§ 126. Mr. Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade to state the amount of tobacco that has been imported during the last 12 months from dollar sources and the dollar costs involved; whether he is aware that the Chinese Government are able to export tobacco and cigarettes for sterling, equally as good as Virginian and tobacco obtained from dollar sources; and whether he will, therefore, make inquiries with a view to licensing the import of Chinese tobacco and cigarettes, thus saving dollars.
§ Mr. LowDuring the 12 months ended October, 1954, 175,860,670 1b. of unmanufactured dollar tobacco were imported at a sterling cost of £44,971,473. The corresponding figures for manufactured tobacco were 269,298 1b. and £434,174. I have no knowledge or information about the comparative merits of tobacco from Virginia and China, but no obstacle is placed in the way of anyone who wants to import either cigarettes or unmanufactured tobacco from China.