§ Mr. HARRY SEYMOUR FOSTERasked whether Parliamentary sanction by legislation would be necessary for the imposition of an Excise duty on the manufacture of beet sugar in this country; whether he is aware that Dutch sugar manufacturers are at present making contracts with farmers in the Eastern Counties to grow sugar beet for shipment to factories in Holland; what is the amount of beetroot sugar imported annually into this country from the Continent of Europe for the past five years; whether he is aware that not an ounce of the large home demand is supplied by a home industry; whether he is aware that both soil and climate in many parts of Great Britain are at least as favourable as those of France and Germany; and whether the Government are prepared to encourage the manufacture of beet sugar in Great Britain by undertaking that no Excise duty shall be levied, thereby affording employment to many thousands of the unemployed?
§ Mr. LLOYD-GEORGEAs regards the first part of the question, I may refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave on the 7th ultimo to the hon. Members for Great Yarmouth and Sheffield Central. The answer to the second part is in the negative. The imports of unrefined beetroot sugar into this country from the Continent of Europe during the last five years were: 1905, 8,182,108 cwts.; 1906, 10,991,819 cwts.; 1907, 9,470,735 cwts.; 1908, 9,734,950 cwts.; 1909, 10,258,197 cwts. The imports of refined beetroot sugar cannot be stated, as the official statistics do not distinguish between sugar refined from cane and beetroot. I understand that at present practically no sugar is produced from beetroot grown in this country, but I am not able to offer my opinion as to the relative merits in this connection of the soil and climate in Great Britain, France, and Germany. I cannot give the undertaking proposed in the last part of the question, and I should be inclined to doubt whether, if I could, it would have the effect suggested; but as I have already stated, in fixing the rates of Excise duty on sugar manufactured from beetroot grown in this country, care would be taken to allow such a reduction from the rates of Customs duty as would fully compensate for the additional cost of manufacture under Excise restrictions.