§ MR. LOUGHI beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether a reduction of the French sugar duty is allowed when beetroot sugar is carried 451 in French ships from the northern to the southern districts of France, which is called the detaxe de distance; if so, will he state the amount of this reduction, and whether such allowance amounts to an indirect bounty upon sugar.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. BONAR LAW,) Glasgow, BlackfriarsA reduction in the sugar duty known as the detaxe de distance is allowed on the French sugar sent from the northern ports or Paris to French ports on the Atlantic or Mediterranean to be refined for export. The continuance of an allowance of this kind, not exceeding two francs per 100 kilogs, was expressly recognised by the Conference at which the Sugar Convention was signed. An allowance permitted by the contracting States could not be treated as a bounty for the purposes of the Convention.