8 TOBACCO GROWING IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



If English tobacco were taxed to the same extent 

 as the produce of America, the competition 

 would prove an unequal strife against experi- 

 ence, prejudice, and so forth ; and. Englisli 

 tobacco would certainly be a failui-e. By placing 

 an increased tax of say from 4s. 6d. to 6s. ijd. 

 on foreign tobacco, and a lesser tax of say 2s. or 

 2s. 6d. on the produce of this country, we should 

 be placed on a fair footing and be given the 

 slight advantage and encouragement which at 

 all events during the first few years the new 

 industry would require, till the public taste had 

 been suited, a market assured, and the necessary 

 experience acquired. 



On each pound of unmanufactured [tobacco 

 coming into this country we, at present, pay the 

 Government from 3s. Qd. to 3s. lOd. (according 

 as the leaf contains more or less moisture) for 

 a production worth from 4d. to Is. 6d. on its 

 native soil ; in England we pay from 4s. to 12s. 

 per pound in consequence. 



Supposing the home-grown tobacco to be sold 

 at 3s. Sd. per pound, with a local duty of 2s., 

 there would still be a handsome profit to the 

 planter and the manufacturer, employment to 

 thousands, and all the money kept in the 

 country. 



Then too, in tlu; Continental cuuntiit-s, \\ Inii' 



