SUGAR SUBSIDY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 238, 8 October 1941, Page 11

SUGAR SUBSIDY

MINISTER'S EXPLANATION (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The original reason for payment of a sugar subsidy by the Govern-1 ment was the desire of the Imperial Government that the countries of the British Commonwealth should purchase sugar produced within the Empire, explained the Minister of Supply, Mr. Sullivan, during a discussion on the supplementary estimates in the House of Representatives last night. Prior to the war, added Mr. Sullivan, New Zealand bought sugar from Java, and the new arrangement meant lifting the price from about £12 to £16 a ton. By making a pool of sugar that had previously been bought New Zealand was able to carry on for twelve months with a subsidy of £3 a ton, and to keep the retail price at the Australian figure of 4d per lb in the interim. Higher freight and marine insurance charges meant the payment of a higher subsidy of £5 1/ a ton to maintain the retail price at 4d. So that any suggestion that a sugar company was reaping an advantage might be refuted, the Minister said he wished to point out that the return to the company had dropped from £1 13/ to £1 7/ per ton. How long the subsidy would remain was a question of Government policy that would have to be determined from time to time.