Two hundred years ago tea companies, the importers, the government and the retailers were all making excess profits, prompting the writer of this article, no doubt a tea drinker, to expose their malpractice.
“CONSUMPTION OF TEA.–The principal article of our commerce with China, tea, is perhaps more singular in its history than any other article of commerce in the known world. A simple and unsophisticated shrub, in little more than half a century, has become an article of such general consumption, that it seems to form one of the prime of articles of existence among the great bulk of mankind. It is the peculiar growth of a country, of which it forms almost the only link of connexion with the rest of the world. It forms the source of the largest commercial revenue to the British Government of any other commodity whatever, and of the largest commercial profits to the individuals concerned in its importation. Withal, it is the simplest, the most harmless thing that ever was offered for the gratification man,– having, it is agreed and argued by many, a moral influence wherever it is diffused. It is the rallying point of our earliest associations ; it has given an additional charm to our fire-sides ; and tends, perhaps, more than any one thing, to confirm the pre-existing domestic habits of the British public. Its exhilirating qualities are eagerly sought after as a restorative and a solace from the effects of fatigue or dissipation ; the healthy and the sick, the young and the old, all equally resort to the use of it, as yielding all the salutary influence of strong liquors, without their baneful and pernicious effects. Yet this shrub, so simple and so useful, is delivered to the community of this country so surcharged with duties and profits beyond its original cost, that, did it contain all the mischievous qualities that are opposed to its real virtues, it could not be more strictly guarded from general use. For the whole of our imports, including factory expenses and commission, the original cost in China amounts to the sum of 2 millions sterling. This is wonderfully increased before the British public can have any access to the article of consumption, thus:–
| 1. The value of the Company’s importations from China into Great Britain, as established by their own statement, is | £2,000,000 |
| 2. On this they charge 100 per cent, for their own especial benefit | £2,000,000 |
| 3. And the Government duty, as by law established, is equal to the original cost and the profits charged by the Company | £4,000,000 |
This gives a total of eight millions, which is nearly doubled by the profits of retailers.”
The Stamford Mercury, 10th October 1828.