In the committee stage of the Finance Bill in the House of Con mons to-day a Labour amendment challenging the Tea Duty as being wholly unnecessary was rejected.
Mr. George Gillett (Labour) remarked that while there had been a decrease on the amount of tea coming in from British Colonies there was a large increase in the amount from China, the Dutch East Indies and other' country It would be interesting to know, he said, whether the movement to control'the output of tea was having an appreciable effect on the amount coming from parts of the Empire.
Mr. A. M, Samuel, Minister for the Department of Overseas Trade, said that he was looking into the matter and hoped in a few weeks to obtain an analysis of the position. They would then be able to come to a conclusion, The Government was unable to accept the amendment brought forward by the Labour Part y because it could not afford to lose the £6,000,000 "to 1£7,000,000 which the Tea Duty brought in every year—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.