News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-04-10
SOMETHING ABOUT TEA.
1T CAME FIRST FROM JAVA AND
NOT FROM CHINA.
Prices Once Charged for the Drug -
Chinese Exports Falling Of.

Contrary to the popular impression,
says the London Standard, we did not
re- Give our first supplies of what was
then known as "chaw," aid drunk out
of "silvcr porringers," from China,
but from Java, which, until the Dutch
obtained possession of he island, was
an English settlement. The commerce
in the herb could not, however, have
been great, for al first the price ranged
from &c to f10 per pound. Even
during The reign of Charles III. and his
brother it was disposed of at from los.
to sos, according 10 quality, the duty
payable on every gallon of the bcver-
age sold in the coffee houses being
cightpcncc. In the reign of William
and Mary i: was further burdened
with all import duty of As. per pound
and per cent. of the value, and dur
ing the next century, when the ave-
age price was 16s., the imports mount
ed up to fully 200 per cent. on the
value of the commoner qualities.
The tea trade, was, however, in that
era comparatively small branch of
commerce, being mainly a monopoly in
the hands of the East India Company.
1t was when the consumpti, IL increased
enormously, while the business of sup
plying the demand was not too much
subdivided, that it became and con-
tinued SO remarkably lucrative. The
prices were not high enough to be pro-
hibitory, and yet were sufficiently
good to permit of handsome profit to
g over, buyers, brokers' and sellers.
This is no longer the case. The pco-
pie who expect to live by the traffic
have multiplied ont Of all proportions
to their customers, with the inevitable
result that prices have been whitfield
down 10 q figure which admits of little
margin. In China-so it is affirmed
by those in a position to know-a
suicidal attempt has been made by the
native growers to recoup themselves
for falling prices by more slovenly
manufacture and even by fragrant
adulteration. This, at least, is the
verdict of body so we'll qualified to
pronounce on the evidence before them
as the Shangh hal Chamber of Commerce.
A fact even more conclusive is that
while the exports of China tea have
fallen off enormously, those of the
newer tca-producing districts have in
creased in an inverse ratio. 1t is known
that between 1861 and 1866 the export
decreased by "a ,00C 900, and since then
the disparity has been even greater.
Thus it is obviously useless for China
any longer to regard herself as able TO
control the tea trade of t: world, or
TO conduct herself as if she were the
pr me producer. She may be fortu-
nate, indeed, if India, Ceylon and Java
leave her the second place in the strug-
gle for supremacy.
The planters of Assam were the first
to work their gardens OH the p inciples
of scientific high farming, and now
they arc rcapi"e their reward. But of
all the competitors who have disputed
the China monopoly, Ccylon is likely
to prove the most formidable, though
she entered the field SO recently that
tea was only regarded as likely crop
when the destruction of th"ir coffee
plantations compelled the owners of
estates to try other products. Now,
thanks to the experience of India with
which the planters began, and to the
of climate and soil, the ex-
port of Ceylon tea is increasing year
by year, while the quality. taking one
season with another, is of decidedly
high standard.