nuary
to January, and the Chinese tea year from July to July; 2nd, that a
rise at the close of the last months of the year in England,
influences the next year's exports from China; and 3rdly, that of late
years, since something of decrepitude has fallen upon the Chinese
Government, smuggling there, to escape the export duty, has been
carried on largely and at an increasing rate, so that the return is
considerably below the real export.

In the Chinese tea year, July to July, 1848-9, the price of good
ordinary congou, the tea of by far the largest consumption here, and
which, in fact, rules the market, was 81/2d. to 9-1/3d., and the export
from China 47,251,000 lbs. The year closed with the higher price, and
the Chinese export from July 1849, to July 1850, was 54,000,000 lbs.,
showing an increase of export on the year of 6,750,000 lbs. Throughout
1850, here, prices fluctuated a good deal. They were low in the
earlier part of the year, but in January went up from 91/2d. to 111/2d.,
and from July 1850, to July 1851, the export from China rose to
64,000,000 lbs., being an increase of ten million pounds on a previous
increase of nearly seven million lbs. Prices here, during 1851, varied
very much: it was difficult to say whether any rise would be
established, but the export still went up and reached, from July 1851,
to July 1852, 67,000,000 lbs., giving a total increase in three years
of 19,750,000 lbs. Nor was it pretended that in any of those years the
Chinese market showed even the least symptoms of exhaustion. "We
know," say the Committee, "that the Chinese market has never been
drained of tea in any one year, but that there has been always a
surplus left to meet any extraordinary demand." But the effect of the
rise in price in 1850 is still more forcibly shown by a comparison of
our total imports in that and the following year. In 1850 we imported
48,300,000 lbs.; in 1851, 71,500,000 lbs., being an increase of
23,200,000 lbs. Doubtless the Chinese export, if made up totally with
our year, would not account for the whole quantity, part of which is
to be set down to Chinese export-smuggling, and part to arrivals from
America and the Continent. The probability is that the increase of
price referred to above never reached the Chinese tea farmers; the
supply came from the merchants' stock on hand. The rise was, besides,
uncertain, and from any established advance a much larger increase of
export might be looked for.

But