1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS,

238

comfort, and every post house is bound by law to have its samovar hot and boiling, ready for the way- In Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, the *' billy " of tea is familiar, and forms the only drink of the shepherd, the stockman, and the digger. All the British colonies and possessions are devotees to the *' cup which cheers, but not inebriates." Great Britain herself is a great tea drinker, whether it be the ''five o'clock tea," which has developed into a cult, with vestments peculiar thereto ; the poor seamstress, stitching for hard life, who takes it to keep herself awake for her task ; or the labourer, who takes his tin bottle with him to the field. In fact, go where you will, in every civilized portion of the world (except Greece, where the consumption is merely nominal), and you will find drinkers of tea. Great Britain is the centre of the tea trade of the world, and in 1889 she imported a total quantity of 222,147,661 lbs., the declared value of which was Of this she took for her own consump- tion, and paid duty thereon, 185,628,491 lbs, which, at 6d, per lb. duty, produced a revenue of ^^4, 640, 704. Wisely or not, Mr. Goschen, in the Budget for 1890, reduced the duty to 4^. per lb. In spite of this enormous quantity of tea drank in Great Britain, she does not rank as the largest con- sumer per head, which, leaving out China, Japan, Thibet, and Tartary, where statistics are unknown, is as follows : '^ farer. ;^9,987,967.

we are indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. Gow,

1 For this list

Wilson & Stanton, 13,

Rood Lane, London, E.G.