§ Sir A. HOLBROOKasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that foreign machinery, under the name of soda fountains, have been set up throughout this country to evade the table-water duties; whether, in view of this fact, he will consider the abolition of these duties which were imposed as a war emergency measure; and whether he is aware that a number of firms in the mineral water trade have closed down owing to heavy taxation, with the result that numbers have been thrown out of work, not only in that trade, but in connection with the manufacture of bottles, boxes, and machinery used in the trade?
§ Major BOYD-CARPENTER:I would remind my hon. and gallant Friend that the output of soda fountains is, on sale, chargeable with table-water duty. I have received representations as to the effect of the duty on the table-water industry.