GREAT BRITAIN' AND IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM OF. 



399 



r.nd take away every chance for the industry 

 to recover. A conference was held in Paris in 

 1^77 to consider the question of abolishing 

 bounties in all countries simultaneously, but it 

 came to nothing, owing to the opposition of 

 Belgium and the Netherlands. The legal yield 

 was fixed in Germany at 8f- per cent, of the 

 weight of the roots, but with improved process- 

 es 12^ per cent, or more of sugar was extracted, 

 giving the manufacturer a clear bounty of $10 

 a ton on all the sugar that he exported. In 

 order to make good the loss to the treasury, 

 which was 21,000,000 marks in 1884, the Gov- 

 ernment raised the tax on consumption from 

 1'60 to 1'70 mark, but did not venture to dis- 

 turb the export bounty. According to the 

 latest statistics, bounties cost France $17,000,- 

 000 a year; Germany, $16,000,000; Austria- 

 Hungary. $5,000,000; Belgium, $4,000,000; 

 and Holland, $3,000,000. The English, who 

 are the greatest consumers of sugar in Europe, 

 formerly used only cane-sugar, mainly the prod- 

 uct of the British West Indies and Guiana. 

 The beet-root sugar gradually displaced cane- 

 sugar altogether. When the refiners, whose 

 business was destroyed, called on the Govern- 

 ment for a remedy, they were told that the 

 people of England ought to be well content if 

 the Continental governments chose to pay a 

 part of the price of their sugar, and thus make 

 them a gift of about $26,000,000 a year. The 

 West Indian planters could not be so easily 

 answered, for sugar is almost the only product 

 of the British colonies in the West Indies, and, 

 after refusing to seek for them a new market 

 by the negotiation of a reciprocity treaty with 

 the United States, the British Government was 

 constrained to open negotiations with the Con- 

 tinental governments for the abolition of the 

 bounty system. Belgium ranks fourth among 

 the sugar-producing nations of Europe, and is 

 one of the chief exporting countries, since the 

 excise duty is fixed so high that little sugar is 

 consumed in the country and four fifths of the 

 product goes abroad. The Belgian representa- 

 tive at the London conference did not oppose 

 the removal of export bounties, but would not 

 accept the remedy on which all the other dele- 

 gates were agreed, viz., the system of manu- 

 facturing in bond. The Belgian Government 

 employs a machine for gauging the saccharine 

 yield in the refineries, and proposed Govern- 

 ment control of the legal yield and a system of 

 equivalents in preference to the more trouble- 

 some and inquisitorial bonding system, which, it 

 was further objected, would not prevent the 

 covert enjoyment of bounties by means of 

 frauds on the revenue. The other governments 

 took the same ground in condemning the Bel- 

 gian proposals. Before the second meeting of 

 the conference at London, Baron cle Worms, 

 the English delegate, made a tour of the Euro- 

 pean capitals, seeking to bring about an agree- 

 ment. The basis of a treaty on which the 

 plenipotentiaries agreed in London on Nov. 24, 

 1887, was that the measures to be adopted 



must give complete and absolute security that 

 no premiums on the export of sugar, din 

 indirect, should be granted, and a system of 

 taking manufactured sugar that is destined for 

 consumption is the only method of abolishing 

 premiums, the taxes being extended to sirup 

 and glucose. The conference reassembled in 

 London on April 5, 1888. (Jermany, Austria, 

 Belgium, Brazil, Denmark. Spain, France, 

 Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, I: 

 and Sweden, were officially represented. The 

 United States followed the proceedings unoffi- 

 cially, and is expected to join a union of sugar- 

 growing countries if one can be formed that 

 shall embrace all those that produce beet-sugar 

 and four fifths of the cane-producing countries. 

 The final protocol, with a draft convention, 

 was signed by the plenipotentiaries on May 12, 

 with reservations on important points. In 

 France the producers of sugar were strongly 

 opposed to the treaty, as they consider that 

 the conditions for production are more favor- 

 able in Germany. France and Spain raised 

 the objection that the United States and other 

 countries holding aloof from the convention 

 would swamp the countries entering into the 

 treaty with their bounty-fed sugar. In order 

 to remove their doubts, a clause was introduced 

 whereby the contracting powers agreed to pro- 

 hibit the importation of sugar from bounty-giv- 

 ing countries. This, however, did not satisfy 

 France. England. Germany. Belgium, Spain. 

 Italy, the Netherlands, and Russia signified 

 their acceptance of the treaty. Austria reserved 

 its adherence until all European countries pro- 

 ducing or consuming sugar should also adhere to 

 the agreement. Brazil reserved her freedom ; 

 Denmark refused to exclude the produce of 

 favored nations because it would be a breach 

 of treaties. France reserved her adherence 

 until all sugar-producing and sugar-consuming 

 countries adhere and frame laws with which 

 she is satisfied. Sweden refused to bind her- 

 self in any way. The seven countries that 

 signed the convention agreed to appoint com- 

 missioners, who should sit at London and report 

 what countries give bounties to sugar exporters, 

 and to what extent, and the parties to the treaty 

 are bound to exclude from their markets sugar 

 that a majority of the commission decides to 

 be bonnty-fed. Before ratifying the conven- 

 tion, Belgium reserved the right of withdrawing 

 her adhesion in case the treaty should be re- 

 jected by any of the signatory powers. 



Colonies. The colonial possessions of Great 

 Britain have a total area of more than 9,000,- 

 000 square miles and a population of 275,000,- 

 000, but of this number 256,000,000 are found 

 in British India and the feudatory states. The 

 possessions in Europe are Heligoland, Gibral- 

 tar, and Malta. The Asiatic dependencies in- 

 clude Cyprus, Aden. India. Ceylon, Pen-in, La- 

 buan, the Straits Settlements, the Keeling Isl- 

 ands, the Kurea Murea Islands, and IJong- 

 Kong, which have an aggregate area, inclusive 

 of the feudatory states of India and the Malayan 



