§ MR. LOUGHI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he will state the rate of the bounty paid by the Province of Ontario on the export of beet sugar; whether any of such sugar comes into the United Kingdom; and whether it is proposed to take any action in the matter in connection with the Brussels Sugar Convention.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR, Leeds, Central)No bounty is given by Ontario on the export of beet sugar. By an Act of 1901 a sum of £47,000 was set aside for the temporary payment of a bounty of ½ cent. per lb. on refined beet sugar produced during the first two years of a factory's operations, and of cent. per lb. on the product of the third year. The exports from Ontario are not separately stated, but no considerable quantity of sugar that benefited by the bounty can have come to the United Kingdom, since the total export of Canadian sugar (other than maple) to this country during 1901–2 was only sixty tons. Under the Brussels Sugar Convention it would be the duty of the Permanent Commission to examine and report to the Powers as to the existence of bounties in various countries. In no event, however, would His Majesty's Government be required to penalise the sugar of a British Colony.