§ Captain W. BENNasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the case of a large consignment of tea from Ceylon which was first shipped to the French market, but, owing to the congestion of traffic and delays, remained in bond at Marseilles and Paris; whether such tea, when imported into this country, received the benefit of the preference; and whether, on the production of satisfactory evidence that it came from Ceylon, the benefit will be given?
Mr. YOUNGThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative, and to the second and third in the negative. To become eligible for preference, goods imported into this country must in law satisfy two conditions; they mush have been grown, produced, or manufactured in the British Empire, and they must also have been consigned from some part of the British Empire to the United Kingdom. As regards the tea in question, the latter condition is not fulfilled.