While the legal restrictions, which extended also to Scotland and Ireland were finally removed in 191o, adverse climatic condi tions and other causes have militated against successful production on any considerable scale.
World Statistics.—The following details extracted from the International Year Book of Agricultural Statistics (Rome 1927) show the world production of tobacco for the year 1925/6 ex pressed in thousand pounds : Europe (excluding Soviet Russia) 556,600; Asia (excluding Soviet Russia) 287,540; Soviet Russia, 389,18o; Africa 115,28o; North America 1,475,540; South Amer ica 193,38o; Dutch Indies (culture of Europeans only) 216,00o; Oceania 1,540—total 3,235,06o. Countries not included would probably raise this figure to nearly 4,000,000,00o lb.
Taxation Methods.—Tobacco provides an important source of state revenue. A government monopoly exists in many coun tries, including Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Ru mania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Po land and Japan. Taxation is applied to tobacco on importation in the form of a customs duty, usually levied at a lower rate on leaf than on manufactured descriptions, also by means of ad valorem duties levied on the retail prices charged. The latter method is usually adopted for raising internal revenue from the home manufactured article. In addition, licence duties for the manufacture and retail of tobacco are usually charged. The
tobacco tariffs of the United States, Germany, Belgium and Hol land are based on this plan, the lowest duties being placed upon imported leaf, and the luxury descriptions most heavily taxed.
In Great Britain tobacco pays duty in the manufactured state, only when imported or delivered from bonded factories for home consumption. The greater part of the tobacco for home con sumption is received from abroad in the form of leaf, and on importation pays a customs duty at the rate of 8s. 1 od. per lb., when the moisture present is not below io%; in order to encour age growth in the empire a rebate of one-fourth of the duty is allowed on such produce. The revenue receipts from tobacco for Great Britain and Northern Ireland amounted to .153,857,530 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1927.