§ MR. PARTINGTON (Derbyshire, High Peak)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether the import duties on tea from India and Ceylon into Russia have been increased since the Sugar Convention was signed; and, if so, whether, with the powers possessed by the Government, 1212 any retaliatory measures are in contemplation.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) The answer to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative, so far as the European ports and frontiers of Russia are concerned, but there was no increase of duty by Vladivostock and the other Pacific ports, by which Indian teas were admitted to Russia before the war. With regard to the second part of the Question I am not prepared to make any statement, so far as India is concerned.