Sir J. D. REESasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, which has a monopoly of the warehousing of 1231W leaf tobacco in Bond in Liverpool, is refusing to receive Nyasaland Empire-grown tobacco recently arrived via London, the only practical port of entry owing to the scarcity of steamers from the East Coast of Africa to other British Ports; whether he is aware that Liverpool is the chief distributing centre for leaf tobacco for the United Kingdom and that, in consequence of the action of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, the policy of His Majesty's Government to develop the trade in Empire-grown tobacco is being seriously handicapped; and whether, in the circumstances, he will instruct the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board to withdraw its embargo and to give a pre ference in the allocation of warehouse space to Empire-grown tobacco, irresspective of the port in the United Kingdom at which it may arrive.
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI am in communication with the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and will inform my hon. Friend of the result.