PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
། ། །
19
Reference :-
C.O.885
17 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE |LUPTRIGHT PAYTVORIVALI FAKT BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
1517.
58
No. 9.
The SECRETARY OF STATE to the GOVERNOR OF
(Secret.)
NEWFOUNDLAND.
SIR,
Downing Street, February 9, 1905. WITH reference to your telegram of the 22nd December last,* and to your secret despatch of the 31st of the same month,† respecting the Commercial Convention relative to Newfoundland negotiated with the United States Government in November 1902, I have the honour to request you to inform your Ministers that after re-consideration of all the circumstances, His Majesty's Government will be prepared to advise His Majesty to ratify the Convention, if it is approved by the United States Senate in the form in which it was signed by His Majesty's Ambassador, on the distinct under- standing, however, that His Majesty's Government reserve the right of giving notice to determine it, if necessary, at the end of the first five years of its operation.
2. This decision renders it unnecessary to examine the arguments urged in the Minute of Council, forwarded in your despatch under acknowledgment, but as the allusion to the proceedings at the Colonial Conference of 1897 in my predecessor's confidential despatch of the 9th January 1903, has been misunderstood, I desire you to point out to your Ministers that the resolution referred to was that dealing with the Commercial Treaties with Belgium and Germany then in force, which ran as follows:-
'That the Premiers of the self-governing Colonies unanimously recom- mend the denunciation, at the earliest convenient time, of any treaties which now hamper the commercial relations between Great Britain and her Colonies."
3. I enclose a copy of the report of the proceedings which was laid before Parliament on the 31st July, 1897 [C. 8596]. The resolution in question will be found on page 14.
4. I also enclose a paper laid before Parliament in July, 1903 [Cd. 1630], which explains the circumstances in which that resolution was passed and the effect given to it. I shall be obliged if you will invite the attention of your Ministers to the despatch of the 9th April 1898, printed on page 15 of that paper, in which the late Lord Salisbury informed the British Minister at Brussels that "it was the fixed policy of Her Majesty's Government not to conclude in the future any Treaty engagements which would interfere in any way with such fiscal or tariff arrangements as may be determined on between the different parts of the British Empire." To that policy His Majesty's Government still adhere, and the decision notified in this despatch must be regarded not as an indication that it will not be strictly carried out in future negotiations, but rather as a special concession to the people of Newfoundland to whom it might not perhaps be regarded as fair to withdraw a Convention, and that one of limited duration, which has already been signed on behalf of His Majesty's Government.
5. With reference to the third paragraph of my secret despatch of the 5th December,§ and to paragraph 4 of the Minute of Council, I shall be obliged if you will inform your Ministers that the only telegram which was received from the late Sir M. Herbert relating to the amendment of the draft Convention was sent on the 13th of October 1902, and was in the following terms :---
"No. 36. With reference to my telegram, No. 34, of yesterday's date, draft of the Newfoundland Convention is accepted by the United. States Government. A few unimportant alterations have been made, and the words 'coming from any other country' have been inserted between the word 'Convention' and the words 'The said' in Article V. Mr. Hay will be ready to sign on Wednesday in the event of your Lordship approving the Convention."
§ No. 7.
No. 368 in North American No. 199.
+ No. 8.
‡ No. 1.
59
On the 18th October Sir M. Herbert was authorised by telegraph to sign the draft Convention as amended. The full text of the Convention as signed reached this country on the 1st December, and on examination of the document His Majesty's Government then discovered that a further addition, not previously reported by Sir M. Herbert, had been made to Article V (viz., the last 24 words).
I have, &c.,
ALFRED LYTTELTON.
4433.
SIR;
No. 10.
The GOVERNOR OF NEWFOUNDLAND to the SECRETARY
(Secret.)
OF STATE.
(Received February 10, 1905.)
Government House, St. John's,
January 31, 1905.
WITH reference to your despatch marked secret, of the 5th December 1904, I had the honour, on the 31st ultimo, to transmit to you a copy of a letter addressed to myself by the Prime Minister of this Colony, dated 28th December; and a copy of a Minute of Council of the same date, both having reference to the question of the Commercial Convention negotiated as between the United States and Newfoundland, in the year 1902.
2. In his letter mentioned above Sir Robert Bond reviews the history of the unceasing efforts that have been made by this Colony during the last fourteen years to arrive at reciprocal trade relations with the United States. As the negotiations towards this object have in a large measure, though in an informal manner, been carried on by himself during all that time, the Prime Minister is so thoroughly master of the history of the whole question and has dealt with it so fully in the letter referred to above, that it is unnecessary for me to say anything further on that part of the subject, more especially as a complete report of all that has been done is contained in the correspondence you have already had under consideration.
3. The Minute of Council mentioned above will have sufficed to convey
to you the views, and the strongly expressed opinion and wishes of my Ministers.
It is true that I have not had such lengthy acquaintance with the affairs of this Colony as would enable me to understand and discuss the question in all its details with the fulness and completeness that has been done by the Prime Minister and his colleagues in these papers. But I have given
so much study to the trade of this Colony during the last few weeks that I may be pardoned for saying that I have seen and learned enough on the subject to lead me to agree with them in regarding this Convention as a matter of very great importance to Newfoundland; and I should add that, so far, I have not been able to find that, were this Convention sanctioned by His Majesty as it now stands, and put into actual practice, it would to any great extent prejudice trade between Newfoundland and any other part of the Empire. Obviously there would be a natural tendency to buy imports for this Colony in a country that received a large amount of the Colony's exports. Where other things are equal, the question of exchange and facility of payment would no doubt operate in that direction; but it does not seem to be the case that this could in any large measure affect the several classes of articles that are now imported into this Colony from British possessions, so long as no tariff preference is given in favour of foreign goods.
• No. 7.
↑ No. 8.