§ Sir D. NEWTONasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) what funds have been advanced to the British sugar beet industry as a whole, and what proportion of the total capital in the industry has been found by the Government;
(2) what proportion of the whole of the capital advanced by the Government under the Trade Facilities Act for the 1743W encouragement of sugar beet factories has been advanced to the Anglo-Scottish Beet Sugar Corporation, Limited (First and Second); and what the Government's interest in the corporations amounts to?
§ Mr. R. McNEILLI have been asked to answer these two questions.
I have no information as to the total capital invested in the British sugar beet industry. The State does not make advances to the beet sugar industry. Its assistance is given (a) by means of the subsidy payments; (b) by guarantees in respect of loans raised by various beet sugar companies for capital expenditure. The full list of guarantees which the Treasury have stated their willingness to give under the Trade Facilities Acts to the British sugar beet industry is:
£ Anglo-Scottish Beet Sugar Corporation, Limited 370,000 Second Anglo-Scottish Beet Sugar Corporation, Limited 865,000 West Midland Sugar Company Limited 150,000 Orchard Sugar Company, Limited 80,000 Central Sugar Company, Limited 85,000 Lincolnshire Beet Sugar Company, Limited 225,000 £1,875,000 The total amount of the loans already taken up is £1,035,000, of which £620,000 has been taken up by the two Anglo-Scottish beet sugar corporations.