CONSUMPTION OF TEA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18632, 16 February 1935, Page 5

CONSUMPTION OF TEA

DECLINE IN AUSTRALIA

TRADE DRIVE

SYDNEY, Feb. 5,

Mr. R. B. Williams, who has come to Sydney on behalf of British and Dutch tea-producing interests to endeavour to increase the consumption of tea. addressed a meeting at the Millions Club. Tea, said -Mr. Williams, was the world’s most famous beverage, and. next to water, the cheapest. Until seven fa-ears ago Australia was one of the biggest tea-drinking countries in the world, but Great Britain now led with a consumption of 9|lb per head a year'. Ireland and New Zealand were next at about 81b. Australia had fallen to fourth place at just over 0*21b., as against 81b. a few years ago. This meant that tea producers and tea packers had lost in Australia a market ot 7,000,0001 b. of tea a year. Mr. Williams mentioned that, in tin campaign to increase the consumption of tea, the three main producing areas of the world—lndia, Ceylon, and the Netherlands East Indies—were acting jointly, as they were no longer competitors in the world’s market. The exports of these countries had been limited as from April 1, 1933, and since then they had been partners, and economic, rivalry had been removed. Mr. Williams mentioned that steps were 'being taken to grant credit, facilities to Russia, and it was probable that that country would again shortly he consuming more tea than before the war, when it ranked as the second greatest tea-drinking nation in the world.