PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
ཀ།།།་།།
ו
سلسل
Reference :-
C.O.
885
52
From this table it will be observed that the price of sugar in 1906 has been practi- cally as low as in any previous year except 1902, and much below the average of the ten years antecedent to the Convention.
6. That the Brussels Convention brought about an improvement in the condition of the home industry, and also ensured a continuance of supplies of cane sugar, which is of vital importance to our refining trade.
7. That while a grave injustice to an important home industry and to the sugar-growing colonies of this country was terminated by the Convention, the price of sugar to the consumers and sugar-using manufacturers has not been increased, and that, while the price of most raw materials has within recent years greatly increased, that of sugár has remained, as stated, considerably below the average price for the decade prior to the Convention.
8. That the trade of sugar refining in this country and sugar-growing in the West Indies and other British possessions will be seriously injured by a breach of continuity of policy, arresting, as it must necessarily do, the expenditure of capital in improvements, which, under the stable conditions ensured by the Convention, has during the past few years been very extensive.
9. That your Petitioners cannot agree as to the sufficiency of the reason for reversing the policy of the Brussels Convention given by His Majesty's Government, and announced in Parliament in the following words:-"They consider that the limitation of the sources from which sugar may enter the United Kingdom, whether by prohibition or by the imposition of countervailing duties, is inconsistent with their declared policy, and incompatible with the interests of British consumers or sugar-using manufacturers."
10. (A) That your Petitioners submit that the contention that this limitation is incompatible with the interests of British consumers and sugar-using manu- facturers" is not warranted, in view of the facts.
(B) That the following figures, giving the exports of British made confectionery, show that no injury has been done to the export branch of the trade of sugar- using manufacturers:-
26279
53
No. 70.
LEEWARD ISLANDS.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received July 23, 1907.)
[ Ackumrledged, Miscellaneous, Angust 9, 1907.] (No. 277.) MY LORD,
Government House, Antigua, July 2, 1907. IN continuation of previous despatches, I have the honour to forward the following despatch from the Administrator of St. Kitts-Nevis, transmitting a resolution adopted by the Agricultural Society of Nevis respecting the disastrous effects that would result from the denouncement by His Majesty's Government of the Brussels Sugar Convention.
2. I invite attention to the views which I expressed in my despatch, No. 141. of the 30th March last.* If the Convention is denounced, His Majesty's Govern- ment must, I am advised, be prepared for considerable reductions in the revenue of and great distress in, the sugar-producing Presidencies of this Colony.
I have, &c.,
BICKHAM SWEET-ESCOTT,
Governor.
1904.
1905.
289,841 cwts., value £750,870. 315,478 cwts., value £824,221.
1:06.
391,494 cwts, value £952,953.
from the "Chamber of (c) That the following paragraph extracted Commerce Journal" of January, 1907, justifies the contention that the home trade of the confectionery manufacturers has not suffered in volume through the operation of the Convention, and that any diminution of their profits is due not to the Conven- tion, but to the sugar duty:-"During the past year the confectionery manu- There has been, facturers have generally been busy throughout the country. undoubtedly, a great revival of demand, but most manufacturers complain that profits are not maintained at anything like their old levels, and that increased trade has not brought with it a return to the prosperity of five or ten years ago. This attributed to the sugar duty, which has increased the price of the raw material beyond any increase of price of the finished product which has yet been obtained.”
For the reasons given your Petitioners trust that His Majesty's Government will reconsider their decision, and continue to adhere to a Convention which your Petitioners consider to be vital to the existence of the sugar refining and allied industries of this country.
And your Petitioners will ever pray. -
SIR,
Enclosure in No. 70.
(St. Christopher, Nevis. No. 186.)
Government House, St. Kitts, West Indies, June 18, 1907. REFERRING to Your Excellency's despatch, No. 221, of the 31st May, I have the honour to transmit a copy of a letter addressed to me by the Chairman of the Nevis Agricultural and Commercial Society, in which is embodied a resolution passed by that Society in regard to the action of His Majesty's Government in connection with the Brussels Sugar Convention.
2. The Society ask that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies.
His Excellency
SIR,
I have, &c.,
T. LAWRENCE ROXBURGH,
Sir Ernest Bickham Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G.,
Governor of the Leeward Islands,
Antigua.
Administrator.
J. W. BAILEY,
W. HARDIE,
President.
Secretary.
Signed and sealed at Greenock, 20th July, 1907.
18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Nevis, June 17, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to forward you following copy of a resolution passed unanimously at the last meeting of our Society with the request that a copy may be forwarded through the usual channels to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies :-
Resolved:
"That this Society regards with the deepest regret and anxiety the action of His Majesty's Government with regard to the Brussels Convention, the provisions of which safeguarded the interests of the West Indian sugar producers by securing the abolition of bounties and cartels which prior to the
No. 38 in Miscellaneous No. 206.