1920.] 



Home-Grown Sugar. 



lOOI 



this important commodit}-. The capital of the Company is 

 to be nominaUy £1,000,000 steding, but only half of this is to 

 be issued, and of this half the sum of £250,000 is to be taken 

 up by the Government and £250,000 by the general public. 

 For 10 years the £250,000 to be taken up by the Government 

 will not rank for dividend until a 5 per cent, dividend upon the 

 public capital has been provided for, and in no circumstances 

 can the interest on the Government shares exceed 5 per cent. 

 The dividend upon the public capital will be guaranteed by 

 the Government for 10 years at 5 per cent. 



It will be seen, therefore, that the Government are taking a 

 very practical share in the work of establishing a sugar industry 

 in England. The Company about to be formed will be exclu- 

 sively British in capital and control. An important point is 

 the fiscal advantage which home-grown sugar enjoys over 

 foieign imported sugar under the Finance Act of 1919. This 

 advantage is very considerable. The home-grown article 

 has a preference of more than £6 4s. per ton over the im- 

 ported foreign article, and of nearly £1 19s. per ton over the 

 very small amount of sugar which we receive from our 

 Dominions and Dependencies. The price of sugar, even allowing 

 for a heavy fall in the market, seems likely to remain high 

 enough to justify a good price to the farmer for his roots, 

 a satisfactory \\'age to the worker in field and factory, and a 

 remunerative interest on the invested capital. The conditions 

 are, therefore, all favourable, and the " infant industry " at 

 Kelham will see the Hght in circumstances which ought to 

 ensure to it a vigorous childhood and a long and prosperous 

 Hfe. 



It is, perhaps, not generally known that England is nearly 

 the largest consumer of sugar in the world. Even on the 

 prices ruling before the War we consumed in the United 

 Kingdom £25,000,000 worth of sugar every year. This is an 

 immense market, and it is a pity that England should so long 

 have dispensed with the social, economic and industrial benefits 

 of this great and ahvays increasing demand. 



The hrst business of the new Company, when the capital has 

 been contributed, will be to erect a factory at Newark on the 

 estate at Kelham, not far from the Board's Land Settlement 

 Colony. This factory will be placed on a site exceptionally 

 favoured with transport facilities by river, road and rail. 



Another important task before the Company will be to secure 

 a sufficient acreage under sugar beet in the neighbourhood 



