TOBACCO TRADE BAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14971, 19 April 1912, Page 8

TOBACCO TRADE BAD.

Irneu cur owk CORBESrOSDBKT.] London*, March 9. Messrs. I>. Morris and Sons, tobacco manufacturers, allege that the tobacco trade is not doing at. all well. At the annual meeting tho chairman (Mr. W. Leo Schuster) said that tho price of raw tobcco was increasing by leaps and bounds. Tho price had gone up from 150 to 300 per cent, as compared with fifteen years ago. The trade in general was suffering from the heavy duty now imposed upon tho article. Mr. May (managing director) said that something was radically wrong with tho tobacco trade, owing to tho present conditions of the duty. Over fifty manufacturers had gone out of tho business during the last two years. The only companies that were making a good profit were those whose trade was outside tho United Kingdom. The bulk of the profit in the tobacco trade was made outside the United Kingdom. The trade had no opportunity of seeing the Chancellor of the Exchequer to put their views before him. Something should be done to help the tobacco trade, otherwise in the nerft two years a still further number of manufacturers would go out of business.