SUGAR BEET 339 



beet in this country should be encouraged. The following 

 September Mr. Courthope read a paper before the British 

 Association dealing with the proposal to establish the industry 

 in this country. 



On 20th July, at a meeting of the Sugar Beet Committee 

 of the Chamber, resolutions were passed under which the 

 Committee was dissolved, the British Sugar Beet Council 

 was formed as a separate body, and the Earl of Denbigh 

 was elected Chairman. In accordance with a further resolu- 

 tion an application was made to the Development Commission 

 for a grant to enable experiments 011 a larger scale to be carried 

 out. 



In February, 1911, Lord Denbigh, in the House of Lords, 

 asked the Government what they proposed to do to encourage 

 the sugar beet industry ; Lord Carrington, in order to avoid 

 having to say that they did not intend to do anything, 

 announced that the Board of Agriculture would arrange to 

 carry out some further growing experiments. Unfortunately, 

 the conditions under which these experiments were conducted 

 were such as to add practically nothing to previous knowledge. 

 Later in the year the Development Commission declined to 

 give any assistance, pleading as their reason that in the opinion 

 of the Law Officers of the Crown such assistance would con- 

 travene the Act of 1903, which ratified the Brussels Convention. 



In 1912 a company, of which Mr. G. L. Courthope, M.P. 

 was chairman, erected a factory at Cantley, in Norfolk, which 

 dealt with 3400 acres of beet in that season, while in 1913 

 the same factory handled the crop of nearly 4500 acres. It 

 has thus been demonstrated that sugar beet is a crop which 

 can be grown on a commercial scale in this country. It has 

 further been shown that where this crop has been grown 

 properly its production has been profitable to the grower 

 and beneficial to the farm upon which it was grown. 



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