It is expected in the tea trade that restriction, if not total prohibition, of the consumption of vodka will eventually increase the consumption of tea in Russia very materially, and thus afford an outlet for the ever increasing produetion. It is, however, possible, of course, that the Government might increase the duty on tea to help make up reduced revenue from spirits, and this would, for a time, tend to check an increase in tea consumption, but it would seem un-fikely that such a course will be followed. The imports of tea to Russia in 1913 totalled 152,146,600- Ib., of which about 52,000,0001b. was brick tea, and the revenue derived from the duty on tea imports amounts to about £9,000,000 per annum.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.