MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)To ask the Postmaster General, as representing the Secratary of State for the Colonies, can he state, or give Papers stating, the present state of the law in the Australian Commonwealth with reference to rebates on sugar grown within the Commonwealth and to fiscal advantages of any other kinds granted thereby to growers or manufacturers of sugar; and can he explain the communication made by the Premier of New South Wales, protesting against New South Wales having to bear the cost of a rebate on sugar, or will he lay upon the Table Papers explaining that communication.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain for the Secretary of State for the Colonies.) The import duty on cane sugar in 268 Australia is 6s. per cwt., and on other sugar 10s. per cwt. The Excise duty on sugar grown in Australia is 3s. per cwt., subject in the case of all sugar in the production of which only white labour is employed to a rebate of 2s. per cwt. No information has been received as to the communication alleged to have been made by the Premier of New South Wales as to the payment of this rebate.