out that Articles V. and VIII of the Convention of
March, 1902 apply to the Crown Colonies of the Brit-
ish Empire, even though such Colonies have not ad-
hered to the Convention. The Consul has communicat-
ed with the Government of Indo-China but no reply
has yet been received.
Under Article V the contracting parties engage
to admit at the lowest rates of their tariffs of im-
port duties sugar produced by the contracting states
or by those of their colonies or possessions which
do not grant bounties and to which the obligations
of
Article VIII respecting the transit of bounty
fed sugar, are applicable.
I request Your Excellency to draw the attention
of the French Government to the matter, referring
to the proceedings at the twenty fifth sitting of
the Permanent Commission at Brussels on the 12th of
March last. On that occasion Monsieur Delatour,
the French Delegate, made certain enquiries as to
the position of the British Crown Colonies with regard
to the Convention, and as to the terms on which
203
sugar exported from them should be admitted by the
French Colonies. At the following sitting, on the
14th of March, Sir Henry Bergne replied that the
British Colonies had not fully adhered to the Convention
but that in view of the provisions of Article
V. the French Colonies were bound to admit sugar from
the British Crown Colonies at the lowest rate. He
added that instructions had been given to the Gover-
nors of Crown Colonies that all sugar exported to one
of the contracting states must be provided with a
certificate of origin in accordance with rules adopt-
ed by the Commission. There was therefore no rea-
son whatever to suppose that raw sugar which had re-
ceived a bounty elsewhere would be refined in Hong
Kong and reexported thence to Indo-China.
Your Excellency should accordingly ask the
French Government that telegraphic instructions may
be sent to the authorities in Indo-China in order
that sugar exported from Hong Kong may be admitted at
the rate established by decree of 21st August 1903
for sugar which has fulfilled the conditions pre-
scribed
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