SUGAR CONTRACT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLI, Issue 9544, 24 June 1921, Page 2

SUGAR CONTRACT

£10 A TON REDUCTION. BARRING THE JAVA ARTICLE. (Per Press Association.) DUNEDIN, June 23. The contract between the Government and the Colonial Sugar Company for the supply of sugar at £47 per ton f.o.b. Auckland has expired. It is now rumoured m local merchandise circles, says the " Otago Daily • Times," that the Government has entered into a fresh contract .with the Colonial Sugar Company for a further period of 12 months, under which . the price to be paid to the company will be somewhere about £10 per ton below the price specified m the previous contract. For some reason or other no official information is available on the subject. - In the meantime the weakness of the position as regards the Government's intentions is that at the present time Java sugar can be purchased oh the basis of £26 per ton, c.i.f. Sydney, which would make the landed cost m Dunedin, after payment of freight and other expenses, about £31 per ton. The Government's price, £37 per ton, landed at Auckland, equal to, say, £37 10s per ton landed at Dunedin, therefore compares most unfavourably with the price at which Java sugar can be purchased. Moreover, it is confidently asserted that the Board of Trade, m order to safeguard its contract with the Colonial Sugar Company, has warned at least j one firm m Wellington, and maybe other firms, that if any more Java sugar is imported from Java, whence a parcel is already on the way, it is likely to be refused permission to land it. The authority under which importations of Java sugar could be prevented would probably be conferred by Order-in-Council, providing another illustration of legislation by the Executive. If the statements confidently made by Dunedin merchants on the subject . are well founded, it will be seen iha*t the purchasers of sugar will be required to pay at least £7 a. ton more than would be the case if Java sugar were procurable. A movement, has been started m Christchurch to' call a combined meeting of merchants to protest against the proposed action of the Government. It is pointed out that if there is one thing which should be brought into the Dominion as cheaply as possible, it is sugar.