Appendix.
[ 68 ]
[ 69 ]
475
Profit to exporters of above 12 per cent, or about
Landing charges, &c. in England
Cost price in bond in England
Duty received by Government, at 2s. 2¼d. per pound average
Report on the Tea Trade.
£.
Commission, about one farthing per pound
Tasting charges, about one-eighth of a penny per pound, or Interest for six months on 3,000,000l., at five per cent.
46,000
23,000
(10.)
75,000
Total Outlay in China
3,167,000
300,000
QUANTITY of TEA Imported from China into the United Kingdom, since the Year 1669; Rates of Duties Levied; Quantities Retained for Home Consumption; Revenue Received; Average Price per Pound, &c.-By R. Montgomery Martin, Her Majesty's Treasurer for China.
33,000
3,500,000
Quantity of
YEARS.
Tea
4,920,000
Imported.
Rates of Duty Levied; Customs and Excise.
Sold, or Retained for Consumption.
REVENUE RECEIVED.
Average Price
Sale;
Great Britain. Ireland. TOTAL.
per Pound.
Amount.
Remarks.
8,420,000
1,580,000
Lbs.
Lbs.
£.
£.
£.
L
(*)
[8d. a gallon]
£. 10,000,000
1669
143 on all teas
made and
60s. per lb.
T
1678
4.713
sold in cof-
I.
fee-houses.
1697
20,000
[5s. per lb.) and 5 per
the value.
30s. per
Ib.
Profit divided among tea brokers, wholesale and retail dealers, &c.
Total Outlay by British Public for Tea
It is more than probable that tea has now reached the limit of consumption in England, and that any reduction of taxation (even if such reduction went not into the pockets of the tea merchants and the dealers), would not augment the use of this innutritious leaf. A financier knows that there are some articles, viz., salt, pepper, &c., which cannot be increased in use beyond a given extent by fiscal diminution; and tea, which must be used alone, and which cannot, like sugar and other articles, be mixed with various substances, is in this category,
A reduction of the tea duties from 2s. to 1s., as proposed, would therefore diminish the revenue one-half without any perceptible corresponding advantage to the consumer; and unless the State is in a condition to throw away from one to two million sterling of income, or to levy this amount on some other article, there can be no justifiable grounds for the proposed reduction. But it is also worthy of note, that the use of tea as a beverage is a factitious taste which may decline (as has been the case throughout Europe) as rapidly as it has arisen; that the rate of duty levied shuts out tea of very inferior quality, and that the glutting of the market with a worthless or injuriously adulterated herb, might produce a national distaste, especially among the labouring classes, with whom coffee is a preferable stimulant, and cocoa a more nutritious beverage.
The idea that by reducing the price of teas in England a largely increased consumption would take place, which would be paid for in British manufactures, is fallacious, and will be found adverted to in other parts of this Report, and it is wiser to await and see the effects which importing teas direct from Shanghai, and other northern ports in China, may have in reducing the cost price; and which, as before observed, may it is said be done to the extent of nearly 20 per cent. as compared with the present Canton prices. If this reduction take place in the prime cost at the port of shipment, the Government will be enabled to ascertain how far such reduction will benefit the consumer, or extend the consumption at home. On a mature and impartial consideration of the whole subject, it does not appear politic or advisable to make now any alterations in the tea duties, neither as regards the vital interests of the State, which cannot afford to jeopardize nearly four millions sterling of annual revenue, steadily and economically paid into the British Exchequer, nor as affects the great bulk of the nation, who as consumers would derive little or no benefit in the price of an article supplied by only one foreign country, and who may as well pay their necessary quota of taxation on tea as on any other article subject to custom or excise duties.
China, July 1845.
Robert Montgomery Martin,
[The General Report on China, as laid before the Board of Trade, and printed by permission of Her Majesty's Government in two volumes octavo, has been published by Mr. Madden, of Leadenhall-street, London.]
to aver.
1699)
1700
to aver. 1708
1721 1728
1741 1742 1743
1744
1745
1746
80,000
•
1,100,000
cent.
on
-137.185.7¾d.
per lb., and 4s. per lb. ad valorem.
-381.185.7¼d. per cent., and 1s. per lb.
1,493,626 1,192,261 473,868 710,633 1,723,152
2,422,610 2,496,379
215,019 3,150,517
150,000
243,000
300,000
1747
-
1748
·
1749
-431.188.7¾d.
3,334,779
1750
per cent., and
2,295,506
1751
1s. per lb.
3,656,175
1752
2,272,909
1753
3,253,083
1754
4,500,000
3,048,835
1755
|-431.188.7¾d.|| 3,437,001
1756
1757
per cent., and 1s. per lb.
3,812,543
3,723,032
1758
3,520,634
1759
3,245,705
No Returns available.
T
1760
3,860,976
1761
|-487.188.7¾d. || 4,308,234
1762
percent., and
4,217,961
1763
6,000,000
1s. per lb. on
5,307,292
1764
all sorts.
5,222,934
1765
5,204,219
5,185,831
562,030
1767
7,260,000
4,921,131
547,230
607,430
1768
1769
The same duty, except black and singlo teas.
616,715
7,676,243
609,846
9,114,845
621,081
1770
8,634,054 695,108
1771
6,306,881
877,04%
1772
6,721,626
1,028,060
1,111,898
1773
- Same duty,
3,776,229
1,176,861
1774
and 1s. per
1775
1776
Ib. on all sorts.
6,728,721
1,152,262
6,155,783 1,287,808 4,467,609
1,450,252
1777
5,119,862 1,757,257
1778
1779
9,916,760
1780
17,496,884
1781
23,841,683
[-517. 7s. 6d. per cent., and 1s. -4d. per lb. -531.6s. 3d. per cwt., and 1s. 1d. per lb.
4,179,761 2,348,004 6,341,986
2,925,298
7,328,098
3,098,428
4,883,970
3,043,224 3,370,610
-
16s. per lb.
-10s. to 35s.
per
Ib.
995,850
911,429
1,321,973
1,425,708
1,555,968
1,316,568
Not as-
1,238,434
certainable
in these
1,041,841
years from
1,031,216
any existing
777,011
records.
930,280
809,583
1,263,462
1,409,305
1,007,457
1,242,766
1,131,342
(*) See Remarks, on page 71.
S
12
TENG
---
(continued)
Gück
Boarc
of
Trad
Appendix.
[ 68 ]
[ 69 ]
475
Profit to exporters of above 12 per cent, or about
Landing charges, &c. in England
Cost price in bond in England
Duty received by Government, at 2s. 23 d. per pound average
Report on the Tea Trade.
£.
Commission, about one farthing per pound
Tasting charges, about one-eighth of a penny per pound, or Interest for six months on 3,000,000/., at five per cent.
46,000
23,000
(10.)
75,000
Total Outlay in China
3,167,000
300,000
QUANTITY of TEA Imported from China into the United Kingdom, since the Year 1669; Rates of Duties Levied; Quantities Retained for Home Consumption; Revenue Received; Average Price per Pound, &c.-By R. Montgomery Martin, Her Majesty's Treasurer for China.
33,000
3,500,000
Quantity of
YEARS.
Tea
4,920,000
Imported.
Rates of Duty Levied; Customs and Excise.
Sold, or Retained for Consumption.
REVENUE RECEIVED.
Average Price
Sale;
Great Britain. Ireland. TOTAL.
per Pound.
Amount.
Remarks.
8,420,000
1,580,000
Lbs.
Lbs.
£.
£.
£.
L
(*)
[8d. a gallon)
£. 10,000,000
1669
143 on all teas
made and
60 s. per lb.
T
1678
4.713
sold in cof-
I.
fee-houses.
1697
20,000
[5s. per lb.) and 5 per
the value.
30 s. per
Ib.
Profit divided among tea brokers, wholesale and retail dealers, &c.
Total Outlay by British Public for Tea
It is more than probable that tea has now reached the limit of consumption in England, and that any reduction of taxation (even if such reduction went not into the pockets of the tea merchants and the dealers), would not augment the use of this innutritious leaf. A financier knows that there are some articles, viz., salt, pepper, &c., which cannot be increased in use beyond a given extent by fiscal diminution; and tea, which must be used alone, and which cannot, like sugar and other articles, be mixed with various sub- stances, is in this category,
A reduction of the tea duties from 2s. to 1s., as proposed, would therefore diminish the revenue one-half without any perceptible corresponding advantage to the consumer; and unless the State is in a condition to throw away from one to two million sterling of income, or to levy this amount on some other article, there can be no justifiable grounds for the pro- posed reduction. But it is also worthy of note, that the use of tea as a beverage is a facti- tious taste which may decline (as has been the case throughout Europe) as rapidly as it has arisen; that the rate of duty levied shuts out tea of very inferior quality, and that the glutting of the market with a worthless or injuriously adulterated herb, might produce a national distaste, especially among the labouring classes, with whom coffee is a preferable stimulant, and cocoa a more nutritious beverage.
The idea that by reducing the price of teas in England a largely increased consumption would take place, which would be paid for in British manufactures, is fallacious, and will be found adverted to in other parts of this Report, and it is wiser to await and see the effects which importing teas direct from Shanghai, and other northern ports in China, may have in reducing the cost price; and which, as before observed, may it is said be done to the extent of nearly 20 per cent. as compared with the present Canton prices. If this reduction take place in the prime cost at the port of shipment, the Government will be enabled to ascertain how far such reduction will benefit the consumer, or extend the consumption at home. On a mature and impartial consideration of the whole subject, it does not appear politic or advisable to make now any alterations in the tea duties, neither as regards the vital interests of the State, which cannot afford to jeopardize nearly four millions sterling of annual revenue, steadily and economically paid into the British Exchequer, nor as affects the great bulk of the nation, who as consumers would derive little or no benefit in the price of an article supplied by only one foreign country, and who may as well pay their necessary quota of taxation on tea as on any other article subject to custom or excise duties.
China, July 1845.
Robert Montgomery Martin,
[The General Report on China, as laid before the Board of Trade, and printed by per- mission of Her Majesty's Government in two volumes octavo, has been published by Mr. Madden, of Leadenhall-street, London.]
to aver.
1699)
1700
to aver. 1708
1721 1728
1741 1742 1743
1744
1745
1746
80,000
•
1,100,000
cent.
on
-137.185.73d.
per lb., and 4s, per lb, ad valorem.
-381.185.71d. per cent., and 15. per Ib.
1,493,626 1,192,261 473,868 710,633 1,723,152
2,422,610 2,496,379
215,019 3,150,517
150,000
243,000
300,000
1747
-
1748
·
1749
-431.188.73d.
3,334,779
1750
per cent., and
2,295,506
1751
15, per lb.
3,656,175
1752
2,272,909
1753
3,253,083
1754
4,500,000
3,048,835
1755
|-431.188.73d.|| 3,437,001
1756
1757
per cent., and 18. per lb.
3,812,543
3,723,032
1758
3,520,634
1759
3,245,705
No Returns available.
T
1760
3,860,976
1761
|-487.188.73d. || 4,308,234
1762
percent., and
4,217,961
1763
6,000,000
1s. per lb. on
5,307,292
1764
all sorts.
5,222,934
1765
5,204,219
5,185,831
562,030
1767
7,260,000
4,921,131
547,230
607,430
1768
1769
The same duty, except black and singlo teas.
616,715
7,676,243
609,846
9,114,845
621,081
1770
8,634,054 695,108
1771
6,306,881
877,04%
1772
6,721,626
1,028,060
1,111,898
1773
- Same duty,
3,776,229
1,176,861
1774
and 18. per
1775
1776
Ib. on all sorts.
6,728,721
1,152,262
6,155,783 1,287,808 4,467,609
1,450,252
1777
5,119,862 1,757,257
1778
1779
9,916,760
1780
17,496,884
1781
23,841,683
[-517. 78. 6d. per cent., and 1 s. -4 d. per lb. -531.6s. 3d. per cwt., and is. 1 d. per Ib.
4,179,761 2,348,004 6,341,986
2,925,298
7,328,098
3,098,428
4,883,970
3,043,224 3,370,610
-
16 s. per lb.
-10 s. to 358.
per
Ib.
995,850
911,429
1,321,973
1,425,708
1,555,968
1,316,568
Not as-
1,238,434
certainable
830,902
in these
1,041,841
years from
1,031,216
any existing
777,011
records.
930,280
809,583
1,263,462
1,409,305
1,007,457
1,242,766
1,131,342
(*) See Remarks, on page 71.
S
12
TENG
---
(continued)
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