§ MR. HUNT (Shropshire, Ludlow)To ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether salt extracted from the sea by Indian peasants is classified for taxation purposes as a manufactured article; and whether a tax has to be paid to the Indian Government on salt so extracted.
(Answered by Mr. Buchanan.) Salt extracted from the sea is not specifically classified as a manufactured article; but all salt, whether extracted from the sea 723 or otherwise obtained, is in India subject to a duty. In the maritime provinces, however, licences are issued on special terms for the manufacture of salt by indigenous processes, and for fish-curing establishments salt is made available at little over cost price.