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price of sugar. He believed he was right in saying that one-third of the Excise duty on tobacco grown in Ireland had been remitted for a period of five years. concession was made by the late Government, but it had not been withdrawn by the present free-trade Government.
It was an LORD DENMAN said the rebate applied to a limited area of 100 acres. experiment begun by the late Government, and the present Government had carried it on. They could not very well do otherwise.
VISCOUNT RIDLEY said agriculturists in England would welcome a similar con- cession. He was informed that sugar beet could be grown in small quantities in this country, but it had not been proved whether over a series of years sugar beet growing could he made a profitable industry. For the purposes of that experiment it was necessary to have some guarantee that the position under the Brussels Con- vention would not be disturbed for a certain number of years; and, if possible, the concession which had been given to tobacco growers in Ireland should be given, also for experimental reasons, to sugar beet growers in England. He suggested that the President of the Board of Agriculture might carry on experiments in sugar beet growing on Crown lands, and that a departmental committee should be appointed to inquire into the whole question.
LORD FITZMAURICE said the object of the Opposition was to try to ascertain from the Government what the intentions of the Government were in regard to the Sugar Convention; but, in the opinion of the Government, the hour for stating them had not yet come. He would be excused, as representing only the Foreign Office, from following the noble lord who asked the question into the various complicated issues which it raised. The noble lord held out a most-striking and remarkable prospect, and he hoped he would be able at some future time to justify the faith that was in him. The sugary vision of the noble lord's question became touched with acid as it proceeded, and made suggestions as to the conduct of individual members of His Majesty's Government, and threw out dark hints as to the possibility of the Chancellor of the Exchequer imposing an excise duty on home-grown sugar. If he had to reply to these points he could only do so if he were able to explain to the House what the settled policy of the Government in regard to the Convention was. The Convention would have But, as he said, the time for that had not yet come.
and in
to be considered by the Government in all its aspects within the present year; that House or elsewhere a full statement would be made, which he trusted would be satisfactory to the country and to their lordships.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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