§ Customs produced last year £20,756,000, Exchequer receipts £516,000 over the Estimate and £641,000 over the Exchequer receipts of 1894–95. The Customs authorities are usually wonderfully accurate in their Estimates. In this Estimate they made a mistake of 2–57 per cent., and that does not seem much on an Estimate of over £20,000,000. I only mention it because it is the largest mistake but one they have made within the last 16 years, and it is an extraordinary testimony to the wonderful foresight with which they calculate their Estimates. The chief feature of the Customs has been the increase in the revenue from tobacco, tea and wine, and the receipts under those three heads show an increase of £603,000 over the net receipts of 1894–95, and of £364,000 over the Estimate of my predecessor. It is curious to observe that in the first quarter those three items showed a decrease of £64,000, which by Michaelmas had turned into an increase of £142,000. The coffee and chicory group produced a net receipt of about £328,000, an increase of £2,000 over 1894–95; the receipts from cocoa increased by £5,000, and those from coffee have, as usual, 1057 declined. It will probably be interesting to the Committee to know that, whereas in the year 1875 the consumption of cocoa was 5 oz. per head, double that amount was consumed last year. The consumption of coffee, which 40 years ago was 21 oz. per head of the population, is now only 11 oz. per head. I believe the fact is that tea is driving coffee out of the market because it is cheaper, because it requires less milk, and because it is easier for people to make. I come to the head of dried fruits, from which the net receipts were £395,000, a decrease of about £1,500. as compared with the previous year. In this group raisins produced £5,000 more than they did in the preceding year. I hope I may gather from the increasing yield from cocoa, out of which a good deal of chocolate is made, and from raisins, that there are an increasing number of households in which the children are acquainted with the delights of chocolate and plum pudding. Now I come to a more important head, that of foreign spirits. The net receipts from foreign spirits were £4,217,000, or £20,000 more than the net receipts of 1894–95, and £137,000 more than the Estimate. I do not know whether it would be agreeable to the patriotism of hon. Members to know that British and Irish spirits are entirely displacing foreign spirits in the market. [Cheers.] Since the year 1870 foreign spirits have declined by 23 per cent., while the consumption of British spirits has increased by five per cent. ["Hear, hear!"] I hear the cheers of the hon. Member for Sheffield (Sir H. Vincent), but I may remind him that there is another view of the matter, for the stories of our old Naval triumphs always connect them with libations of grog. [Laughter.] Among foreign spirits is, of course, included rum. Well, Sir, the taste for rum, except in the most extraordinarily cold weather, appears to be absolutely declining in England. People prefer, as they do in wine, what I may call a lighter and cleaner spirit—[laughter] and the receipts from the produce of rum during the last Year have materially declined. Brandy, also, has been scarce and dear. The same quality of brandy which could have been purchased in 1870 for 5s. 6d. a gallon now costs 9s. 2d. The importation of it declined by 19 per 1058 cent. last year as compared with the previous year. On the whole, the revenue from foreign spirits is a decreasing revenue, due to the cause I have indicated to the Committee. Now I come to the head of tea. Tea shows a net receipt of £3,745,000—£158,000 over 1894–95 and £120,000 over the Estimates. I think it will be satisfactory to the Committee to know that this means an increase of consumption of 10,000,000 lbs. of tea. Here, again, I have to say something to those who desire to promote trade within the limits of the Empire. Our trade in tea is being rapidly transferred from China to India and Ceylon. [Cheers.] In 1875 more than 122,000,000 lbs. came from China; in 1895 about 31,500,000 lbs. came from China; in 1875 23,220,000 lbs. came from India and Ceylon: in 1895 nearly 190,500,000 lbs. came from the same places. The Exchequer may complain a little, because it is well known that a pound of Indian tea is stronger than a pound of Chinese tea; so a cup of tea made out of it pays less duty than a cup of China tea. The next head is tobacco. The net receipt was £10,748,000 £108,000 over the Estimates, and £333,000 over the net receipts of 1894–95. The growth of the revenue from tobacco is very remarkable; and this, I may say, has principally accrued in the last half of the financial year. I believe it is mainly due to the great increase in the consumption of cigarettes, which are specially attractive to our youthful population. [Laughter.] I am told of one manufacturer who makes two millions of cigarettes a day now who hardly made any a few years ago. But cigarettes lead to a great deal of waste. I happen to be a non-smoker. [Laughter and "Oh, oh!"] In my humble opinion, everything spent on tobacco by those who have enough to eat is waste. ["Oh, oh!" and cheers.] I am quite aware that that may be a matter of ignorance or prejudice, and I would only appeal to smokers whether this is not waste. It is calculated by the Customs authorities that no less a value than £1,000,000 a year is literally tin-own into the gutter in the shape of the ends of cigarettes and cigars. [Laughter.] It is all the better for the Revenue, but I think it may be a subject of consideration to smokers. I now come to the last 1059 head of Customs, that of wine. Wine shows a remarkable increase on past years. The net receipts from wine were £1,256,000 — £113,000 over the net receipts of 1894–95 and £136,000 over the Budget Estimate. For 20 years past there has been a falling-off in the receipts from wine. I am not quite sure that the tide in wine has turned yet. So far as I can ascertain—though I hope it is partly due to an increase of prosperity on the part of the wine-drinking classes generally—a great part of this increased consumption of wine was due to the fit of gambling speculation on the Stock Exchange last year. Speculators, whether successful or unsuccessful, consoled or congratulated themselves in the same way, and the almost innumerable new companies floated were, I may say, christened by the consumption of 1,200,000 extra bottles of champagne. Now I hope the revenue from wine may still increase. But we must not be over-sanguine on that matter, because of the fact that the consumption of strong wines, which pay a duty of 2s. 6d., is distinctly decreasing in the country, whereas the consumption of light wines, which only pay a duty of 1s., is increasing. ["Hear, hear!"] In 1886 we imported 6,226,000 gallons of strong wine, in 1895 4,470,000 gallons—a decrease of 30 per cent. In 1886 we imported 7,000,000 gallons of light wine, and in 1895 we imported 10,200,000 gallons—an increase of 45 per cent.