Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 22 Mar 1956

Vol. 155 No. 8

Committee On Finance. - Tea (Importation and Distribution) Bill, 1955—Second Stage.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. Crotty)

I move that this Bill be now read a Second Time. The Bill is a further step in the direction of allowing the Supplies and Services (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1946 to expire. It re-enacts the provisions of the current Orders relating to tea made under that Act, the effect of which is to prohibit (a) commercial importation of tea by any person other than Tea Importers Limited, and (b) wholesale dealing in tea by any person who is not the holder of a tea wholesaler's licence issued by the Minister for Industry and Commerce. Deputies will wish that I should indicate the circumstances that gave rise to these Orders.

Prior to the 1939 war the bulk of the tea consumed in this country was purchased in, and imported from, London. On the outbreak of war the distribution of tea was controlled by the British Ministry of Food, which promised that this country would be given its due proportion of the available supplies for which there was an unanswerable case in view of the prewar practice. The British Ministry of Food failed to implement this promise and in consequence from the early months of 1941 there was an acute shortage of tea in this country which involved the community in serious hardship. In order that this hardship might be relieved so far as possible Tea Importers Limited, a State sponsored non-profit-making company, was set up in April, 1941, for the purpose of purchasing and importing from every available source supplies of tea to supplement the meagre allocation from Great Britain. The company's purchases were financed from a bank overdraft guaranteed by the Minister for Finance, and their efforts were successful, resulting in appreciable additions to the weekly tea ration when most needed.

At the end of 1946 the Governments of India and Ceylon took action which precluded the British Ministry of Food from purchasing tea for re-export and this country was duly advised by that Ministry that all allocations from London would cease as from the 1st April, 1947. Production of tea in 1947 was still substantially lower than demand necessitating the continuance of rationing here and elsewhere. In the circumstances arrangements for the importation of our tea requirements from origin had to be brought into operation as a matter of urgency. At that time the total production of tea had not caught up on world demand and it was considered highly undesirable that there should be competition for the limited supplies available between Irish buyers with the necessary financial resources to operate on their own account on the Calcutta and Colombo markets.

It was also considered necessary at that time to ensure that the smaller Irish wholesaler was not placed at any disadvantage in securing a fair share of the available supplies at reasonable prices. Accordingly, in agreement with the wholesale tea trade it was decided that for the time being Tea Importers, Limited, should be the sole purchasing agency as from the 1st April, 1947. It was also decided at that time to restrict the issue of licences authorising the carrying on of a wholesale tea business to concerns which were conducting all the operations of a bona fide tea wholesale business from premises located in this country as it was considered that the admission of external wholesalers would increase the cost of tea to the consumer by introducing an unnecessary additional link in the chain of distribution.

A subsidy to keep down the retail price of tea was introduced on the 1st November, 1947, and this development was an additional reason for maintaining Tea Importers Limited as the sole importer of tea.

Up to 1950 world production of tea continued to fall short of demand and as the tea issued by Tea Importers Limited was heavily subsidised there was no incentive to any individual trader to import tea on his own account. But in 1950 there was an improvement in the world supply position which enabled Tea Importers Limited to put on sale unrationed tea at a price which yielded a profit which was offset against the subsidy. These developments provided the incentive to the individual trader to endeavour to obtain supplies of tea outside this country for sale at the unrationed price thereby depriving the Exchequer of the benefit of the profit which would otherwise accrue from sales made by Tea Importers Limited. Accordingly it was decided to prohibit commercial imports of tea except under licence and to restrict the issue of such licences to Tea Importers Limited.

Following abolition of the tea subsidy and tea rationing in July, 1952, consideration was given to the question of restoring freedom to the trade to purchase and import this country's tea requirements subject to direct importation from the producing countries. Proposals made in this connection by the Wholesale Tea Dealers' Association for the replacement of Tea Importers Limited and involving continuance of the prohibition of commercial imports of tea except under licence have been under examination, but progress has been slow because of the complexities and uncertainties of the general tea situation.

In addition to the fact that the proposals made by the association contemplated retention of the restrictions on commercial imports of tea it is recognised that the absence of these restrictions would involve Tea Importers Limited in serious risk of being unable to dispose, without loss, of heavy stocks of tea purchased for supply to the wholesale trade with bank advances guaranteed by the Minister for Finance.

Early in 1955 when the question of the purchases of 1955 season tea was under review the Wholesale Tea Dealers' Association made representations to the effect that the arrangements whereby Tea Importers Limited purchased and imported this country's tea requirements should not be discontinued earlier than December, 1956. It was pointed out by the association that the bulk of the demand in this country is for Indian tea, and they represented that on account of the seasonal nature of the Indian tea market it would not be possible for the successors of Tea Importers Limited to commence to land before December of the year in which it was bought sufficient suitable quality Indian tea to meet the full demand. I agreed that the company should continue to be responsible for securing our tea requirements for a further period.

In order to enable the company to continue to discharge this responsibility until arrangements of a permanent nature can be brought into operation it will be necessary to maintain the present controls on the importation and wholesale distribution of tea. This is the sole purpose of the Bill, the life of which it is proposed to restrict to a maximum of two years. It is anticipated that a period of two years will be sufficient to enable arrangements to be made for putting the importation and distribution of tea on a permanent basis.

I ask the House to give favourable consideration to this Bill.

Mr. Lemass

I said yesterday on the Supplies and Services Bill that this Government does not know what it is doing, and the introduction of this Bill here to-day as a matter of urgency is proof that that is so. The Parliamentary Secretary has explained that this Bill is required to continue in operation the regulations relating to the importation of tea made under the Supplies and Services Act, but yesterday the Dáil agreed that the Supplies and Services Act should continue for another year. The implication, therefore, is that this Bill was prepared on the assumption that the Supplies and Services Act would lapse at the end of March. But it is not going to lapse at the end of March; it is going to continue until 1957 and, certainly, there is no obvious reason why the Dáil should be asked to deal with this Bill here now.

The only conclusion to be drawn from the introduction of this Bill and the announcement that it will remain in operation for two years is that no change is to be made over that period in the measures that were adopted during the emergency for the importation of tea. I think that is a most unsatisfactory situation. I think we should try to get away as quickly as possible from these emergency restrictions on trade, that the trade in tea should be put back as soon as possible into the hands of private traders. The implication of the introduction of the Bill is that that is not going to happen for some years to come.

The Parliamentary Secretary said that the wholesale Tea Dealers' Association asked that no change should be made in the arrangement until September of this year. That attitude of the Wholesale Tea Dealers' Association arises probably from the financial condition of Tea Importers, Limited, at the present time, but it is obvious that the Minister is preparing to keep these arrangements in operation long after the date mentioned by the Wholesalers' Association — September, 1956 — because if it was intended to change these arrangements before September, 1956, this Bill would not be necessary. The regulations in the Supplies and Services Act would continue in force until then.

The Parliamentary Secretary mentioned that a decision was taken by me in 1952 to restore the tea trade to private enterprise. I informed the Dáil of that decision; I told the House that legislation would be introduced to continue the practice which had developed of importing tea direct from the country of origin and eliminating the British middle-men who previously got a rake-off on our tea purchases. I told the House also that the arrangements which would operate in regard to future tea imports were being discussed with the Wholesale Tea Dealers' Association and that proposals made by them which appeared to be acceptable in principle would probably involve legislation. I held out the prospect that the measure would be introduced and in operation before the buying season of 1954.

The Parliamentary Secretary is correct in saying that any change in the arrangements for tea imports must begin to operate in or around September because otherwise there might be a hiatus in tea purchases which would cause difficulty in maintaining supplies here. I am not criticising the Minister because he did not find it possible to proceed in 1954 with the legislation which had been prepared then but I would at least have expected him to have had his mind made up by now about what he was going to do, and all the indications in the Parliamentary Secretary's statement are that the Minister has not made up his mind and is therefore taking the easy course of allowing these emergency arrangements to continue in operation.

The importation of tea through Tea Importers, Limited, and the centralising of purchases through that organisation was justifiable in the circumstances that prevailed at the time Tea Importers, Limited, was set up after the war, but it carried with it some obvious disadvantages. In effect, it limited trade in tea to those who were engaged in it then and precluded the possibility of new entrants to the trade, or of people developing from secondary to primary wholesalers. The Parliamentary Secretary need not advance to this House as justification for continuing the present arrangements the fact that their continuance has the temporary approval of the Tea Wholesalers' Association.

It is not likely that there is among some of the members of that association a great deal of enthusiasm for the possibility of a situation being created in which new entrants can come into the trade and in which their present stabilised and secure positions may be interfered with. It is true that the arrangements which were discussed in principle with the Tea Wholesalers' Association in 1953 contemplated the replacement of Tea Importers, Limited, by another centralised purchasing organisation established by the trade, in the operation of which the State would have no part and in the financing of which the State would not participate, and the making of an effort through that association to develop here a tea market such as exists in London. But these arrangements provided that anybody could acquire shares in that co-operative importing organisation and enjoy through the acquisition of these shares the same rights, same privileges and same responsibilities as any other trader.

The proposals of the Wholesalers' Association, as they were submitted following a vote among the members of that body, were not completely acceptable to the then Government in the form in which they came to us. They were, of course, prepared primarily for the purpose of securing the developments in the tea trade which the tea traders themselves desired. But in some way they appeared to imply restrictions which would not be in the public interest.

In the course of discussions it became clear that changes could be made in these proposals which would make them unobjectionable from the point of view of the Government and the public. They were accepted in principle by the Fianna Fáil Government and legislation was, as I informed the Dáil, in course of preparation. That legislation would have been primarily directed to continuation of the practice of direct importation of tea and secondarily to the carrying into effect of the proposals of the Wholesale Tea Traders' Association as approved. That has all gone by the board. Why? I am quite certain that any reluctance by the Tea Wholesalers' Association to proceed with the proposals they made in 1953 must be due to some circumstances which developed in the meantime. It is quite easy to know what these developments are. The arrangements were that this new importing organisation would take over the assets and liabilities of Tea Importers, Limited. The liabilities have increased enormously since then and one can understand the reluctance of private traders to take them over. The Government have created a problem by their mishandling of the whole matter.

Mr. Cunningham

It will take two years.

Mr. Lemass

And as Deputy Cunningham says, it will take two years to put that right. The emergency Order made under the Supplies and Services Act for the regulation of tea was hastily drafted and not designed to provide the safeguards which should exist in permanent legislation. It had relation to circumstances in which the practicability of anybody importing tea on a regular basis was not very great. There is obvious objection to continuing in a permanent form that hastily drafted Order. The Parliamentary Secretary has said one of the purposes of this Bill is to continue the position in which the sole importer will be Tea Importers Limited. That is not in the Bill and I invite any Deputy to see if he can find in it any expression of that intention.

What is in the Bill is that the Minister may give to anybody he likes, and absolutely at his discretion, a licence to import tea and, absolutely at his discretion again, to take that licence away without notice or compensation. That is the power the Minister is proposing to take about importation of tea in the future. He is proposing to bring under his absolute control powers which will enable him to deal ruthlessly, without consulting the Dáil, with the trade. As far as the importation of tea is concerned what is in the Bill is that at his absolute discretion he can give a licence to anybody to import tea and take it away as easily.

As far as the second group of traders —the wholesalers, whether they are importers or not, and they are not at the moment because all tea is imported by Tea Importers Limited — are concerned the wording of this Bill is completely unsatisfactory. A person may apply for a wholesaler's licence provided he is an Irish citizen resident in Ireland and provided that person is in a company registered in Ireland, no matter who comprises the company or what nationality the people who comprise the company are. The third category is a partnership, the members of which may be of any nationality. If an individual wants a wholesaler's licence he has to be an Irish citizen, but if he cannot qualify all he needs is a partner in a company who may be a Chinaman as far as the Bill is concerned. But so long as there is a partnership the eligibility to obtain a wholesaler's licence exists.

As I have said, it is quite obvious this was a very hastily drafted Bill, based entirely on an emergency Order and that very little serious consideration was given to the arrangements that should exist in the tea trade. I said yesterday that the Supplies and Services Act gives to the Government powers they should not seek to retain in present circumstances and conditions. The Fianna Fáil Government recognised that and decided to end these powers in 1954. Among the changes that would have to be made following upon the cessation of the Supplies and Services Act were those affecting the trade in tea. Arrangements to make these changes were contemplated and were announced.

The Dáil at that time, including many members of the Fine Gael Party, were pressing for changes in relation to the trade in tea. They were urging that there should be no delay in restoring freedom to private enterprise in that trade and the Fianna Fáil Government recognised the need for that and were taking the necessary steps to achieve it, subject only to the overriding consideration of public policy which I then announced — the question of direct importation of tea and the bringing into operation of a system which would ensure that the importation of tea would be done by the most economical methods, by arrangements which would, nevertheless, leave it open to anybody who desired to do so to get into that trade. The proposal was to relinquish completely the emergency control of the trade and to enable it to develop in a normal way.

I do not think there is any explanation for the delay in proceeding along these or similar lines other than gross incompetence and apparently that incompetence is to continue for another two years. Will the Parliamentary Secretary say why this Bill is necessary at all? The Supplies and Services Act is continuing in operation. The Order made under that Act will continue until 1957. If there is any serious intention to comply with the wishes of the tea wholesalers, this Bill is not necessary because presumably before then the Order under the Act will have been revoked or some new legislation will have been submitted to the Dáil.

I wish the Government would make up their minds what they are trying to do in this sphere and in other spheres. They are leaving the people of the country guessing. Should we not have on this Bill some statement by a responsible Minister of the general intentions of the Government in regard to the future of the tea trade, apart altogether from any details of the arrangements designed to make that intention effective? It may not be possible to extract from any members of the Government a series of detailed proposals in relation to tea, but they should know what they are hoping to do eventually when they get round to thinking about doing something. The mere announcement that the present unsatisfactory arrangements, designed in an emergency to deal solely with emergency conditions, are to continue is not enough. The Dáil should refuse to agree to the continuation of these arrangements. We should force the Government to shake the lead out of their pants and produce some definite proposals relating to this trade.

Mr. A. Barry

Because this Bill proposes to continue the present system of importing tea, or permits the continuation of the system, I approve of it and support it. It is actually a fact that the wholesale tea dealers have begun to think twice about the proposals which were very nearly brought to the stage of action before Deputy Lemass left office. I think a number of people in the tea trade are now becoming afraid that they were carving a stick which could subsequently be used to beat themselves.

The history of the tea trade is that every year 25,000,000 lb. of tea are imported. That tea was always bought at a very fair price; some of it was bought in London, some in the East and some in Amsterdam. That is the history of the trade. I think then, at one stage, what happened was that a number of people began to eye this 25,000,000 lb. of tea and they asked themselves: "Could we get our hands on to the control of tea imports?" People who had not been particularly interested before then began to take a real interest in the tea trade. A curious feature of that interest was that a few prominent members in the tea trade became bank directors; it would require a great deal of capital to get into this projected future scheme and one would want to be able to talk in a very big way in the matter of money. By the way, they used a patriotic device; they said it was very wrong for us to buy tea in London because of what the British had done to us in the past. I always become suspicious when I find the bankers or the big money operators waving the green flag; I have a kind of feeling they are not waving it for death or glory. They are thinking of other things.

The scheme evolved into a very definite possibility up to 1954, when something upset the apple cart. They very nearly had the job done. I confess quite frankly now that I have not been successful in convincing our Minister that the proposal held a great deal of danger for the Irish people; I think it does. The Irish people are great tea drinkers. They like good tea and certain tea dealers, like myself, who have spent their lives in the business, without making a great deal of money out of it, have learned a great deal about the article and take a certain pride in the quality of what we sell. If this importing organisation, composed of a bunch of boys who were going to whoop it up over the people's teapots, was successful, inevitably, if that canalising took place and that narrow source of entry was put into the hands of these particular operators, the filling of the Irish teapot would be a more costly business in the future. Possibly it might be very hard to prevent that and I think it would be a very serious thing to permit any such canalising of supplies that we do not produce here ourselves. I think alternative markets should be availed of and people should be permitted to buy tea in London and Amsterdam as well as in Calcutta.

If Deputy Lemass is right in his contention that the English dealer has been taking a rake-off, to my knowledge that rake-off has been a very small one and, on the whole, a very fair one, certainly up to 1939. Remember, we had the advantage of buying in the world's biggest tea market. It is not quite as big now, but the British dominated the tea production business because they consume some 700,000,000 lb. and the Indian output is 1,000,000,000 lb. They are the dominant factor and their market is a market in which one can always buy excellent value. If the big tea importing group, which was hoping to get control of our supplies, were faced with the possibility that other smaller groups were allowed under licence to buy on the London or Dutch market, if the Dutch East Indies comes into production again, that would all the time be a check, and I think a very desirable check, on prices and relevant to the upholding of the consumers' interests.

When Deputy Lemass was Minister, he proved that one could do things occasionally on the London market which were very valuable because, as I have said on a few occasions here, when Tea Importers Limited had a lot of tea that had been bought unluckily —I will put it that way; at any rate on the basis of current market prices— Deputy Lemass permitted them to go to the London market to buy teas there. They bought a fine parcel of tea at a very reasonable price. That declension in tea prices operates very valuably in markets like the London market. Deputy Lemass permitted them to import 2,000,000 lb. at something like 1/2¼ per lb. on an average. The Irish consumer had to pay nearly 4/- per lb. for that 1/2¼ tea. Now I have already said here that I know that that is an unfair way of putting the case but, in essence, it is true. At any rate, from that day forward no tea was sold by Tea Importers Limited cheaper than 3/- a lb. That was the price they charged the secondary wholesalers.

At the very lowest estimation, that tea could not get into the consumers' hands much under 4/- or 4/6 per lb., and it had cost 1/2¼. Of course, it was very sensibly used to leaven the high-priced tea held when the market had broken, and that is why I think it is a decidedly good thing to have access to as many markets as possible and to all the people who are entitled to trade. I am not sure that I have convinced this Minister that that is a desirable thing, but I certainly intend to go on trying.

The Bill is harmless enough. It does nothing except maintain the status quo, and I am satisfied with the Bill for that reason. I am satisfied because the Government has again postponed — I hope as a result of my representations, but I think as a result of the representations of much more prominent people in the tea trade than I am — the idea of making any change. It might be wiser if we thought again over this scheme through which the bank-directors-cum-tea-mearchants were going to take over control of the import of tea from the Far East, with the tricolour flying bravely over the masthead. When the patriotic reason is used to create a monopoly and when something is supposedly done in the name of the country, it becomes nauseating. But that is what happens.

There is an Englishman, a buyer in the tea trade in this country. He is a very successful buyer. He has been here for the last 20 years and he is now a director of his firm. In a broad Lancashire accent he said: "It is intolerable that we should have to buy tea in London. We should go to the East." Now he was a member of one of the groups which could put up a great deal of money; and one has to have money to get in on the ground floor. If one does not get in on the ground floor, one would have as much chance as the very ordinary small dealer has now.

There are a number of tea merchants all over the country. The best of them are not very big financially. They are very proud of what they sell and of the skill they use in the buying and selling of that commodity. They are proud of their access to the London market and their access, to some extent, to the East. If this change is made, they feel their future in the trade will be a limited one and their skill will not be as vital or as important in the practice of the trade. I have rejected the status of primary wholesaler because I could not afford to buy tea on Civil Service invoice prices and I have put myself in the position of being a secondary wholesaler, and I buy on sample.

I am very proud that I am able to do that. I do it very successfully, I believe, and I have a very good business. The system has grown up whereby tea is regarded just as an article that earns money, and nobody bothers about the quality. Some of the people concerned in this tea import set-up know a good deal about costs and profits, but they know nothing whatever about tea. As to some of the men prominent in the tea business for the last ten years, I am sure that if I put a number of samples of tea before those men and asked them to grade it they would not be able to do so. That has no interest for them. Their interests are in prices and profits. As the Bill does not do any harm, I support it.

Mr. Cunningham

I think the Minister for Industry and Commerce has been let down and, therefore, finds it necessary to come into the House with a Bill like this. He has found that the people in the tea business were not prepared to take over the position that now exists in Tea Importers, Limited. Due to the action he has taken, there is the position now that nobody wants to handle the business. He now finds that, in order to remedy the situation, it is necessary for him to have a period of two years to do it. When I first read this Bill I expected that the tea trade was going to be handed back to private enterprise; that we were going to get rid of the controls which exist. We find, however, that the Bill means something different from what it says. We believe that all that is intended by the Bill is to continue the present situation.

For instance in Section 3 it states that no person shall import tea except in accordance with a tea import licence issued to that person. Now we find that it is not the intention of the Minister to issue any tea import licences except to the one body. Again, the section says:—

"The Minister can grant or refuse such licence and he may attach certain conditions to such import licence."

I would like to hear from the Minister when he is replying why it is necessary that in sub-section (4) to attach conditions to a tea import licence. The section further provides that a tea licence shall not be transferable and that the Minister may revoke a licence. All this seems to be superfluous in the light of the statement made by the Parliamentary Secretary.

The Parliamentary Secretary in his introductory speech said in effect that there was going to be no change. That came as a surprise to me and to others who have read this Bill or the gist of it as published in the Press. There are many people in this country who had, pre-war, been in the tea trade and who for some reason or other, were not in it during the war and are not in it now, but who would like to get back into it. They will be surprised at the statement of the Parliamentary Secretary because they had hoped that it might be possible to get more people and more competition in the trade than is the case at the moment.

There are regulations concerning the wholesale distribution of tea and whereas one would have thought on reading this Bill that a change was proposed, we are now surprised to learn from the Parliamentary Secretary's statement that there will be no change. I know of cases of people who were in the tea business, but were resident at the time outside the State and who are now living in the State, and nothing will be done for these people.

Again supposing that the provisions of this Bill were to be applied in permanent legislation, many of us could hardly agree to them because we have here a classification of the types or grades of persons or bodies who can engage in the business of wholesale distribution of tea. In the first instance we have "(a) citizens of Ireland normally resident in the State." That is all right as far as we are concerned, but "a body incorporated in the State" is a provision that could create difficulties. In view of the Parliamentary Secretary's statement these matters do not arise immediately, because the proposal is in fact that that nobody except those already in the business will be admitted. It will not make any difference now.

There is, however, a proposal in this Bill that a body incorporated in the State can engage in the wholesale distribution of tea. Was it necessary to have these things in the Bill? I think it was not and that the Bill was not necessary at all. The provisions of the Supplies and Services Bill which received final sanction yesterday, would I think be sufficient. It could be extended for a further year if, at the end of 1956, the Minister for Industry and Commerce found that he had not the present muddle straightened out by that time. It may be that the Minister for Industry and Commerce expects that there will be no Supplies and Services Bill next year, that sufficient permanent legislation will have been introduced in the meantime, and that all the regulations and Orders embodied in the Supply and Services Bill will have been embodied in the permanent legislation.

In these circumstances I think that it would be necessary merely to bring in a Bill to extend for one year only the matter dealt with here. That is something which we would like to see in permanent legislation. There is the partnership of two or more persons, with which Deputy Lemass has dealt; one may be, as he says, a Chinaman.

Mr. O'Donovan

He was wrong. Under the Bill he could not be a Chinaman.

Mr. Lemass

Why could he not?

Mr. O'Donovan

That is not in the Bill. It must be a person of Irish nationality residing in Ireland or a body corporate residing in Ireland.

Mr. Lemass

I will prove that it could.

Mr. Cunningham

As a result of this Bill, there is dissatisfaction among the public and in the trade itself that the present situation in regard to the distribution of tea is to continue. It is no wonder that Deputy Barry said that when the tea trade went into this they found that they were carving a stick with which to beat themselves.

Mr. A. Barry

Deputy Lemass does not agree with you about that.

Mr. Cunningham

What did they find? Did they find that there was a bit of a muddle or a liability that they were not prepared to take up? The other thing that may have caused it was that they found it was in their own interests to have the present set-up as it now exists. That is probably something that led them to say to the Minister: "O.K., go ahead. We are prepared to trade under existing conditions for another two years."

Mr. Crotty

Yesterday there was great opposition to the passage of the Supply and Services Bill and Opposition speakers said that there should be permanent legislation where it was necessary. This Bill is one step further towards bringing in that permanent legislation. It has been brought in to allow the Supplies and Services Act to expire.

Mr. Lemass

It is not going to expire. You continued it yesterday.

Mr. Crotty

We continued it yesterday but this Bill has to be brought in until these matters are placed under permanent legislation. This Bill is a step towards that permanent legislation. The Minister requires power to control the import of tea because he is insisting that it be bought in the countries of origin. When Tea Importers were consulted about it, it was their desire that the control of imports would not be handed back to them until they were able to make better arrangements.

Had they been allowed to purchase in Mincing Lane or in other wholesale markets they would have been able to make these arrangemens. There had to be arrangements made so that the small wholesalers would not be at a disadvantage and so that the whole trade would not fall into the hands of a few large wholesalers. From that point of view, they had to continue on the present arrangements until they were able to make better arrangements. This Bill is brought in for that purpose, to carry on the present arrangements for two years, so that when enough of other Bills have been passed there will be no necessity for a continuance of the Supplies and Services Act. This is continuing the present arrangements until at the end of two years permanent measures can be arrived at in consultation with the wholesalers.

Mr. A. Barry

And other interests.

Mr. Crotty

Yes. Permanent legislation will be brought in then. Tea Importers feel that, as they have to buy six months in advance, the least time they require to make arrangements would be two years.

Mr. Lemass

That clears it all up.

Question put and agreed to.

Mr. Crotty

I would suggest that the Committee Stage be taken on the 10th April.

Mr. Lemass

In what year?

Mr. Dillon

Look at the busy bee.

Committee Stage ordered for April 10th.