Sugar Beet Subsidy • The Government's decision about the sugar
subsidy was not unexpected. It will remain, as invariably happens when a vested interest is created, but on a diminished scale. No time limit is put on it, but there is to be a limit of the amount to be manufactured under subsidized conditions, which will be roughly equivalent to the ].935 crop. Its cost to the nation, reduced by £800,000 as from 1934 to 1935, will be reduced by a further £700,000 as from 1935 to 1936. But it will stand even so at nearly £3 millions, and the rebate on duty nearly doubles this figure. The Government have adopted from the Greene Committee the policy of amalgamating the beet sugar companies into a single corporation. This should effect appreciable economies, and enable better provision to be made for research in order to bring down the costs of British sugar manufacture. But the new body, de- pendent as it will be entirely on the Government subsidy, ought obviously to be organized as a public service corporation. It is not so as the scheme stands ; and Parliament has a clear opening for pressing that the omission shall be rectified. • * *
Previous page
