The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-22 00:00:00

INDIA TRADE.

Our readers are aware that a motion on the
propriety of farther opening up the trade to India,
was submitted lately to the Merchant Com-
pany by Mr. Madarlan, and now lies on their
table. Some persons ask what interest the
town of Edinburgh, which apart from Leith
possesses no foreign trade, has in the subject ?
Now, in any matter that affects its gene-
ral prosperity, Leith ought not to be separated
from Edinburgh, any more than Poi tsburgh or
the Canongate ; but a little reflection will spew,
that not only the city in the aggregate, but every
part and section of it, is injured by the present
privileges of the Company ; and in one particu-
lar we may exhibit the loss it sustains in a tan•
gible shape. We allude to the extra price paid
for the article of tea, in consequence of the Com-
pany's monopoly. Nobody, we imagine, has
any correct idea of the vast amount of the tax
which a single town like ours pay to the Lords
of Leadeuhall-street in this way. Edinburgh
and Leith now contain about 160,000 inhabi
tarts, all of whom infants at the breast excepted,
may be considered as consumers of tea. Of
30,000,000 pounds of tea annually imported,
fully 26,000,000 are sold in England and Scot-
land, which gives about two pounds for every
man, woman, and child ; but when we separate
the Highlanders, the Welsh, and the peasantry
in the more distant districts, who use very little
tea, we cannot estimate the quantity
.consumed
in a town like Edinburgh, abounding in wealthy
people, at less than five pounds for each inhabi-
tant. This makes the annual consumption
amount to 800,000 pounds, a small part of which
is Bohea, and the rest Congou. Averaging the
qualities used by different classes, we may take
4s. per pound, as the retail price of the one
species, and ss. Gd. as that of the other. It will
be seen from a table in our last, that what the
poor labourer's wife pays 4s. for here, is retailed
at Bremen for 13-id. ; and what costs respectable
families 55., Gs., or 7s. in our own country, is
sold at Lubeck and Bremen at prices varying

from 14d. up to 22d.—Untaxed or lightly taxed
tea, however, is a luxury for those who have never
crusaded in long wars for glory and an ti• jacobin ism,
and of course is not for us. But let us see how
much of price and tax the Company make us pay
more than we ought. The table alluded to shews
that the wholesale price of Behea and Congou at
Hamburg, is about 6d. and 9d., while in Lon-
don the Company, by the simple expedient of
understocking the market, contrive to raise it up
to ls. sk-d. and 2s. 4d. The duty on tea is 96
per cent., and is proportioned to the price, and

. .
consequently for every extra penny of price laid
on by the Company, the Government acids another

of tax. Wheil the tea sells at Is. 5d., the deity
is is. 5i-d. more; but if sold at 6d., as it does

at Hamburg, the
,duty would be. only 6d. Now
the difference of price between London and
Hamburg being 11d. on the Bohea, and ls. 7d.
on the Congou, it follows that when the duty is
added, the enhancement of cost to the consumer
is ls. 10d. in the one case, and 3s.' 2d. in the
other. The mean of the two is 2s. 6d. We
inhabitants of Edinburgh therefore pay on an
average 2s. 6d. more for every pound of tea we
buy, than would be demanded from us if the
Company's monopoly were abolished. We
estimated the quantity consumed in the city
(Lziith included) at 800,0001bs. yearly, and
2s. 6(1 per lb. on this quantity conies exactly to
100,01101. Startling as the result is, we believe
it to be correct. We may assert then on good
grounds, that the inhabitants of Edinburgh are
subjected to an annual tax of one hundred
thousand pounds, in consequence of the East
s monopoly ! Have we not,
mlanyinterest in the entire opening of the
thenlndiad an
i India
tCon
rade ?

From facts communicated to us by a friend,
we know that in a genteel family of five grown
up persons (exclusive of servants) the consump-
tion of tea is about a pound per•week, or 52
pounds per annum. The kind generally used is
Congou, and the extra price and tax together
being 3s. 2d. per lb. it follows that the Com-
pauy s monopoly imposes a- tax of rather more
than eight pounds sterling per annum on such a

family! Who can say that the middling and
upper classes will not be benefitted by throwing
Open the India trade ?
We have not space to enter into the other
topics connected with this subject—the reduc-
tion in the price of indigo, sugar, silk, and other
India products, which would save money less or
more to our pockets, nor of the indirect advant-
age which our city would derive from the stimu-
lus given to industry generally by the additional
market opened up for our manufactures in the
Last. All this will readily suggest itself to any
person who reflects a little on the subject.—
Scotsman.