294 BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY ON THE CONTINENT. [Dec. 1895. 



the industry. The area under sugar beet continued to expand 

 until, i?) 1885, it amounted to 808,650 acres, producing 

 109,569,121 cwts. of beet. The development of the five years 

 1881-85 may be seen from the following statement : — 



Year. 



Acreage of Sugar- 

 Beet. 



Quantity of Sugar- 

 Beet produced. 



Quantity of Sugar 

 assessed to Duty. 





Acres. 



Cwts. 



Cwts. 



1881 - 



602,458 



70,917,000 



5,122,515 



1882 " 



632,958 



74,959,000 



5,637,000 



1883 - 



745,553 



71,306,000 



6,062,000 



1884 - 



787,671 



80,344,000 



6,737,000 



1885 - 



808,849 



109,569,121 



9,334,000 



It 1884, it became manifest that the producers of beet-sugar 

 were experiencing difficulties. In the summer of that year, a 

 memorial was presented to the Minister of Finance, showing 

 that the cultivators of beet-root^ being necessarily producers of 

 cereals, had suffered from the general agricultural depression, 

 and from a fall of from 20 per cent, to 25 per cent, in the price 

 of sugar. A year later the situation became more serious 

 owing to the great augmentation in the production of beet. The 

 estimated home consumption of sugar at that time was 6,040,000 

 cwts,, whereas the out-turn of 1884 and 1885 had been con- 

 siderably in excess of that quantity. In order to relieve the 

 market of the surplus, the Government offered a premium of 

 6s. 2d. per cwt. on all sugar exported, independently of the 

 remission of the tax. This premium, however, was only to be 

 paid on a total export up to 640,000 cwts. In spite of this 

 action, the price of sugar in the home markets continued to fall,, 

 and at the close of the year the Council of Ministers decided to 

 grant exporters a fresh bounty, payable until May 1st, 1886,, 

 subsequently extended to July 1st, of 4s. 6d. per cwt. on raw 

 and refined sugar exported, with no conditions as to quantities. 

 The amount so expended in bounties was to be recovered by a 

 surtax imposed on all producers during the four succeeding 

 years. It must be remembered that the primary object of these 

 temporary measures was not to promote exportation, but tc 

 relieve the home market from the surplus supplies. The efforts 

 of the Government were, however, rendered to a large extent 

 nugatory by the increased production of 1885, and a movement 

 was begun in favour of restricting the output of beet-sugar by 

 legislation. In default of ministerial action, a large number of 

 manufacturers formed a syndicate with the object of limiting the 

 production of their respective factories in order to maintain the 

 price of sugar at a remunerative level in the home markets. 



The continued unsettled condition of the industry has, how- 

 ever, recently received the attention of the Government. A 

 special commission held early in the present year under the 



