§ MR. LOUGH (Islington, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster-General, whether he is aware of the intention of the United States Government to reduce the weight of tea samples, which can be sent by post, from 8 oz. gross to 1 oz. on and after 1st August next, thereby hampering the tea trade between the United States and Great Britain, India, and Ceylon; whether this intended limit will be the weight of the tea net, or if it must include also the weight of the package containing the tea sample; and whether Her Majesty's Government have made any representations against these proposed restrictions on trade or any representations to the United States Government to induce them to modify them; and, if not, whether they will do so.
§ MR. HANBURYUnder the Postal Union Convention, to which both this country and the States are parties, articles like tea, subject to customs duty, are not entitled to be sent by post at all, and articles of saleable value are debarred from transmission by sample post. Sample packets of tea weighing over eight ounces are regarded here as of saleable value, and are not despatched in any mails from this country; but sample packets of tea not weighing over eight ounces are received by the United States Post Office, as by most other countries. In the United States, if these packets contain more than an ounce of tea, the duty to which they are liable is exacted. If they do not contain an ounce they are allowed to pass duty free, even though the wrappage makes the packet weigh more than one ounce. There does not appear to be any case for diplomatic representations to the Government of the United States.
§ MR. HANBURYThe Post Office have no knowledge of any change.