§ SIR MANCHERJEE BHOWNAGGREE (Bethnal Green, N.E.)To ask the Secretary of State for India if he will state the quantity and value of foreign tobacco imported into India; and whether, seeing that it is not liable to any duty except the general Customs duty charged on all imported goods, he 11 will consult the Government of India as to the advisability of imposing a duty on foreign and local grown tobacco, with a view to repeal wholly or in part the duty on salt in view of the effect of the restricted use of that article upon the prevalence of leprosy in India.
(Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) The imports of foreign tobacco into India during the last two years were:—1901–2, 4,416,688 lbs., value, £300,158; 1902–3, 4,199,403 lbs., value, £297,669. A tobacco excise or State monopoly in India has been frequently considered and rejected as impracticable. Lord Herschell's Indian Currency Committee reported in 1893 that it would involve constant and vexatious interference with the people, and that the cost of collecting and enforcing the tax would be enormous in proportion to the sum realised.