The first Amendment to this Clause, standing in the name of the hon. and gallant. Member for East Newcastle (Major Barnes)—[in Subsection (1), after the word "or," to insert the word "Northern"]—and the second Amendment, in the name of the hon. and gallant Member for Central. Aberdeen (Major M. Wood)—[in Subsection (1), to leave out the words "subject to the provisions of Section eight of the Finance Act, 1919"]—are covered by previous decisions.

The remaining Amendments on this Clause are either covered by, or are consequential upon, the decision just taken.

This Clause imposes a duty upon coffee, and the argument, which I used earlier in the Debate, might easily be applied also to this Clause, that we have for many years been desirous of a free breakfast table. I have a new Clause on the Paper having for its object the entire repeal of the duty upon coffee. We at least upon these benches have no desire to continue the imposition of taxes of this nature. The duty on coffee not only presses hard upon the people of this country, but, if the old argument of the Tariff Reformer holds good, that the country which sends the commodity pays the tax, there is bound to be a considerable amount of friction between this country and the countries from which we import the chief quantities of coffee. If there be any truth in the statement that the foreigner pays, we know where we are; but I am rather inclined to believe that it is the consumer who pays, and that Members opposite themselves realise that, when they are at such pains, at varying intervals, to reduce the taxation upon those articles, and then come before this House, and through this House assure the country that they have conferred a boon upon the taxpaying community by reducing taxes. As the Chancellor of the Exchequer has told us already to-day, our tea is cheaper because we have reduced the duty upon it. All the arguments that are put forward by Members on the opposite benches with regard to the taxation of food or other commodities which are brought into this country are certainly very contradictory when we view them in the light of actual experience.

The speech of the hon. Member might be directed to any subject of direct taxation, and might have been in order on the first tax imposed by the Finance Bill. I must now ask him to give his reasons why the duty on coffee should not be imposed.

My reasons why we should not have a tax upon coffee I have been trying to elaborate, and I was leading up to the point of saying what the actual incidence of the duty meant to the working people of this country. I was going on to point out the actual hardship bearing upon them and the inconsistency in the statements of Ministers and Members on the other side relative to the imposition of this duty. However, I do not think the Committee, particularly at this time of the evening, are desirous of hearing a very elaborate discussion on the Coffee Duty, one reason being that many of them are being detained from their coffee in order to take part in the next Division, I will not. therefore, stand in the way of their getting to their taxed coffee at the earliest possible moment.

I rise to support the opposition to this duty. This is a matter which really requires the serious consideration of this Committee, because coffee is being consumed in larger quantities than was the rule hitherto, and though it may be that the consumption of coffee is being temporarily suspended so far as certain members of this Committee are concerned, we are concerned more with the community, and, at a time when people are more neurotic than they have ever been, it certainly would be disadvantageous if we continued the duty on this necessary stimulant in the manner suggested. I saw in the paper the other day, in reference to this question of coffee drinking, a point that, I imagine, will prove of interest to hon. Members on opposite benches. It was said there that those nations, like the Turks, which drink much coffee show an absence of gout that is striking. That, too, would seem to suggest taking the duty off coffee.