§ 73. Mr. W. Fletcherasked the Minister of Food what steps he proposes to take both to ensure a proper proportion of the Ceylon tea crop to this country and to see that the Ceylon export tax on tea now proposed does not fall on the British consumer.
§ Mr. StracheyI have seen the announcements in the Press by the Ceylon Board of Ministers of their intention to impose an export tax on tea, but my Department has not yet been supplied with details of its scope and amount. Pending the receipt of this information I am not in a position to gauge precisely the effects of such a tax on the supply of tea from Ceylon to this country and on the price to the British consumer, or to decide what steps it will be necessary to take in this connection.