§ MR. BOWLES (Lambeth, Norwood)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will state why it is that, as shown on page 15 of the last Report of the Commissioners of Customs, the duty on British refined sugar was levied at an appreciably lower average rate per hundredweight than that on foreign refined sugar; and can he also explain why, as shown on the same page of the Report, the duty on cane and other sorts of unrefined sugar was levied at an average rate per hundredweight considerably less than that on unrefined beet-root sugar.
§ MR. LLOYD GEORGEThe hon. Member appears to be under a misapprehension in supposing that the duty on sugar is leviable at average rates. The rates, whether in cane or beet, or British or foreign refined, vary according to the degree of polarisation as set out on pages 44 and 45 of the Report referred to. The table at the foot of page 15 of that Report shows merely the aggregate of the quantities of each description of sugar on which duty, at varying rates, was paid during the year, and the amount of duty received.