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



295 



direction of the President of the Council of Ministers, reported 

 that the condition of the sugar-beet industry rendered it 

 desirable,, in the interest of consumers as well as of producers, 

 that measures should le adopted to prevent, on the one hand, 

 an excessive rise in the price of sugar in the native markets, and 

 to check, on the other hand, any increase of production heyond 

 the actual quantity needed for consumption. On the 2nd July 

 last, an Ukase was issued giving effect to these recommen- 

 dations, and ujaking it obligatory on the manufacturers to keep 

 a reserve of sugar which could only be disposed of for consump- 

 tion when the market price reached a limit to be determined by 

 the Minister of Finance. In addition to these measures the 

 Minister of Finance has issued a note in which he states that, in 

 view of the excessive production of sugar, applications for autho- 

 rity to erect new sugar factories or to extend the operations of 

 existing establishments will not be favourably entertained. 



The exports of raw and refined sugar from Russia during the 

 five years ending with 1893, were as under : — 



Year. i Cwts. 



Year. 



CVts. 



1389 

 1890 

 1891 



1,437,172 

 1,051,954 

 2,432,856 



1892 - 

 1893' - 



919,186 

 681,375 



The customs duty on sugar imported into Russia was fixed in 

 1891 at 29s. 7d. per cwt. for raw sugar, and 395. 5c?. per cwt. 

 for refined sugar. 



The manufacture of beet-sugar in France was practically 

 established in 1812 by the Emperor Napoleon I. The cultiva- 

 tion of beet for the produce of sugar was fostered by successive 

 legislative enactments, and the annual output of sugar gradually 

 increased. In 1808, the French production of sugar amountecl 

 to nearly 3,000,000 cwts., in 1883-84 it was nearly treble that 

 quantity, and in 1893 it was estimated at over 12,000,000 cwts. 

 The number of factories operating in 1893-94 was 370, and the 

 quantity of beet consumed in these establishments in the twelve 

 months was 103,129,000 cwts., from which 9,564,000 cwts. of 

 refined sugar were extracted. 



The present system of taxing sugar in France may be said to 

 have originated with the law of 29 July 1884, which imposed 

 an excise of 20s. per cwt. on sugar of all kinds delivered for 

 consumption. This law which was designed with a view to 

 increase the bounties on sugar, provided for levying the excise 

 on the presumed yield of home-grown sugar, instead of on the 

 sugar itself. In assessing the tax on the native beet-sugar it 

 was provided that 100 lbs. of beet should be reckoned to produce 

 6J lbs. of refined sugar when extracted by diffusion, and 5 lbs 

 when obtained by hydraulic pressure, with an allowance of 8 



