§ SIR -JOHN COLOMB (Great Yarmouth)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, as tobacco is permitted to be shipped duty free on board vessels of the Deep Sea Missions to Seamen, while the men serving on light ships have to pay duty on the tobacco they consume, the case of these men can be considered with a view to enable them to have tobacco for their own consumption duty free while actually employed on board these ships.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The shipment of tobacco, free of duty 948 as ship's stores, is governed by Section 126 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, which restricts the practice to vessels which are not less than forty tons burthen, and which are proceeding to parts beyond the seas. The vessels of the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen are allowed to take tobacco on board, duty free, under this section, for sale to fishermen engaged on the North Sea fishing grounds—the Board of Customs being advised that such vessels can properly be considered as vessels proceeding to parts beyond the seas. Lightships, however, stand on an entirely different footing, since, lying as they do at anchor, they cannot be said to be vessels proceeding to parts beyond the seas. Most of them, in fact, lie within the territorial waters of the United Kingdom, and approach in character to coasting vessels, to which the Board have no power under the law to allow the shipment of tobacco free of duty.