§ MR. MACLEAN (Cardiff)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if he could state to the House what number of sugar refineries have been closed in India on account of the competition of imported sugar from countries granting bounties on sugar production; what was the annual production of sugar from these refineries; what amount of capital was invested in them, and whether it was held by Europeans or Natives; and what amount of revenue the Bill for the imposition of countervailing duties is estimated to yield?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingComplaints have been received by the Government from various quarters of the inability of the Native sugar refiners to compete with the bounty-fed sugars, and many small refineries have in consequence been closed, but I have not their exact numbers, nor have I any statement of the amount of capital invested in them. It is difficult to estimate what the yield of any countervailing duty will be, but I do not think that under any circumstances the yield of this duty will be over £50,000 a year.