§ *MR. REESI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether the Government of Eastern Bengal proposes to increase the assessment of land under tea in the Surma Valley by 50 per centum; and whether, in view of the fact that the tea industry has suffered for years past from currency legislation, war taxation, high duties, and increased cost of labour, that prices are low, and the condition of estates in the Surma Valley unsatisfactory, he will cause inquiries to be made by the Government of India as to the justice of such increased assessment.
§ MR. MORLEYI would refer my honourable friend to the Answer I gave to a similar Question in this House on the 31st July.† I have no reason to suppose that due regard has not been paid to the circumstan(ces of the tea industry, and I hardly think it necessary to interfere with the discretion vested by the Law in the local Government.