§ MR. PLATT-HIGGINS (Salford, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade to what extent has the price of sugar fallen during this year; what is the present price; what is the price now quoted for delivery during the last quarter of the present year; and what was the average price of sugar during the ten years prior to the signature of the Brussels Convention.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. BONAR LAW,) Glasgow, BlackfriarsThe price of 88 per cent. beet sugar f.o.b. Hamburg at the beginning of January was 14s. 10d. per cwt., and this had increased by the middle of January to 16s. The price on the 18th May was 11s. 7½d. The price quoted on the 18th May for delivery in November—December was 9s. 11d. The average price of the same sugar in the ten years 1892—1901 was about 10s. 9d. per cwt.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESIs the hon. Gentleman aware that since the Sugar Convention the retail price of sugar has doubled, and that the same sugar that was sold at 1¼d. a pound before the Convention is now sold to the same people by the same tradesman at 2½d. a pound?
§ MR. BONAR LAWI am not aware of it, and I would like to know if it is so.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESI can assure the hon. Gentleman that it is within 1244 my own knowledge that the fact is so at King's Lynn.