§ Mr. SEDDONasked the Minister of Food whether his Department lost £4,000,000 in sugar deals in 1918; whether the Government has purchased the whole forthcoming crop of Mauritius, estimated at 300,000 tons, at a total cost of £18,000,000; whether the American estimated supplies are 5,025,000 tons, or 1,525,000 tons over pre-War American consumption, and the whole is in the hands of the Sugar Trust; whether the world's estimated supply for 1920 reveals a corner in sugar rather than a shortage; and whether the inflated market prices to-day, and prospective, are being maintained through the Government's investment of £18,000,000 of taxpayers' money?
§ Mr. McCURDYThe financial reserves of the Royal Commission on the Sugar Supply were reduced during 1918 by approximately £4,000,000 owing to the maintenance of the retail price of sugar in this country below the level of the world's sugar prices. The Royal Commission on the Sugar Supply has purchased the output of Mauritius Vesou sugar, estimated at approximately 200,000 tons, at £89, £90, £91 per ton, according to quality. I do not understand what the hon. Member means by the term American supplies. The total production of America, including Porto Rico, the Philippine and Sandwich Islands, is not estimated to exceed 1,900,000 tons. The American consumption of sugar in 1914 was 3,761,000 tons per annum, and the consumption in 2411W 1919 was 4,067,000 tons. I am not aware of the existence of a sugar trust in America. The reply to the fourth and fifth parts of the question is in the negative.