The retail price of granulated sugar was raised on Monday
by fourpence to fourteenpence a pound. The Sugar Commission made it clear to the public that the price had risen because the world's demand for sugar was greater than the supply. The Commission, as the Select Committee on Expenditure has stated, made a profit of six millions during the war. Last year, however, it sold sugar at a loss of two millions. The remaining surplus will presumably be needed to meet a further loss this year. The price of raw sugar in Cuba is over ninepence a pound, without allowing for the depreciated purchasing power of the sovereign. The Select Committee intimated that the price here should be fifteenpence. Until the Continental beet-sugar industry is restored, Europe will continue to compete with GreatBritainand America for the oane-sugar of the West Indies. We must therefore expect sugar to be scarce and dear for years to come. It is a sad prospect, for sugar is an essential element in a normal diet. But the Government have done right in deciding that there must be no subsidy for sugar, apart from the savings made by the Sugar Commission.
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