§ MR. AUSTIN TAYLOR (Liverpool, East Toxteth)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the quantity of pounds weight of unstemmed tobacco 950 (whole leaf) cleared from bond from 1st January to 31st March in the current year; and the quantity of stems returned for drawback from 1st February to 30th April in the current year, and the basis of moisture upon which this quantity is calculated.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The quantity of unstemmed tobacco (whole leaf) cleared from bond for home consumption from 1st January to 31st March in the current year was 8,789,474 1bs. The quantity of stems (tobacco stalks) deposited for drawback from the 1st February to 30th April in the current year was 445,404 1bs. This quantity consisted of a very large number of deposits at varying degrees of moisture. It would not at present be possible to state the quantity of stems at the standard moisture of 14 per cent, which it represents.