Dec. 1895.] BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY ON THE CONTINENT. 



293 



Beet culture for the manufacture of sugar was introduced 

 into Russia at the begiimiugof the century. The crop is chiefly 

 grown in the south-western regions of European Russia and 

 particularly in the governments of Kiev, Podolsk, Kharkhov, 

 Koursk, and Warsaw. 



The first sugar-beet factory was erected in 1802 in the 

 province of Toula, and in the course of the next 18 years, 38 

 refineries were opened in different parts of the empire. All these 

 establishments were of an agricultural character, being owned 

 for the most part by estate owners. The Government advanced 

 loans free of interest to promote the erection of refineries, and at 

 the same time afforded certain other privileges to the owners. 

 Further protection was given to the industry in 1841 by the 

 imposition of a heavy duty on foreign sugar. Under these 

 favourable conditions, the production of beet sugar lapidly 

 developed as a rural industry, so that by 1848 there were 340 

 factories in Russia, producing an estimated out-turn of 86,785 

 cwts. of sugar. In that year, the home-grown sugar was subjected 

 for the first time to an excise tax of 2s. lOd. per cwt., which was 

 increased six years later to 5.s. 8d. per cwt. In 1863, the tax 

 was reduced to Is. 10c?. per cwt., and was subsequently raised 

 several times, until it reached a maximum of 6s. lod. per cwt. 

 in 1875. But although the excise was nominally at the rates 

 mentioned, the official estimate of the yield of sugar to be 

 obtained from a given quantity of beet-root was so much below 

 the results obtained by manufacturers, that the real tax was 

 not much more than half the nominal excise ; while in the case 

 of refineries with improved machinery it was even less than 

 half the nominal tax. In 1876, the importation of cane sugar 

 into Russia ceased, and beet-sugar was exported from the 

 country for the first time. To encourage the export trade the 

 Government refunded to exporters the nominal excise of 6s. lOd. 

 per cwt., which, for the reasons already stated, represented a 

 considerable bounty on every cwt. of sugar exported. The 

 effect of this measure was seen in a sudden expansion of 

 the exports of beet sugar from 160,553 cwts. in 1876-77 

 to 1,252,575 cwts. in 1877-78. Under these circumstances 

 the Government found it necessary to effect a reform in the 

 system of calculating the excise, and, in 1881, it was legally 

 provided that the amount of tax payable should be determined 

 by the weight of raw sugar actually produced, while in the case 

 of establishments which refined as well as manufactured the 

 raw sugar, the tax payable was to be estimated on the amount 

 of refined sugar produced. The tax was then fixed at 3s. Id. 

 per cwt. for the three years ending August 1883, but it was 

 afterwards increased to 4s. 8d. in the period 1886-89, while 

 a law issued on 12th Januar}^ 1893, made the excise on raw 

 sugar 10s. lOd per cwt. after 31st August 1894. 



The reform (instituted in 1881) in the method of assessing 

 the excise had apparently no deterrent effect on the progress of 



