PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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885
10
Enclosure in No. 10.
NORTHSIDE Sugar PlanterS' ASSOCIATION.
Whereas the time is drawing nigh for the consideration of the renewal or otherwise of the Brussels Sugar Convention by His Majesty's Government, this Association desires to express the earnest hope that the Convention will be renewed, for the following reasons:-
(1) That it would be against the principles of fair trade and free trade to allow the importation of bounty-fed produce from foreign countries on the same conditions as the produce of British Colonies, which pay no bounties, and which would not be allowed to impose taxation for the payment of bounties if they even wished to.
(2) That the abolition of the bounties has not raised the price of sugar above the average, the high prices of the early part of last year having been due partly to over speculation and partly to the unexpectedly rapid absorption of the large surplus stock on hand at the commencement of the Convention, such absorption being caused by the increased consumption on the Continent due to the lowering of the duties following the abolition of bounties. This consumption shows signs of being gradually increased if the Convention be renewed.
(3) That much capital has been laid out in up-to-date machinery with a view to cheapening cost of production of sugar in the Colonies; and much more capital will be forthcoming to continue the modernizing of manufacture if present condi- tions continue, as we realize that we can hold our own if given a fair field and no favour: and the Colonies can produce sugar as cheaply as any other countries.
(4) That it would be a most serious matter for the West Indian Colonies if bounties were allowed to be re-introduced, these bounties being actually equivalent to a tax on their sugars. The abandonment of sugar estates would follow, throw- ing out of employment thousands of labourers who now work in districts where fruit cannot be grown, and where sugar cane is about the only crop possible. The abandonment of most of the Colonial sugar estates would impart an element of danger to the situation by reason of the fact that in a year of a bad beet crop the supply of sugar would not be equal to the demand, and prices would be enormously raised in consequence, thus creating a situation worse than any yet experienced by the users of sugar in manufactures. The absence of a healthy competition between cane and beet might also be a strong lever for the ultimate putting up of prices by the beet industry.
Taking everything into consideration this Association strongly advocates the renewal of the Convention, and trusts that His Majesty's Government will uphold the principles of "British fair play."
Passed unanimously at a meeting of the Northside Sugar Planters' Association, held at Falmouth, Jamaica, on 6th October, 1906.
it
that it would be unwise to come to any decision long before the time prescribed for doing so by the Convention has arrived, and in ignorance of the special conditions which may obtain when the time comės.
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I have, &c.,
ELGIN.
No. 12.
Is
SIR EDWARD GREY to COUNT DE SALIS. [Communicated by the Foreign Office, January 29, 1907.] (No. 144. Commercial.)
SIR,
Foreign Office, November 23, 1906. COUNT METTERNICH asked me to-day whether it was true, as reported in one
of the newspapers connected with the sugar trade, that the British Government had decided to withdraw from the Sugar Convention.
I told him that we had not discussed the matter since the debate which took
place in the House of Commons early in the year. At that time, if my memory was accurate, the Government had explained that, as no decision could be effective before September, 1908, and need not be made known until September, 1907, the matter might be left in abeyance till then.
Count Metternich suggested that, even though we had not announced any decision, we might have taken one.
I said that, as a matter of fact, the Government had not discussed the question
at all since the debate in the House of Commons, though it was no doubt true that the Liberal party had opposed the Sugar Convention when it was originally proposed.
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No. 13.
I am, &c.,
EDWARD GREY.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, DECEMBER 6, 1906. MR. ESSEX asked the Prime Minister, whether the British Government intended to renew its adhesion to the Brussels Sugar Convention on the expiry of its present term.
SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, in reply, said:-"No opportunity for giving twelve months' notice of withdrawal from the Brussels Sugar Convention will arise until next autumn. In these circumstances I have nothing to add to the declaration made by His Majesty's Government during the debate on this question."
JOSEPH SHORE,
Honorary Secretary.
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No. 14.
18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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No. 11.
JAMAICA.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. [Answered by No. 22.]
(No. 329.)
4.
Downing Street, November 8, 1906.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches, No. 431, of the 5th of October, and No. 441, of the 16th of October,* on the subject of the Brussels Sugar Convention.
2. I fear that it is not possible at present to make any announcement with gard to the continuance of the Convention, and, while I regret any unfavourable effect which the uncertainty as to the course to be adopted may have temporarily upon the sugar industry in the West Indies, His Majesty's Government have felt
Nos. 9 and 10.
SIR H. BERGNE to SIR EDWARD GREY. [Communicated by the Foreign Office, January 29, 1907.]
(Confidential.) SIR,
Brussels, December 14, 1906. DURING the recent autumn session of the Sugar Commission I was frequently asked by my colleagues whether His Majesty's Government intended to denounce the Convention on the 1st September next year. I could only reply that, so far as I was aware, no decision had yet been come to, nor did I know what that decision might be when made.
It is to be observed that Article X of the Convention provides as follows:- "In the event of one of the Contracting States denouncing the Convention, such denunciation shall have effect only in respect to such State. The other States shall retain, until the 31st October of the year in which the denunciation takes place, the right of notifying their intention of withdrawing as from the 1st Sep- tember of the following year."
It might thus well happen that if Great Britain denounced the Convention on the 1st September next, she would be the only one of the Contracting States to retire. France has probably the greatest interest, of any of the Contracting States,
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