HC Deb 14 May 1908 vol 188 cc1341-2
MR. CHARLES ROBERTS (Lincoln)

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state the average number of hundredweights of sugar and its equivalents used in brewing for the last three years for which the figures exist; and the annual sum which on this average the brewing trade stands to gain by the reduction of the sugar duty proposed in the Budget.

SIR GILBERT PARKER

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman can also tell us what gain will be likely to go to the manufacturers of marmlade in Dundee.

MR. HOBHOUSE

The House will hardly expect me to take the last question seriously. [Cries of "Why not?"] The average quantity of sugar annually used in brewing for the last three years is 2,827,568 cwts. The varieties of sugar thus used are so numerous and so diverse in nature and in quality that it is not possible to give an estimate of the duty paid thereon or the prospective gain to the brewers from the reduction in the duty.

MR. MITCHELL-THOMSON

Is it not a fact that a much larger proportionate quantity of sugar is used in the manufacture of ginger beer and lemonade?

MR. HOBHOUSE

was understood to say that he was not versed in the manufacture of these articles.

MR. LUPTON

Is it not a fact that by the reduction of the sugar duty the brewers will gain a quarter of a million a year?

MR. HOBHOUSE

It has been so stated.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

Then our beer will be cheaper.