Tobacco Act, 1934

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Prices to be paid by rehandlers to suppliers of tobacco.

43.—(1) As soon as may be after a catalogue of the packages of tobacco grown in any year and rehandled at a rehandling station has been prepared, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say—

(a) the Minister shall by order allocate, amongst the persons who supplied to such rehandling station such tobacco the bonus in such proportions as the Minister, having regard to the quantity and quality of the tobacco supplied by each of such persons, and the desirability of encouraging the growth of high class tobacco, thinks proper, and send a copy of such order to the rehandler;

(b) the rehandler shall, within thirty days after the receipt by him of such order, pay to each supplier of any of such tobacco a sum which bears to the total basic prices of such packages the same proportion as the relative value of all the tobacco grown in that year and supplied by such supplier to such rehandling station bears to the sum of the several relative values of all the tobacco grown in that year and supplied to such rehandling station and also the sum allocated to him under such order, and shall furnish to each such supplier a statement in the form prescribed by the Minister showing the way in which the amount payable to him under this paragraph is calculated.

(2) Where—

(a) a catalogue of the packages of tobacco grown in any year and rehandled at a rehandling station has been prepared, and

(b) the Minister is satisfied that a substantial quantity of the tobacco (being tobacco suitable for manufacture) grown in such year and delivered to such rehandling station was destroyed or so damaged as to be unfit for use,

the Minister may by order—

(i) in case all the tobacco so damaged or destroyed was supplied by one person, direct the rehandler to pay such person an amount equivalent to a sum which in the opinion of the Minister is the value of the tobacco so damaged or destroyed;

(ii) in any other case, allocate a sum which is in his opinion the value of the tobacco so destroyed or damaged amongst some or all of the persons who supplied tobacco to such rehandling station in such proportions as he thinks proper, and direct the rehandler to pay to every person to whom any part of such sum has been allocated, in addition to any amount payable to such person under the immediately preceding sub-section, an amount equal to such part.

(3) Where—

(a) tobacco grown in any year has been delivered to a rehandling station, and

(b) before such tobacco has been put into packages and the price of each package fixed under this Act, all such tobacco has been destroyed or become so damaged as to be unfit for use,

the Minister shall, in respect of every person who supplied tobacco grown in that year to such rehandling station, estimate the value of the tobacco supplied by such person and by order direct the rehandler to pay to such person such value.

(4) Any sum payable under subsection (1) of this section by a rehandler to a supplier or directed by an order under sub-sections (2) or (3) of this section to be paid by a rehandler to a supplier shall be a debt due by such rehandler to such supplier and shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(5) In this section the expression “the bonus” when used in relation to the packages of tobacco specified in a catalogue means the amount arrived at by deducting from the total of the catalogue prices of such packages an amount equal to the sum of the following, that is to say:—

(a) the total of the basic prices of such packages, and

(b) the charges in respect of the rehandling of the tobacco comprised in such packages which the rehandler is entitled to make in accordance with the rehandler's (charges) regulations.

(6) If any rehandler fails, neglects, or refuses to furnish to any supplier any statement which he is required by sub-section (1) of this section to furnish to such supplier, such rehandler shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

(7) An offence under this section may be prosecuted by or at the suit of the Minister as prosecutor.