PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
תח זן חדד
52
a hearing before the Commission, and if it meets with opposition you should remind the Commission of the grant of a hearing to two Russian Delegates in similar circumstances during the 17th sitting on the 16th of October, 1903.
At its last session the Commission suspended the decisions previously taken in regard to Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Philippines and Cuba pending further enquiry by the Permanent Bureau.
His Majesty's Government have no information supplementary to that furnished to you at the last session respecting the sugar trade in these countries, except that a report which had gained currency as to the existence of refineries in the Philippine Islands turns out to be incorrect, the refineries in question being probably those at Hong Kong to which much of the raw sugar from the Philippine Islands is exported. The infor- mation already available should, however, suffice to prevent an adverse decision being taken with regard to any of those countries.
The legislations of the United States and Porto Rico are also to be re-examined at the coming session, and you should, on the grounds explained by you to the Commission in April last, resist the application of the Penal Clause to those countries.
Should the Commission, nevertheless, seem determined on penalising them, you are authorized to press for an adjournment, or to say that you are unable to proceed further with the business of the Commission before first referring home for instruc- tions.
Additional information respecting the system of drawbacks in the United States is in the possession of His Majesty's Government, slightly modifying that communi- cated by you to the Commission at the last session. A summary of it is enclosed herewith, and I leave it to your discretion to decide whether it should also be com- municated to the Commission or not.
The excessive drawback granted by the Danish Government on sugar exported at the time when the countervailing duties were imposed on that country has now been withdrawn, and there are, therefore, grounds for revising the duties fixed, but as the surtax still remains, and as the matter is of no practical interest to His Majesty's Government, I leave it to your discretion to decide whether it is desirable to raise the question to which no allusion is made in the programme of questions to be considered by the Commission.
The Law by which a direct bounty was granted in Chile has also lapsed, but a surtax still exists, and there is the probability that a Bill, now before the Chilian Legislature, for granting a fresh bounty on the manufacture of sugar, will become law. It seems, therefore, unnecessary to press for the revision of the countervailing duties previously fixed, especially as Chile is not an exporting country, and the ques- tion of issuing a prohibition is not likely to arise.
Should the Commission be about to proceed to condemn a country without clear evidence of the existence of a bounty, as distinct from a surtax, you are authorised to state that His Majesty's Government could not act on the vote, which they regard as outside the terms of the Convention, and that if the decision is maintained they will be prepared to defend their views on the question at a fresh Conference.
The question of the adherence of Switzerland to the Convention, and the attitude to be adopted by you when the sugar legislation of Colombia, Ecuador and Panama coine up for discussion by the Commission form the substance of another despatch.
I am, &c., Sir H. Bergne, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.,
&c.,
&c.
53
2. I am to suggest that a copy of this despatch should be communicated to Sir Henry Bergne.
36712
No. 65.
I am, &c.,
"H. BERTRAM COX.
COLONIAL OFFICE to FOREIGN OFFICE.
SIR,
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to acknowledge the receipt of your
Downing Street, October 18, 1905. letter of the 12th instant,*replying to the letters from this Office of the 15th of July, 19th of September, and 3rd of October,† and stating that the Marquess of Lansdowne had not considered it necessary or of any advantage to approach the United States Govern- ment with a view to the reduction of the duties on sugar imported into the Philippine Islands, as had been suggested by Mr. Lyttelton in the letters to the Foreign Office noted in the Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 18th margin, and more especially in the concluding paragraph of the letter from this Office of the 15th of July.
Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 31st March (9787).
May (15221).
Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 15th July (23051).
Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 19th September (32863).
Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 3rd October (84605).
2. I am at the same time to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th instant,§ enclosing a draft of the instructions to the British delegate on the Permanent Sugar Com-
mission.
3. Lord Lansdowne will have since learnt from the letter from this Office of the 16th instant, that the presence of the United States Secretary for War in Hong Kong has afforded the Governor of that Colony the opportunity of taking the action which Mr. Lyttelton had suggested should be taken through His Majesty's Ambassador at Washington, and that Mr. Taft has undertaken to take steps to get Congress to bring the surtax on raw sugar in the Philippine Islands within the limits allowed by the Brussels Convention, although it is too late now to obtain such an official assurance as was contemplated in the concluding paragraph of the letter from this Office of the 15th of July before the meeting of the Commission.
4. Under the circumstances Mr. Lyttelton would suggest that the British delegate should be instructed, in the event of an adverse decision being taken by the l'ermanent Commission with regard to the Philippine sugar duties, to press for an adjournment, and to decline to proceed further with the business of the Commission before first referring home for instructions, as it is proposed to instruct him to do in the case of the United States and Porto Rico; and I am to add that Mr. Lyttelton attaches great importance to this matter for the reasons which have been fully ex- plained in previous correspondence.
37418
I am, &c.,
H. BERTRAM COX.
Reference :-
C.O. 882
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
&c.,
35987
SIR,
No. 64.
C'OLONIAL OFFICE to FOREIGN OFFICE. [Answered by No. 66.]
Wirn reference to the
Colonial Office to Foreign Offee, July 15, Colonial Oflice to Foreign Office, Sept. 19. Colonial Oflice to Foreign Offier, Oct. 3.
Downing Street, October 16, 1905. correspondence noted in the margin,* I am directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to transmit to you, for the information of the Marquess of Lans- downe, a copy of a confidential despatch† from the Governor of Hong Kong reporting a dis- cussion with the United States Secretary for War on the question of the duties on sugar imported into the Philippine Islands.
• Nos. 50, 58 and 60.
† No. 61.
SIR,
No. 06.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received October 21, 1905.)
[Answered by No. 67.]
Foreign Office, October 20, 1905.
I AM directed by the Marquess of Lansdowne to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 35987/05, of the 18th instant,|| respecting a conversation between the Governor of Hong Kong and the United States Secretary for War on the question of the duties on sugar imported into the Philippine Islands.
I No. 62,
† Nos. 50, 58 and 60.
§ No. 63.
| No. 64.
Nos. 43, 47, 50), 58 and 60.
No. 50.
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