Royal Commission on the Sugar Industry

Appointed by the Fisher government by Letters Patent dated 24 October 1911. Sir John Gordon, a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia, was chairman until he resigned because of ill health, and W. J. Brown chaired it in 1912; the other members were R. M. M. Anderson, T. W. Crawford, A. Hinchcliffe and M. R. Shannon.

1. 1912Sir John Gordon resigned as chairman because of ill health; W. J. Brown became chairman.
2. 19 August 1912Royal Commissions Act 1912 assented to, strengthening royal commissions’ powers to require answers and documents; the Colonial Sugar Refining Company challenged it.

Its final report was presented on 4 December 1912, and the commission then ended. The Colonial Sugar Refining Company refused to disclose its costs or produce its books, and it challenged the powers to compel evidence that Parliament gave royal commissions in the Royal Commissions Act 1912. In 1913 the Privy Council held that the Commonwealth could not compel evidence on matters outside its legislative power.

• Costs and prices of sugar
• The sugar bounty and excise
• Labour in the cane fields
• The position of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company

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