29 MARCH 1930, Page 2

The Colonial Sugar Industry - The Report of the West

Indian Sugar Commission Was issued on Monday.. It calls upon- the Government to eliminate, in concert with other Powers,- the disturbing factors of high tariffs and subsidies. Meanwhile, it recommends that the British preference on Imperial sugar should be a minimum of 4s. 8d. per cwt. and that a single purchasing agency should be set up in this country as soon as possible. there is also a proposal that the Colonial Governments, in return for any assistance from Great Britain, should prevent the sale of .foreign sugar at less than the f.o.b. price for _Imperial sugar. Sir Frarleis Watts' Report on the Mauritius Sugar industry includes a request for similar treatment. The Government have taken their time in publishing these Reports and have provoked not a little resentment by their apparent indifference to the plight of the planters. They have taken the opportunity to repudiate any possibility of anticipating the Budget statement. On behalf of the tax-payers here they also repudiate the request for an Import Board with a guaranteed price of £15. They abide by the offer of assistance which we recorded last week, and point to the Colonial Development Act as a means of helping the sugar industry.