RISE IN TEA.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1001, 16 December 1910, Page 7

RISE IN TEA.

INFLUENCE OF OLD AGE PENSIONS. By Tileirapn—Press Association-Copyright. London, December 14. The value of . the shares and debentures in a hundred and seventy tea companies has risen from .£23,000,000 to ,£30,000,000 sterling since January. Common Indian and Ceylon teas are selling at 7jd. a pound. The increase is attributed. to old age pensioni and two good harvests in iius.sia, both factors increasing tea consumpton. Ceylon shipments last month decreased by a million pounds. The world's total production of tea is estimated at about ,1,200,0001b. annuallv. Of this about half comes from China, three-eights from British sources (India,' ~eylori, and Natal), and the remaining eighth from Japan, Java, Formosa, and other countries. Tea consumption'is expanding, and in Britain 6.381b. per head of the population is now consumed, which is nearly as much as in •• Australasia, where more : tea in proportion to populntion .is drunk than anywhere else. The increase has been attributed to old age pensions, the increase in temperance, and the higher duties on intoxicants.- It has been stated that during the nest fivo years about 70,000 acres in Ceylon now under tea will be producing rubber, and that it is unlikely that more land will be planted with tea'.