In 1770, Lord North repealed four of the five Townshend Duties but retained the 3d tax on tea. The Tea Act of 1773 was intended to rescue the East India Company from its financial problems and provided that the Company might export tea directly to the American colonies and appoint its own agents to sell it. Before this legislation, the Company had been required to sell its tea at auction in London to wholesalers and retailers; now it entered the retail business itself.
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history of Ceylon Tea