244 / 374
344
DRINKS.
very
few
years,
as
the
following
short
statistics,
taken
from
a
Tea
Circular,^
will
show,
The
total
value
of
all
the
Ceylon
tea
in
bond
in
1880 was
;£5,o24.
Ditto
ditto
ditto
1888
„
p^i,
5
'55,095.
The
duty
on
above,
at
6d.
per
lb.,
was
respectively
^2,^'ji.
;£464,664
showing
that
not
only
had
the
quantity
imported
enormously
increased,
but
so
had
the
quality,
as
shown
by
the
enhanced
market
value.
One
instance,
al-
though
an
exceptional
one,
will
show
what
Ceylon
can
produce
in
the
way
of
tea.
On
13th
January,
1890,
was
sold
at
the
London
Commercial
Tea
Sale
Rooms,
a
consignment
of
tea
from
the
Gallebodde
Estate,
Ceylon,
which
experts
described
as
the
finest
tea
ever
grown.
This
unique
tea
was
of
the brightest
gold
qolour,
resembling
grains
of
gold.
Its
sale
excited
the
keenest
competition,
and
it
was
eventually
knocked
down
for
£^
ys.
per
lb.,
but
it
was
resold
a
few
days
afterwards
to
a
wholesale
firm
at
the
enormous
price
of
^5
I
OS.
per
lb.
•'
Much
excitement
prevailed
yesterday
in
the
Lon-
don
Commercial
Tea
Sale
Rooms,
Mincing
Lane,
on
the
offering
of
a
small
lot
of
Ceylon
tea,
from
the
Gart-
more
Estate.
This
tea
is
composed
almost
entirely
of
small
•
golden
tips,'
which
are the
extreme
ends
of
the
small
succulent
shoots
of
the
plant.
Competition
was
of
a
very
keen
description,
the
tea
being
ultimately
knocked
down
to
the
Mazawattee
Ceylon
Tea
Com-
*
Messrs.
Gow.
Wilson
&
Stanton.