31 MAY 1935, Page 17

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Snt,—Mr. Stewart Cook is

too suspicious. If he will refer to the House of Commons' report of May 9th, he will find that the Minister of Agriculture estimates the cost for this year's crop at £5,766,308, and that if this be added to the official figures for the earlier years, the total cost to the taxpayers is slightly in excess of the round figure of £53,000,000.

The statement of your other correspondent, Mr. Stanley 0. Rateliff, that the sugar growers of Java, the cheapest pro- ducers, are facing bankruptcy, surely accentuates the wisdom of the Majority Report in recommending that England, whose costs of production are the highest, should cut her losses