69. Mr. David Adamsasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the Government pay only £12 12S. 6d. per ton for Jamaica sugar, but are paying £14 6s. 9d. per ton for the 1942 crop from Santo Domingo; and why there is this discrepancy to the disadvantage of Jamaica?
§ Mr. Harold MacmillanThe price at present being paid by His Majesty's Government for Jamaica sugar is £13 15s. a ton, excluding the benefit accruing to the sugar producers under the special preference certificates issued by His Majesty's Government, which amounts to about 10s. per ton. The price for Colonial sugar since the outbreak of war has been fixed by means of annual contracts concluded between the Ministry of Food and the producers, and not, as in peace, related to a fluctuating world market price. The effect of this has been that until very recently Colonial producers have been receiving a price substantially in excess of that which would have been realised had the peace-time practice been adhered to. As world prices have recently risen above the parity of the present contract price, the Ministry has voluntarily increased that price by £1 2s. 5d. per ton.
§ Mr. MacmillanIt means, roughly, that the Empire produces have won both on the swings and on the roundabouts.