The German Government is trying to solve the agricultural problem
by encouraging the production of beet. A tax, ex- pected to yield £1,570,000 a year, is to be laid on the importation of sugar, and of this amount £1,000,000 is to be expended in tripling the bounties on home-grown beet-sugar. This will, it is believed, so stimulate the cultivation that over-production is feared, and the amount grown on each farm will therefore be fixed by Government inspectors. Any sugar produced in excess of that will be specially and heavily taxed, and the proceeds reserved to make up any deficiency in the bounty fund. It is believed that under this scheme the price of sugar will rise 30 per cent, while of course exporting facilities will be greatly increased, the bounty enabling the farmers to sell to exporters cheaply. The whole scheme is one of Protection in its worst form, but it will probably be rejected by Parliament.
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