§ Sir R. HAMILTONasked the Secretary for Scotland how many smallholders and other farmers in Scotland have commenced growing sugar beet; what amount of subsidies have been paid to them by the Government, respectively; what acreage is under crop; what is the sugar output for Scotland for 1925; and whether any subsidies or guarantees have been made by the Government to the Greenock, Cupar, or other factories?
§ Sir J. GILMOURIn 1925 sugar beet was grown by 379 farmers and 47 smallholders in Scotland. Statistics for 1926 are not yet available. The subsidy payable under the British Sugar (Subsidy) Act, 1925, is paid not in respect of the growing of the crop but of its manufacture into sugar and molasses. A condition of the payment of the subsidy is, however, that manufacturers pay to growers a fixed minimum price for the crop. The total area under the crop in 1925 was 1,492 acres. From the Scottish crop of 1925 there were manufactured in Scotland 2,913 cwts. of refined sugar and 3,022 cwts. of molasses. Subsidies amounting to £4,105 have been paid to the Greenock factory in respect of the manufacture of sugar and molasses. No other factory has yet been in operation in Scotland. I am also informed that a guaranteed loan of £80,000, under the Trade Facilities Acts, has been given in respect of the Greenock factory, and that a similar loan of £250,000 has been allocated to the Cupar factory out of a total guarantee of £850,000 to the Second Anglo-Scottish Beet Sugar Corporation, Limited, for the erection in Great Britain of three factories, of which Cupar is one.
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