SUGAR CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 May 1916, Page 5

SUGAR CONFERENCE.

(SPEECH BY MR. HUGHES. PROMOTION OF IMPERIAL SUPPLY. By Cable.—Press Association—Copyright Received May 9, 5.5 p.m. London, May 8. Mr. W. M. Hughes delivered a striking speech at the opening of the Sugar Conference at Caxton Hall. Delegates were present from India, Canada, the West Indies, Egypt, Natal, Mauritius, and Australia. Mr. Hughes paid a tribute to the Em- , pire producers' organisation, whose sane and businesslike attack on the sugar industry had left a blazing trail towards the goal now plainly revealed. The conference was promoted in the interests of commercial and national self-preser-vation, and it hoped to lay the corner stone of a new and better edifice for our commercial and industrial greatness. The immediate objective was to make the Empire independent of the enemy, and there was no reason why the Empire should not supply its own sugar requirements.

DECAY OF THE INDUSTRY. "We grown men," he said, "ought to put away childish diversions. Our policy has no relation to free trade, or protection. We must approach the problem with unprejudiced minds, as a business proposition only. Our chief considerations were national safety and social welfare." Under the existing pdlicy, he said, the British sugar industry had decayed. The population of Britain is largely industrial and gets its food from overseas. If the present policy were persisted in it would ultimately destroy us. The fabric of British industry at the outbreak of the war rested' on alien, mostly enemy, bases, and the existing policy was responsible for discouraging a powerful navy. Everything necessary to save us had been left undone. A STRONG INDICTMENT. ' "That is," he continued, "my indictment against this policy. If we to-day are masters of o'ur own destiny, thanks are not due to that policy, but to Providence and the resolute men who kept their eyes upon the beacon star of the Empire and safety." Mr. Hughes, continuing, said that Britain in 1-913 imported twelve hundred thousand tons of sugar. If permitted, Germany would dump sugar into Britain, after the war, and then all prospects ef trade freedom in a self-contained Erapirn would be gone. Already contracts had been unsuccessfully submitted to England, providing for delivery at Hamburg, Bremen, Danzig, and Stettin. Prohibitive tariffs would be of no avail, because German producers were prepared to offer the utmost inducements in order to dispose of accumulated Btocks. 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 to purchase certain quantities at a minimum price. A GERMAN AGENT. Mr. Hughes drew attention to the fact that the British Sugar Commission employs a purchasing agent who has a German name. It was surely possible to find a man of their own race. There were naturalised Germans who had a better right to stand against a wall than Sinn Fein leaders. Lord Denbigh said that the prospects of the 'beet sugar industry in Britain were brighter. People must be prepared to deal with the sugar question j which ought to be regarded as an insurance against menace in the future.