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238
DRINKS,
comfort,
and
every
post
house
is
bound
by
law
to
have
its
samovar
hot
and
boiling,
ready
for
the
way-
farer.
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
;^9,987,967.
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
:
'^
1
For
this
list
we
are
indebted
to
the
courtesy of Messrs.
Gow,
Wilson
&
Stanton,
13,
Rood
Lane,
London,
E.G.