CO129-027 - Public Offices - 1848 — Page 473

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Appendix.

Trade between Bombay and China.

Report on the Tea

Trade.

Copper Sheathing

Metals:

Copper Nails -

Iron, Old

Iron, Kentledge

Tin Plate

Mother of Pearl Shells

Oil, of Sorts

Opium

Paint

Piece Goods:

Dyed Cotton

Plain Cotton

Silk, Country

Silk, China

Shawls, Cashmere

Precious Stones, Pearls -

Sharkfins

[ 50 ]

EXPORTS to China in 1843-44-continued.

QUANTITY.

25 boxes

WEIGHT.

VALUE.

Tons.

Crots.

Lbs.

Rs.

40

20

12

119

50 20

4,764

600

375

538

64

3,362

84

300

22,461 chests -

2,69,41,880

36

56

730

100 pieces

1,096

3,311 pieces

19,448

1,124 pieces

9,961

461 pieces

3,594

2, number

1,200

3,19,377

8,478

94

1,82,134

850

25 gallons

279 23,694

1702 doz.&112gals.

3,689

5,007

Woollen, British

551 pieces

64,378 7,890

Merchandise Horses

3,88,85,919 1,500

TOTAL

Rs. 3,88,87,410

H. H. Glass,

Collector of Customs.

Saddlery

Spirits

Sundries

Wine, Sherry

Wood, of Sorts

Bombay Custom House,

5 August 1844.

To the Hon. R. M. Martin,

Her Majesty's Treasurer, China.

(9.)

REPORT on the TEA TRADE, transmitted to Her Majesty's Government from China, in July 1845.By R. M. Martin.

THE traffic in an innutritious herb, grown almost solely in one district of Asia, and in a country hitherto isolated from the western nations, is one of the most remarkable illustrations of the enterprize and energy of modern commerce. A trade involving British capital to the extent of about 10,000,000l. sterling, furnishing regular employment to about 60,000 tons of first-class English-built shipping, contributing nearly 5.000,0001. sterling of annual revenue to the Exchequer, and influencing materially the morals and sobriety of the nation, deserves investigation in detail, as regards its rise, progress, and present condition.

The tea plant, although found in different parts of the eastern hemisphere, is probably indigenous to China, or Japan, where it is extensively cultivated. The earliest record to be

found of the use of tea is in the records of the Moorish historians and travellers in the end of the eighth century, at which period the Mahommedans had free ingress and residence in China, subject to very few restrictions,

Ibn Batuta mentions that the emperor received the revenues from salt; that paper money, bearing the government stamp, was current in the country; and that the general drink of the people was prepared by immersing the leaves of a small plant in hot water, which was used medicinally as well as for correcting the bad properties of the water.

Soliman, an Arabian merchant, who visited China, A. D. 850, describes "sah" (tea), as the usual beverage of the people.

Texeira, a Spaniard, in 1600, saw dried leaves (of tea) at Malacca, which were in use among the Chinese. Olearius, in 1633, found the use of tea pretty general among the Persians, who procured it from China by means of the Usbeck Tartars. The Russian am- bassador (Stawkaw) to the court of the Mogul Chau Shau Attyn, partook of tea, and at his departure he was offered it for the Czar Michael Romanoff, which he refused, not knowing of what use it would be in Russia.

Of the first introduction of tea into Europe we know but little. In 1517, Emmanuel, King of Portugal, sent a fleet of eight ships to China, and an ambassador to Pekin, who obtained permission to open a trade; but it was not until after the formation of the Dutch East India Company in 1602, that the use of tea became known on the continent, and although

[ 5 ]

although the enterprizing Hollanders paid considerable attention to it, as an article of com- merce, the consumption increased but little, for in 1670 it was unknown in Dort. The

Appendix.

Dutch, in their second voyage to China, bought a good deal of tea, at from 8d. to 10 d. per Report on the 'Tea pound (the price at the present day), which, although of a middling quality, sold in Paris Trade. for 30 livres a pound; and for some years the best Japanese tea, esteemed as much better than that of China, brought from 100 to 200 livres per pound in France, until the use of coffee and chocolate became fashionable and general.

The first authentic notice to be found of tea in England, is in an Act of Parliament (12 Car. II, c. 23) A. D. 1660, by which a duty of 8d. per gallon was laid on all tea made and sold in coffee-houses; and by an Act framed in the same year the duties of excise on malt liquor, cyder, perry, meal, spirits, or strong waters, coffee, tea, sherbet, and chocolate were settled on the king for life. In the diary of Mr. Pepys, secretary of the Admiralty, there is found under date 25th September 1661, the following memorandum relative to tea "I sent for a cup of tea, a Chinese drink, of which I had never drank before."

In 1662, Charles the Second married the Princess Catherine of Portugal, who it is said was fond of tea, having been accustomed to it in her own country, hence it became fashionable in England. Waller, in a birth-day ode on her Majesty, ascribes the introduction of the herb to the queen in the following lines:

"The best of queens and best of herbes we owe

did show

To that bold nation who the

way

To the fair region where the sun doth rise, Whose rich productions we so justly prize."

The same poet attributes an inspiring power to the Chinese leaf:

"The muses' friend, tea, does our fancy aid,

Repress those vapours which the head invade."

In 1660 tea was sold in England at three guineas per pound. The following copy of an advertisement in 1680, shows the price of the leaf, and the mode of vending it to the public:

"These are to give notice to persons of quality, that a small parcel of most excellent tea is by accident fallen into the hands of a private person to be sold; but that noue may be disappointed, the lowest price is thirty shillings a pound, and not any to be sold under a pound weight, for which they are desired to bring a convenient box. Enquire at Mr. Thomas Eagle's, at the King's Head, in St. James's Market.”—London Gazette, 16 De- cember 1680.

In 1666 Lords Arlington and Ossory brought a quantity of tea from Holland; its price in England then was 60s. per pound. About this period, the East India Company being desirous of presenting a rarity to his Majesty, procured 22 lbs. of tea, which was thought a valuable offering to royalty.

Heretofore the small quantity used in England was obtained from the Continent; for in 1634, some English ships having visited Canton, a rupture took place between our seamen and the Chinese, and trade was for some time interdicted; but in 1668 the Court of Directors, in the despatch to their factories at Bantam in Java, ordered them to send home by their ships 100 lbs, weight of the best tea they could get. And accordingly, in 1669, the East India Company's first invoice of tea was received, amounting to two canisters of 143 lbs. Such was the commencement of a trade which, by the most judicious manage. ment, has now risen to an importation of upwards of 50,000,000 lbs. weight. That a careful proportioning of the supply to the demand was absolutely necessary, will be evident from the following fact, which at this early period operated as a warning to the Company, and has since proved highly beneficial to the commerce. In 1678 the East India Company imported 4,713 lbs. of tea; but this then large quantity completely glutted the market, for the imports of tea during the ensuing six years amounted in all to only 318 lbs. In 1680 the Company opened a direct trade with China.

In 1689 the old mode of levying the duty on tea, viz. by the quantity made in the coffee- houses, being found very uncertain as well as vexatious, an Act of 1 Gul. & Mar., sess. 2, c. 6, fixed a custom duty of 5s. a pound, together with the former sum of five per cent. on the value.

For some time the consumption of tea slowly increased in England, in consequence of the high rate of duty, which was sometimes as high as 200 per cent. on the sale price.

A considerable degree of smuggling arose, which was only put down by lowering the taxation. During the years 1697, 1698, and 1699, the East India Company imported on an average 20,000 lbs. of tea annually. In 1700 the importation was augmented to 60,000 lbs. a year, the average price of tea being 16s. per pound. In 1721 the importation, of tea into England exceeded for the first time 1,000,000 lbs.; and at the September sale in 1728, the quantity put up for sale was 769,104 lbs., the duty on which amounted to 153,820. sterling.

The bill of cargo of the Cæsar, which arrived from China 17th May 1726, has entered in it 358,000 lbs. of tea, the duty on which was 71,620 L sterling. Since the commencement of the present century the annual consumption of tea in the United Kingdom has increased by upwards of 20,000,000 of pounds, while its use during the same period has been decreasing in Europe and America. In the space of 100 years, from 1710 to 1810, there were sold at the East India Company's sales 750,219,016 lbs. of tea, the value of which was 129,804,595 l. sterling. Of this quantity of tea 116,470,675 lbs. were re-exported. Since the commencement of the present century, 1,385,949,566 lbs. of tea have been sold in England,