24
EASTERN
No.
87.
COLONIAL
No.
3365
Rec
Memorandum as to the existence of a bounty brifings
from excessive surtax in the countries covered by the British Appeal.
(1)
PHILIPPINES.
19
All the evidence available goes to shew that the existing surtax in the Philippines cannot in any way lead to a bounty on sugar whether raw or refined.
Such a bounty can only arise where a considerable home consumption of sugar enables the manufacturers to obtain a large profit in the home market by the enhanced prices which the high surtax renders it possible to obtain. But in the Philippines there is no such home market. So far as our information goes there are no refineries in operation in the islands and the refined sugar required for consumption is imported and conse- quently pays the import duty. There is reason to be- lieve that this imported sugar is actually to a large extent Philippine sugar refined in Hong Kong and elsʊ- where, so that the duty is rather of the nature of a consumption tax on native sugar than a protective duty. This is distinctly stated in the Commercial Notes pre- fixed to the webruary 1904 issue of the Monthly Summary of the Commerce of the Philippines:-
"All our refined sugar comes from Hong Kong. Te
ship the raw product to the British Metropolis
(sic) and they return the refined article to
us, and the local consumer pays freight both ways
and the cost of running it through the foreign
sugar machine. The most prominent candy manu-
facturers in America buy their sugar in America.
We need a sugar refinery."
31
eas
Var
isc.