THE CONSUMPTION OF TEA.
The Australian colonies and New Zealand, according to one of the Indian journals, drink far more tea per head of population than the British Islands. The Australians come first, with 7.66 pounds per head; the New Zealanders next, with 7.23 pounds per head; while the people of Great Britain, though appearing third in the list, consume only 4.90 pounds each. Newfoundland and Canada come next; while in the United States the consumption is only 1.30 pound per head; and in Russia, which is always regarded as a great tea-drinking country, the consumption is only 0.61 pound per head. Belgium, Sweden, Austria-Hungary, and Spain consume less than the other European nations; but there is not one nation on the continent, with the exception of Holland, in which the annual consumption exceeds one pound per head. But in certain parts of the countries named, tea-drinking is much more common than in others. In certain Russian districts, especially, tea is drunk constantly and copiously, and it is this fact which has given rise to the notion that Russia is the most bibulous of all tea-drinking countries.