THE SUGAR CRISIS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2652, 11 January 1905, Page 37

THE SU GAR CRISIS.

A TAX OF, SIXPENCE A WEEK ON EVERY FAMILY. Mr W. Sannders, the editor of the Confectioners' Union, writing to the Daily Mail, says: Several attempts have been made to create a " cox*ner " in sugar during the past decade^ b/it never before have foreign, speculators succeeded in " squeezing " the British customer to the extent that they 'are doing to-day. j By means of more or less trustworthy re- ; ports — mostly less, I believe — of *, huge decrease in the * visible supply of beet, an influential coterie of wealthy Frenchmen | and their *'• intimates" has been able, with ; the powerful assistance of the British Government, to run up the price of sugar so high during the' past few months that '..he » English housewife is paying twice as much j for it as she did a year ago, and what was j four or five years back one of our pros1 perous acme industries is now on the verge, i I of ruin. ' This successful manipulation of the sugar j markets has -reacted disastrously upon the working classes. -Cheap sugar is as necessary for the well-being oif the peopTe as ■ bread itself — even more so. Our annual consumption is about 931b par bead of the copulation. It forms a ' ■great part of nearly every jneal of whioh ! the poor partake. Their jams and their j marmalades, their cakes and their puddings, j tfeeir common sweets and their ' cheap mineral -waters, all contain sugar- in bealtiigiving .quantities. We owe our -position as j the premier fruit 'preservers of the world, j the "largest exportprs of cpnfectionery, the biggest makers of cocoa' and chocolate, the greatest producers of cakes and biscuits. to the low rate at -which we have been able to buy our raw sweetening material. The ■ Brussels •Convention ias altered all v this. Great Britain is a. signatory to a treaty! which has proved to our disadvantage. We are paying considerably over £8,000,000 per annum more for our svgar — the raw material, mark you. of several British industries. We are at the mercy of a group of speculators, of whom the notorious Lia-nc de Pougy, "known in Paris to-day as the "Sugar Queen," is a member. Before the convention a dangarous "corner" in sugar would have been impossible, let Continental financiers have tried never so hard. We had the world's supply at our doors. -Manufacturing confectione3 - s were able to buy «ugar from Holland and cell it to the Dutch people again in the form of sweetmeats as -cheaply, or almost as cheaply, as they could purchase tihe sugar itself. The i confectionery and fruit-preserving -fa-ades were two of the few British industries which could' compete with the foreigner on his own ground. They were .able to successfully combat German and American competition at home. j SUGAR WE CANNOT BUT. What do we find now? Our exports are decreasing, while the imports of foreign confections are increasing every' month. They threaten in the near future to be very, much hea-vier, owirfg to the fact that the manufacture of sweetmeats abroad has become a thriving business imdei; the new regime, so prosperous that Germali engineers, for example) cannot supply machinery quickly enough. 3?We is another point, too, in the con- \ vention which must not b<* overlooked. Our Government apparently neglected to ', insert a clause •which -would safeguard our ! exports. On foreign confectionery imported into this country we merely impose a duty on the amount of sugar in it, plus, of course, the tax on chocolate and free spirits, if it contains either or both. Not so - the Germane. They have made their

imposts on British-made confections so heavy that with sugar at the price it is to-day we are absolutely unable to invade their markets. *

Owing to tlie convention we are debarred from availing ourselves .of the liberal supply of Russian sugar, and also the sugar of any other country which held aloof from the convention — in all probability some 500,000 tons per annum. "What do we find? Switzerland is a heavy buyer 1 of Russian sugar at about 9s 7d per ewt. The Swiss confectioner, secure in the advantage of cheap sugar, is able to sell confectionery here at a, pries which we cannot pretend to meet. The effect of all this upon the confectionery trade is only what might have been imagined by any far-seeing political economist. A number of makers have dropped out altogether; many are working short time ; all have had to discharge some of their hands. lam not guilty of exaggeration when I say that there are between 15,000 I and 26,000 fewer people employed in the confectionery trade to-day than there were a couple of years ago. Our largest firm, which, finds work for over 2000 hands, whose produots are sent to all parts of the world, has recently, for the first time in its history, been compelled to -decrease its staff. In the East End of London, within a stone's throw of where Mr Chamberlain will be spe-aking next month, there is an -unoccupied confectionery factory that at one time was peopled with 700 or 800 men, women, and young girls. It was an old-established concern, and its demise was primarily due to dear sugar. From the provinces the same story reaches niel It may be asked why the burden cannot be transferred to the shoulders of the public. It will fee seen that thk is next to impossible when I point out that the great bulk of confectionery made in this country is sold retail at two" ounces a penny. Sugar is a penny a pound dearer than it was two years ago. To the manufacturing confectioner who buys thousands of bags, this increase swallows -up the difference between profit and loss. It oa.nnot be evenly split up by the retailer, who -sells the stuff in ounces. Increased prices mean decreased consumption. Jams are not in such great demand to-day as they used to be, owing to the. fact that they are costing a halfpenny a pound more ali round. People become accustomed to a fixed fate. When it was altered to their financial detriment they purchased less freely of fruit preserves, and are now possibly spending the Tnoney* on- foreign fats and imported syrups of doubtful -quality. The convention, the cause of *11 the trouble, has another two years to run mits present form. At th* end of that period some alteration must be made in its provisions. We shall never be free from pernicious "oorners " in sugar while it remains in force. Looking at the question as it affects the working classes, dear sugar means a tax of 6d a week on every family— i if means less employment in the .confectionery trad©, and the gradual curtailment of the capital invested in that industry. The abolition of the sugar duty, which ,was imposed as a -war tax, would five considerable relief. Trade associations are fighting for thai object. There is talk of a monster deputation to the House of Commons when it resumes its sittings. It lias been suggested that the example of the matchmakers in ""Bobby" Lowers time should -be followed. Desperate men resort to desperate measures. Thousands of working confectioners are practically starving today through the machinations of foreign speculators and the folly of the Government in at once imposing a duty on sugar and taking a part in the abolition of the bounties.

Sugar is a food — valuable foodstuff — and the people nave a nasty knack of resenting any influences which tend to increase its price, and make it, in the present "hard times," difficult to obtain.