THE PEOPLE'S SUGAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2767, 10 May 1916, Page 5

THE PEOPLE'S SUGAR

BRITISH PRODUCERS IN ; CONFERENCE - GREAT SPEECH BY FEDERAL ; PRIME MINISTER By Telesrash—Press Association-Copyright , London, May 8. Mr.'W. M. Hughes made a striking speech at the opening of the Sugar Conference at Cnxton Hall. Messrs. Pritehard and Young were the Australian delegates.. There were other delegates present from India, Canada, the West Indies, Egypt, Natal, and Mauritius. v Mr. Hughe.-) paid a tribute to the Empire Producers' Organisation for its sane and businesslike attack on the sugar industry, blazing a trail towards a goal that was now plainly revealed. The conference was promoted by the instinct of commercial and national self-preserva-tion,' and he 'hoped it would lay the corner-stone of a new and better edifice of our commercial and industrial greatness. Its. immediate objective was to make the Empire independent of tho enemy. There was no reason why the Empire should not supply its own requirements''in sugar. We wero grown men, and wo ought to put away childish diversions.' Tho policy. has no relation to Free Trade or Protection; we must approach tho problem with an open and unprejudiced mind as a business proposition. Our only consideration should be the national safety and social welfare. Under tho existing policy the British sugar industry had decayed. The population of Britain, largely industrial, gets, its food from overseas. If the present policy was persisted in, it would ultimately destroy us. The fabric of British industry at the outbreak of tho war rested on alien, and mostly enemy, bases. "Tho existing policy is responsible for the discouraging of our powerful Navy. Everything that is necessary to save us has been left undone. That is my indictment of this policy. If lra are to-day the.masters of our own destiny, thanks are'not due to that policy, but to Provideuce, and to the resolute men who have kept their eyes upon the beacon star of the Empire and its safety. Mr. Hughes warmly drew attention to tho fact that the British Sugar Commission employed a purchasing agent with a German name. Surely it was possible to find a man of our own race. There wero naturalised Germans who had a better right to stand against the wall than tkaj.Sinn, Fein leaders.

Britain in 1913 imported 1,200,000 tons W.Shn.- s;,Smv.SS nppww: ,SOn,q: 'Fa; of sugar. If wo permitted Germany to dump sugar in Britain after the war all prospeots of trade freedom and a self-contained Empire would be gone. Aircatfy contracts 'had been unsuccessfully submitted to England, providing for delivery from Hamburg, Bremen, Danzig, and Stettin. Prohibitive tariffs would not avail, because tho German producers wero prepared to offer the utmost inducements in order to dispose of accumulated stocks. . The only sure remedy was to arrange a series of contracts between Britain, on behalf of the manufacturers and consumers, and the sugar-producing Dominions, guaranteeing tho purchase of certain quantities at a minimum price. Lord Denbigh said the prospects of the beet sugar industry in Great Britain were brighter. People must bo prepared to pay a little more for their sugar, and ought to regard that increased payment as an insurance against menace of the future. Mr. T. J. Eyan (Premier of Queensland) said that in tho encouragement of the sugar industry they must contemplate good labour conditions. t Queensland was hopeful of extending its sugar areas,'getting a population ready to defend the Empire should the occasion arise.