§ *MR. CHARLES M'ARTHUR (Liverpool, Exchange)I beg to ask the First 947 Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the continued effect of the Continental bounty system upon the British sugar refining industry, as evidenced by the closing of two more important refineries at Liverpool during the past year, Her Majesty's Government intend to take any decisive measures for the relief of that industry from a system which is calculated to result in its extinction.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURBefore I can give any answer about the decisive measures of which my hon. friend speaks in his question, I ought to have some clear idea of what those measures are.
*MR. CHARLES M ARTHURI should like to ask whether the Government will consider the advisability of entering into negotiations with bounty-giving States with a view to prohibiting the use of bounty-fed sugar under a penal clause.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI have hopes that all the chief bounty-giving countries—France, Germany, Russia, and Austria—will abandon the bounties; but I would not like to pledge myself to that.