The Sugar Industry The Government have done well to forestall
the recom- mendations of Lord Olivier's Commission, which has recently investigated the conditions of the sugar industry in the West Indies and Mauritius. Instead of waiting for another unedifying Protectionist-Free Trade hulla- baloo, they have authorized financial help to the planters, who are in desperate need of advances to make possible next year's crop. The British Exchequer is to share with the respective Colonial Governments the losses, if any, to the extent of fifty per cent., and a repayment of the loan is made a first charge on the crop. This is, of course, a temporary and frankly artificial palliative. There remains the need to solve the problem of over-production, which has for some time' absorbed the attention of a Committee of the League of Nations. The present active search for an international remedy should silence any cry that the act of the Government is the thin end of the Protectionist wedge. * *
Previous page
