§ Of the other Customs duties, coal fell short of the Estimate by £50,000, a decrease mainly—indeed, in my opinion, almost wholly—due to the fall in the price of coal, which has caused a larger amount to be exported below the tax value. Dried fruits produced an excess of £50,000, in part due to the very unfortunate fruit season which we had at home, and in part to an exceptionally fine crop of raisins and figs abroad. The coffee group yielded £45,000 more than the Estimate, an increase almost wholly attributable to the increased consumption of cocoa. Spirits show a deficiency of no less than £330,000, as to which I shall have more to say when I come to deal 547 with Excise. The wine duties fell short of the Estimate by £220,000. They have been a very unsatisfactory source of revenue for some years past. They have shown no sort of elasticity, and they are quick to react to any diminution in our prosperity. I am afraid they are evidence that business has been less prosperous in the past year than in preceding years. Sugar fell short of the estimate by £290,000. But that decrease is almost wholly due to the introduction in September last of the system of refining in bond. Up to that time sugar paid the duty before it entered the refinery. After that time the refining was done in bond, and the duty was only collected when the sugar left the refinery. On 1st September, when the new system came into force, the refineries had in Mock sugar upon which duty had been paid to a value of £250.000; and the Committee will understand that it was not until that sugar had been worked off and a fresh lot of sugar had passed through the refineries that any further duty could be collected from it. The drop in sugar, therefore, is almost wholly due to a change in the point at which we collect our duty, and is not, I am glad to say, due to decreased consumption on the part of the people. There remain tea and tobacco. Both have done well. Tobacco yielded £60,000 more than the estimate. For many years past the consumption has been increasing uninterruptedly, and the yield of last year was larger than the yield of any preceding year except 1900– 1901, when it was swollen by large fore-stalments in expectation of an increase in the duty. It amounted last year to the large figure of £12,560,000. Tea was even more successful. The Budget estimate for tea was £6,350,000. The receipts were £6,595,000, showing an excess of receipts over the estimate of a quarter of a million.