The tea duties have, however, always been excessively heavy, and it is therefore not surprising that a great deal of smuggling was carried on in the "Good Old Times," and that deceptions were practised to a very large extent by unscrupulous tea-dealers. Parliament at last interfered. In the reign of George II. an Act of Parliament recites that "several ill-disposed persons do frequently fabricate, dye, or manufacture very great quantities of sloe-leaves, liquorice-leaves, and the leaves of tea that have before been used, or the leaves of other trees, shrubs, or plants, in imitation of tea, and do likewise mix, colour, stain and dye such leaves with terra japonica, sugar, molasses, clay, logwood and with other ingredients, and do sell and vend the same as real tea, to the prejudice of the health of his Majesty's subjects, the diminution of his revenue, and to the ruin of the fair trader." The Act then declares, "that the dealer in and seller of such sophisticated teas shall forfeit the sum of ten pounds for every pound-weight." In a report of the Committee of the House of Commons, in 1783, it is stated that "the quantity of fictitious tea annually manufactured from sloe, liquorice, and ash-tree leaves, in different parts of England, to be mixed with genuine teas, is computed at four millions of pounds, and that at a time when the whole quantity of genuine tea sold by the East India Company did not exceed more than six millions of pounds annually." The Act does not seem, however, to have done much to check the evil, for in the year 1828 the existence of several tea manufactories was disclosed, the penalties for defrauding the revenue amounting in one case to 840_l._ It is impossible to estimate the amount of smuggled tea consumed, but the official accounts indicate a large consumption. [Illustration: TEA-TASTING IN CHINA.] It appears that from 1710 to 1810 not fewer than 750,219,016 lbs. of tea were sold at the East India Company's sales, the value of which was 129,804,595_l._ The duty alone amounted to 104,856,858_l._ In 1828 the revenue amounted to 3,302,252_l._ The exclusive right of trading in tea, so long enjoyed by the East India Company, terminated on the 22nd of April, 1834, when an alteration was made in the method of collecting the dues. Under the old system a tax was levied on the value of the tea; but under the new it was levied upon the weight and quality, the duties ranging from 1_s._ 6_d._ on Bohea, and 3_s._ on Pekoe and other kinds.[7] The transfer did not, however, secure the approval of the tea-dealers, who continued to petition Parliament for a reduction of the duty. A society was formed at Liverpool with this object in view, and in 1846 its officers published a letter addressed to Sir Robert Peel, contending that, as tea was an object of the first importance to the labouring classes, "the duty on it should be such in amount and principle as to induce the greatest consumption." The memorialists argued:--