Parliament at the last moment cut the Gordian knot concerning sugar by increasing the import duties 50 per cent., and refusing te commit itself on the subject of whether or not the existing agreement is to be renewed in any form. The duty will not operate until the end of next June, but the sugar people have wisely in their generation secured additional protection without waiting to see what might be the outlook of the new Parfiament. Within the next three weeks the retail price of sugar will have fallen to 5d. a Ib, at most, and the output of sugar this year promises, despite a dry season, to be equal to the requirements of the Commonwealth. The Queensland State Government has already a Royal Commission travelling through its northeastern littoral spying out suitable areas for further settlement of cane farmers and the erect tion of new sugar mills, each of which, with tramway equipment, will cost at least £500,000. The additional protection makes the position safe for some months to come, and the possibility of a renewal of an agreement, which will protect the industry from the Labour commandeering tactics of 1915-19, is encouraging growers to cultivate additional areas, and pay better attention to those already under crop.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.