East India Company's trade with China was to provide tea for the consumption of the United Kingdom. The company had the exclusive trade, and were bound to send orders for tea, and to provide ships to import the same, and always to have a year's consumption in their warehouses. The teas were disposed of in London, where only they could be imported, at quarterly sales. The act of 1834, however, threw open the trade to China.
From a Parliamentary return, showing the quantity of tea retained for home consumption in the United Kingdom, in each year, from 1740 to the termination of the East India Company's sales, and thence to the present time, it appears that in 1740, 1,493,695 lbs. of tea were retained for home consumption. Two years afterwards, the quantity fell to 473,868 lbs., and in 1767 only 215,019 lbs. were retained. Next year the amount increased to 3,155,417 lbs.; in 1769 it was 9,114,854 lbs.; in 1795, 21,342,845 lbs.; in 1836, 49,842,236 lbs. . . .
In 1836, the uniform duty of 2s. 1d. per lb. on all descriptions of tea was imposed, which, with the additional 5 per cent, imposed in 1840, made the total duty levied per lb. 2s. 2d. and a fraction.
During the years from 1831 to 1841, in spite of an increase of nearly three millions in the population of the country, and notwithstanding the impetus given to the tea-trade by the abolition of the East India Company's monopoly in 1833, the increased consumption was only 6,675,566 lbs. Great 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 Guernsey, where there is no duty on tea, the average consumption is 4½ lbs. per head per annum. The same rate for the United Kingdom would require an annual importation of nearly 150 million lbs. I asserted, many months ago, if the duty could be gradually reduced from its present exorbitant amount to 1s. per lb., the revenue would not suffer much, whilst the comfort of the people would be much increased, and our trade with China greatly improved. . . .
The consumption of tea in the United Kingdom may now be fairly taken at fifty-four million pounds yearly, and sold at an average price to the consumer of 4s. 6d., per pound. The money expended for tea is upwards of twelve millions sterling. [Edit Note: This would have been as of 1854.} . . .
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 64,020,000 lbs., employing 115 vessels in its transportation; 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 United States, and 17,000,000 to Great Britain. These statistics will show the immense importance of this article to commerce, and the vast amount of shipping it supports. But let us follow out the statistics a little more in detail.
I'm in East Yorkshire on the coast, south of Scarborough. Thirsk and the whole area around is nice (the Moors), I hope you got to York.
