ry 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.

The return in question also specifies the quantity of the various
kinds of tea, with the average sale prices.

According to the annual tea reports of Messrs. W.J. Thompson and Son,
and Messrs. W.E. Franks and Son, the total imports of tea during the
last fifteen years were as follows, reckoned in millions of lbs.:--

Years. Black. Green. Total. Home Consumption.
1838 26,786 8,215 35,001 36,415
1839 30,644 7,680 38,324 36,351
1840 21,063 7,161 28,224 31,716
1841 24,915 6,303 31,218 36,811
1842 31,915 9,729 41,644 37,554
1843 39,513 7,340 46,853 39,902
1844 39,644 8,749 48,393 41,176
1845 39,518 11,790 51,338 44,127
1846 44,017 12,486 55,503 47,534
1847 46,887 8,368 55,255 46,247
1848 37,512 7,611 45,123 48,431
1849 43,234 9,156 52,400 50,100
1850 39,873 8,427 48,300 51,000
1851 62,369 9,131 71,500 54,000
1852 55,525 9,175 64,700 54,724

The duty on tea was gradually raised from 9d. per lb. in 1787 to 3s. a
lb. in 1806. It was 2s. 2d. per lb. until May, 1852, when 4d. per lb.
was taken off, and further annual reductions are to be made. Down to
the year 1834 the duty was an _ad