338 SUGAR BEET 



excise duty on beet sugar. Mr. Austen Chamberlain replied 

 that " the Finance Act of 1901 did not provide for an excise 

 duty on sugar grown and manufactured here, because there 

 is no such industry in existence ; but if it should be attempted, 

 he thought that for the protection of the Customs Revenue 

 and in accordance with our general fiscal policy such a duty 

 would be imposed." It was then proposed that a deputation 

 should wait on the Chancellor of the Exchequer on this point, 

 but this arrangement fell through. On 2nd April, 1904, Lord 

 Denbigh raised the matter in the House of Lords, but Lord 

 Denman, on behalf of the Government, gave a somewhat 

 discouraging reply. 



The Council next considered the subject in November. 

 1906, and continued the discussion in January, 1907, when 

 the Government was again asked to meet a deputation ; 

 but a reply was received stating that the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer would prefer to have a considered statement in 

 writing. This was drawn up in the form of a report from 

 the Committee to the Council, was approved by the Council 

 in March, 1907, and sent to the Government. The principal 

 suggestion in this report was that any excise duty imposed 

 on home-grown sugar should be fixed at, say, 2s. per hundred- 

 weight below the import duty, the limit allowed by the Brussels 

 Convention being 2s. 6d. per hundredweight. 



During 1907 the East Suffolk Chamber issued a report on 

 a series of experiments carried out by them in 1906. This 

 showed the cost of growing to be from 8 to 9 per acre, 

 the weights produced to be from 9 to 25 1 tons per acre, and 

 the sugar content to range from 13.7 to 19.65 per cent. 



The Customs Duty on sugar was reduced to Is. lOd. per 

 .hundredweight by the Finance Act of 1908. 



The Times of 13th November, 1909, contained the pros- 

 pectus of the " Lincolnshire Beet Sugar Company," with a 

 capital of 130,000, formed for the purpose of erecting a fac- 

 tory at Sleaford. This undertaking, however, did not proceed. 



At the Council meeting in June, 1910, a resolution moved 

 by Mr. G. L. Courthope, M.P., was carried, declaring that the 

 cultivation of sugar beet and the manufacture of sugar from 



