§ 1. Sir J. D. REESasked the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that the prohibition of the import of coffee, besides bringing near ruin a large body of 392 planters in India, will cast adrift many thousands of employés and coolies; that the two last coffee crops were so poor that the planters were already embarrassed and that they depended upon the crop now affected to save them; that if this crop is retained in India after picking it will so deteriorate as to become of little value; that, if this prohibition is enforced, bankers will refuse to give the usual advances and estates will go out of cultivation; that London is the almost exclusive market and the United Kingdom the chief consumer; that this home-trade coffee should have preference over the produce of Brazil and other foreign countries, of which stocks here are chiefly composed; that the total stock of East India coffee in the United Kingdom at the end of February did not exceed 4,370 bags; that this year's crop is how almost all gathered, and that every day's delay in shipping is a serious matter for the owners, who have no other than the British market and cannot store in the monsoon; that the tonnage required for the crop is small and that the crop is always shipped in small parcels; and that the industry is British all through; I whether the Government will in the special circumstances issue licences for the import of this year's Indian coffee crop?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Dr. Macnamara)My right hon. Friend, who is unavoidably absent on public business, has asked me to answer his questions. The Secretary of State is in communication with the Board of Trade in the matter.