asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state (i) the number of ex-Army men who received quotas of cigarettes and tobacco when demobilised from the Army; (ii) the names of firms who were directed to make these quotas available; and (iii) the average number of cigarettes allowed to each man per month.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cigarette Quotas for ex-Army Men.
The distribution of cigarettes and tobacco to the retail trade has not been officially controlled. The arrangement under which manufacturers make supplies available on a quota basis to their customers was adopted by the manufacturers on their own initiative and they made a rule not to open new accounts while supplies continued to be insufficient to meet the demands of their regular customers. The manufacturers were asked to make an exception from this rule for persons discharged from the Army under the general demobilisation scheme and they did so. I have no information as to the cases in which quotas were granted to ex-Army men and I do not consider it desirable to ask the manufacturers for this information. No directions were issued to manufacturers.