TEA. The first importation by the English East India Company took place in 1669 from the Company's factory at Bantam. The directors ordered their servants to "send home by their ships one hundred pounds weight of the best tey they could get." In 1678, 4713 lbs. were imported, but in the six following years the entire imports amounted to no more than 410 lbs. The continuous official accounts of the trade do not com mence before 1725 ; but, according to Milburn (Oriental Commerce), the con sumption in 1711 was 141,995 lbs.; 120,695 lbs. in 1715 ; and 237,904 lbs. in 1720. In 1725 the quantity of tea re tained for consumption was 370,323 lbs. at which time the customs' duty was 131. 18s. 714d per cent., and the excise was 4& per lb. In 1745 the amount was 730,729 lbs., and in that year the excise was made ls. per lb. and 25 per cent. on the price. In 1747 the customs' duty was 18/. 18s. 74d. per cent. and the quantity in the year was 2,382,775 lbs. In 17 59 the customs' duty was 231.18s. 71d. per cent. and the quantity was 3,957,744 lbs. In 1782 the duty per cent. was 27/. Os. 10d., the highest amount that the duty ever reached, and there was an increase in the excise also; the quantity in the year was 4,691,060 lbs. In 1784 the quantity was 4,948,983. In 1785 the customs' duty was 14 per cent. and the excise duty was repealed : the quan tity in that year was 10,856,578 lbs. In 1786 the customs duty was 5 per cent. on the gross price, and an excise duty of 74 per cent. on the gross price was laid on. The quantity in that year was 12,539,389 lbs. The quantity went on increasing up to 1834, and in the meantime the customs duty was very little raised, and in 1819 it was repealed, The excise duties were changed very often. When the customs' duty was repealed in 1819, the excise duty was made 96 per cent on the gross price when it was under 2s. a lb., and 100 per cent. when it was above 2s. per lb. From 1834 included, in which year the excise duty was repealed, the quan tities in each year to 1841 and the cus toms' duties were as follows:— Temp. lbs.
1834 34,969,651 Bohea, Is. 6d.; Excise Congou,Twan- duty kay, &c. 2s. 6d.; repealed. Hyson, &c., 3s.
per lb.
1835 36,574,004 PP 1836 49,142,236 After 1st July „ all sorts 2s. Id.
per lb.
1837 ft 1838 32,351,593 ft 1839 35,127,287 1840 32,252,628 2s 21d. ,, 1841 36,675;667 1842 37,355,211 f f 1843 40,293,393 1844 41,363,770 Pt 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 an 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 dis posed of in London, where only they could be imported, at quarterly sales ; and the Company was bound to sell them to the highest bidder, provided an advance of one penny per lb. was made on the price at which each lot was put up, which price was determined by adding together the prime cost at Canton and the bare charges of freight, insurance, interest on capital, and certain charges on importa tion ; but by the mode of calculating these items, and the heavier expenses which always attend every department of a trade monopoly. the upset prices
were greatly enhanced. The prices rea lised at the Company's sales were, how ever, in still greater proportion beyond the upset prices, a result easily pro duced by a body who monopolized the sole supply, as it was only necessary that the quantity offered for sale should not be augmented in proportion to the grow ing demand of a rapidly increasing popu lation. The 18 Geo. II. c. 26, passed immediately after a large reduction of the duty had taken place, provided for such a contingency as this, by enacting that if the East India Company failed to import a quantity sufficient to render the prices as low as in other parts of Europe, it should be lawful to grant licences to other persons to import tea. This would have constituted a very efficient check if it had been acted upon; but eventually the mode of levying the duty gave the government almost the same interest in a restricted supply as the East India Com pany, the duties being collected ad valo rem on the amount realised at the Com pany's sales ; and thus the very circum stance which enhanced the price raised the total amount of duty. The duty was nominally 90 and 100 per cent ad valo rem, but being charged on a monopoly price. the difference on the cheaper teas consumed by the working and middle classes amounted to above 300 per cent. on the cost price of the same teas at Hamburg ; and in 1830 the difference between the prices realised at the Com pany's sales and the Hamburg prices amounted to a sum of 1,689,975/.
The Company's sales were in March, June, September, and December, the last being the largest. About 2,000,000 lbs. were offered belonging to the officers of the Company, who were allowed to import a certain quantity of tea on their own account. In 1839 there were only 122,312 lbs. offered for sale by the East India Company. The 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 93, on the 22nd of April, 1834, opened the trade to China. The importation of tea is no longer confined to the port of London. In 1839 eighteen ships arrived inwards from China at different outports, ten of which were entered at Liverpool. In the four years ending 1834 the average annual number of ships entered inwards from China at the ports of the United Kingdom was 23, in the four following years the average was 66, and other com modities besides tea have been extensively imported, and a corresponding increase in the quantity and variety of the exports to China has taken place. The exports of tea from the United Kingdom, which formerly did not exceed a quarter of a million lbs. annually, amounted to 4,347,432 lbs. in 1841, and have averaged above three million lbs. a-year since the opening of the trade, a fact which shows that prices here are no longer so much above those of the principal continental ports. The quantity retained for con sumption has also considerably increased, although accompanied by an extraordi nary increase in the use of coffee.