§ MR. PIKE PEASE (Darlington)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been drawn to the statement by a large chocolate manufacturer that the absence of a cocoa drawback on exported chocolates considerably impedes the expansion of the export trade in these goods; and whether he will take steps in Committee on the Finance Bill to make such alterations in the Revenue Laws as will remove this hardship from the chocolate industry.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) Yes, Sir. But, as I explained in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for North West Lanarkshire on the 29th ultimo, there are other anomalies in connection with the present scale of cocoa duties which make 1233 it undesirable to deal with the question of drawback except as part of a general scheme of revision, which I am not prepared to propose in connection with the Finance Bill of this year.