ROMANCE OF TEA

Hokitika Guardian, 18 December 1929, Page 2

ROMANCE OF TEA

(From Auckland Star.) Not long ago an Auckland tea expert estimated 3,121,600,000 cups of tea were consumed in. New Zealand last year, which would mean about eight pounds per head. We certainly are .great tea drinkers, but cannot yet afford to throw out our chests and rest, as in U.S.A. their average annual consumption of coffee per head is thirteen pounds !How we compare with the consumption of beer in England I do not know, but I did notice that after 269 years the duty has been removed from beer! Whether the Government considers beer should be handicapped and should not be taxed I do not know.

The removal of tea duty in England makes one wonder what might have been had Lord North, King George Tll.’s, Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, acted in a similar manner when dealing with the question of tea duty in British colonies in America. Everyone knows how in Boston in 1770 blood was shed as a result of colonists refusing to pay duty, and how later, after all other means had been tried to persuade the Government to alter their intentions, fifty men dressed as Mohawk Indians hurried on to the wharf and emptied the 342 chests of tea into the harbour. This was the declaration of war that afterwards followed, and 158 years later another Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer rescinded the duty in England!-,and at a loss of revenue to the Government of £6,000,000 annually. To me that sounds more like the romance of governments than the romance of tea! Where and when was tea first grown Although it is generally believed to be A.D. 763 in China, I call to mind that quanit old Chinese story of the first, discovery of tea. According to this story the discovery of tea was attributed to an Indian divine named Darma, who came to China to

preach Buddhism. This holy man was in the habit of spending his nights in prayer and devotional exercises but one night lie found himself succumbing to sleep; wherat he was so irritated that he cut off his eyelids and threw them out of the window before resuming bis devotions. Next morning the omnd man was astonished to observe a small tree growing in the place where each eyelid had fallen, and, acting under a divine inspiration, he began to eat the leaves of these shrubs e To bis surprise and immense relief the pain of his recent sacrifice immediately disappeared, while his whole body began to glow with renewed strength. The shrubs were tea shrubs.

In any ease, there is no doubt tea was first discovered in and wo find that in China, as in America and England, tea. has taken a very* important part in the history of the country. The history of tea in China is really the history of China's foreign trade. In 1677 a letter was sent from the directors of the East India Companv to their factors in Java authorising them to utilise an Imperial permit they had obtained to trade with the mainland of China, and to do their host to encourage tea. Half a century later came the day of the famous tea clippers, which used to call at Canton, Amoy and Foochow in the early part ol each year, waiting to load the tea as it was marketed, and then racing home to England to get their precious cargoes on the Home markets. In tho-'o days there was a. considerable difference between the 'prices paid foi the first arrivals and for the later shipments, and as all business, "'as done on a consignment basis the eagerness of the owners to get their cargoes home first may well be imagined • as witness the famous race home

in*-1866, of which probably everybody knows. The Taiping (a vessel of 767 tons gross), the Aerial, Fiery Cross, Sorica, Black Prince, Chinaman Ada and ' Taitsing all tcok part. The Taiping raced the Aerial up the English Channel, but the latter secured an advantage by picking up the first pilot. Getting the better tug, however, the Taiping reached Gravesend fifty-five minutes ahead of her rival and docked twenty minutes ahead, having had further to go for a berth. The Serica, which had taken the French side of the, Channel, berthed on the same tide, making the closest finish to an ocean race ever recorded. All three vessels had taken ninetynine days whilst the runners-up, the Fiery Cross and the Taitsing, took 101 days. For many years tea was cultivated only in China, but in 1870 Ceylon and India started the cultivation of the shrub, and now those parts of the British Empire produce 612,000,0001 b of the world’s approximate ai/nual production of S80.GOU.OOOI!>. As an indication of the wealth of this industry to Great Britain it is estimated that the current market value of British capital in the tea industry in the Fast is just about three times the £60,009,(MX) actually invested. Iri view of an opinion fairly prevalent that tea is harmful another interesting and rather remarkable fact is that just recently leading English physicians have slated tent can do nothing but good (Sir AY. Arbuthnot Lane) and that it is a boon and a blessing with geerally bcnelieicnt effects (Sir James Cinch ton-Browne), while over 2000 years ago toil was used in China for medicinal purposes.

■Barnum, the famous American showman, was once asked what invention or discovery had, in his opinion, contributed most to the sum of human happiness and enjoyment. Without hesitation he replied: ‘‘The invention or discovery of smoking.” He wasn’t far wrong. • Tobacco is like a good wife-—its halves pur sorrows and doubles our joys. But it must be good. If full of nicotine, like the imported brands, habitual indulgence in it must, sooner or later. end in heart or nerve trouble. It’s not so with our New Zealand grown brands, manufactured by the National Tobacco Co., -Ltd., (pioneers of the Dominion tobacco industry). These are the only toasted tobaccos procurable, and the toasting kills the nicotine in them and renders them quite harmless. The flavour is delightful. and the bouquet peculiarly fine. No wonder they are capturing the market! There are various brands, those most in request being “Riverhead Gold,” a . delicious aromatic: “Cavendish,” famous sporting mixture; “Navy Cut,” a choice blend, medium; and “Cut Plug No. 10,” the old smoker’s favourite.—Advt.