CO885-(18-19) — Page 102

(

CORRESPONDENCE

(15th May, 1906, to 13th May, 1907.)

RELATING TO THE

BRUSSELS SUGAR CONVENTION..

17368

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

No. 1.

THE NEW COLONIAL COMPANY, LIMITED, to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received May 16, 1906.) [Answered by No. 2.]

MY LORD,

matter.

20, Eastcheap, London, E.C., May 15, 1906. I AM instructed by my Board to address Your Lordship on the following

Our company is largely interested in sugar-growing in the island of Trinidad in the West Indies, and employs a large number of coolies. We have recently been called upon by the Government of the Colony to erect a hospital for the benefit of these coolies, at a cost of about £4,000. If there were any certainty of the sugar industry in Trinidad being continued, we should have no objection to this outlay, but we have been much disturbed of late to gather from remarks made by different members of the Government that it is in contemplation to put an end to the Brussels Sugar Convention. If this should actually take place, we believe that cartel bounties would at once be renewed in Austro-Hungary, to be followed in self-defence by similar bounties on the part of Germany. Past experience goes to show that, in this event, sugar cultivation in Trinidad would have to be abandoned, as would also probably be the case in the rest of the West Indies. In view of these circumstances we naturally hesitate to go to the expense of £4,000 for a hospital which may cease to be required within two or three years, and we therefore venture to ask Your Lordship whether you can give us any information as to the course which is likely to be pursued by the Government in regard to the Brussels Convention.

I have, &c.,

THE NEW COLONIAL COMPANY, LIMITED,

R. BROWN,

17368

No. 2.

Secretary.

SIR,

COLONIAL OFFICE to THE NEW COLONIAL COMPANY, LIMITED.

Downing Street, May 29, 1906.

I AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th of May,* in which you enquire whether His Lordship can give the New Colonial Company, Limited, any information as to the course which is likely to be pursued by the Government in regard to the Brussels Convention.

• No. 1.

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