The sugar refining industry which is carried on in Greenock,
Liverpool and London is evidently hard hit by the beet sugar subsidy. A special correspondent of the Times says that at Greenock three out of five refineries have been closed ; at Liverpool two out of three closed temporarily last winter'; and in London there has been a steady decline in the average number of men employed. While this damage has been done to the refining industry and those occupations which indirectly depend upon it the beet Sugar subsidy has risen each year, so that for the present financial year it stands at R5,400,000.
It cannot be denied that the subsidy has given a great stimulus" to the growing of sugar beet, but the question is .whether it was not planned on too generous a scale. The Manchester Guardian puts it in this way : "Factories working on British beet not only get their raw material for nothing but a 10s. note in addition for every ton they are graciously pleased to accept."
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