The German Agrarians and the German Government are again at
war over the result of the Brussels Sugar Conference. An Act is needed to abolish bounties, and the Agrarians declare that they ought to be retained, and are only given up out of deference to England. Indeed they allege that Silesia with its greatly exhausted soil will only grow beet, and that as the profit comes from the • bounty the province will be ruined. The Government, however, which resents the burden placed on its finances, is in earnest in defending the measure, and Count von Biilow on Monday made a most energetic defence of it. He did not indeed allege, as Count Posadowsky afterwards did, that if the Bill were not passed Great Britain would impose a countervailing duty of 6s. per hundred- weight on bounty-fed sugar, but he asserted that England took half the German export of sugar, that if the bounty were retained the trade would go to France, Belgium, and Holland, and that if the bounty continued it would be impossible to find new and sufficient markets. Everybody was growing sugar, and only a few countries were buying it. Count von Billow finally expressed his belief that with a surtax of 4-40 marks on sugar the growers would have a monopoly of the home market, though consumption of this "necessary of life" would be increased by a reduction of the internal duty. The Agrarians, however, remained morose, and to avert defeat the Bill was finally referred to a Committee of twenty-eight. The Emperor will probably win upon a question so inter: national, but compensation will be given when the Spirit- duties are considered.
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