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which would certainly be raised but for British Colonial competition, will certainly revive with the lapse of the Convention.

(c) The interests of the Scottish and English cane sug ir refiners and of the British makers of cane sugar machinery, and of all those employed by them will certainly be jeopardised by the lapse of the Convention.

(d) I submit also (though this has not been hitherto the popular view) that on close examination it will be found that the true interests of the British con- fectioner, jam maker, and pastry-cook, and of their employees would suffer by the lapse of the Convention.

believe the following figures correctly state the Customs statistics of exports of jams and confections from the United Kingdom :-

1903

1904

1905

Year.

Valne.

Quantity.

cwts.

319,736

£ 801,067

314,879

812,213

345,530

894,242

They indicate that British manufacturers have not suffered, but have prospered in a marked degree since the Convention was concluded-and this notwithstanding the higher price of sugar in 1905, due in a great degree to a short crop, a price which is not expected to recur. If the Convention were renewed an increasing trade may safely be anticipated.

There is, I believe, a quasi-domestic trade in supplying with jams and confec- tions from England foreign and British vessels which touch England at the com- mencement of long voyages, of which the Customs statistics give no idea. This is a very considerable trade and in a very flourishing condition.

If the Convention should cease to operate it must be expected that the countries which thereby gain freedom of action will discriminate against British jams and confections and will thus diminish the present export trade.

It may also be anticipated that the foreign bounties and cartels, which were so successful during the period from 1880 to 1902 in crushing the West Indian cane sugar industry, will be revived, and will succeed in capturing the British market for their beetroot sugar; from that time the price of sugar will begin to rise, the export trade will be lost entirely, the internal trade will be curtailed, and both the jam manufacturer and the consumer will be clamorous for a remedy.

But the mischief may not stop even there. The monopoly of production of beet sugar and the power of combination amongst the producers of that product will lead to combination to under-sell the British manufacturer in his own domestic market.

5. I have placed British interests, as distinguished from Colonial ones, in the first rank, because I anticipate that the decision of His Majesty's Ministers as to renewing or denouncing the Convention will turn on the supposed inclination of the voters of the United Kingdom--and because I believe that the British manu- facturer of conserves, who is the only voter expressly adverse to the Convention, has real reason to be satisfied with a measure which secures to him any cheap cane sugar in increasing quantities from a source which is outside the sphere of influence of the powerful Continental combinations which entirely control beet sugar.

6. The Colonial interests in favour of renewing the Convention are very clearly stated in the report of the West India Royal Commission of 1897, of which His Majesty's present Minister for Foreign Affairs was a member.

7. Your Lordship is in a better position than anyone in the Colonies can pos- sibly be, to judge whether all or any of the Powers who are parties to the Brussels Convention would modify or renew it if the British Empire withdrew therefrom, and in that case whether the new Convention might be made to prove detrimental to the interests of that Empire.

8. If His Majesty's Government should withdraw from the Convention, the following courses seem open to the sugar planter in the West Indies:-

(i.) To restrict his growth of sugar to the quantity which Canada may be able

to import.

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(ii.) To devote himself to producing rum exclusively.

(iii) To negotiating (with permission of His Majesty's Government) with independent Powers for preferential tariffs in favour of his sugar at the cost of giving corresponding preference to the produce and manu- factures of those Powers.

9. As Canada is at present unable to purchase the whole West Indian crop. of sugar, the first course will entail some of the suffering indicated in the report already cited of the Royal Commission of 1897.

10. The second expedient is, as far as my present knowledge extends, avail- able only to a very limited number of estates whose rum commands exceptionally high prices in the European market.

11. The third course is, therefore, the only one applicable to all sugar estates. 12. Although the inhabitants of these Colonies labour under the immense dis- advantage of possessing no voting power for members of the House of Commons, they enjoy the privilege of being generally represented by your Lordship in the Upper House and by the Under Secretary of State in the Lower one, and as it is the general wish in the West Indies that the cane sugar industry may flourish. I venture to express the hope that the Ministry for the Colonies will support that wish in the Councils of the Empire by urging the renewal of the Brussels Con-- vention.

13. But if adverse counsels should prevail and if it should be decided that the British Empire should cease to be a party to the Brussels Convention, then in that case it is advisable that I should be informed as soon as His Majesty's Government has come to a definite decision.

14. It is also, I submit, fairly due to the Colony that it should be given freedom to negotiate and conclude with the United States of North America and Canada and other places reciprocal tariff concessions.

15. The United States already enjoy a considerable commercial advantage over the United Kingdom, in respect of the trade of this Colony, in their proximity by sea and in the frequency and cheapness of transit opportunities.

Canada already discriminates in favour of our sugar.

To me, personally, it would be a matter of great regret if the policy of the Mother Country should make it the direct interest of this country to favour trade with America in preference to trading with the Mother Country, thus tending to undo in a measure the good which the subsidy to the Direct Line was devised to secure, and imperilling the renewal of that subsidy.

40727

No. 10. JAMAICA.

I have, &c.,

J. A. SWETTENHAM,

Governor.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received November 5, 1906.) [Answered by No. 11.]

King's House, Jamaica, October 16, 1908.

(No. 441.) MY LORD.

In continuation of my despatch, No. 431, of the 3rd instant,* I have the honour to transmit herewith copy of a resolution passed by the Northside Sugar Planters' Association, strongly advocating the renewal of the Brussels Sugar Convention.

• No. 9.

28251

I have, &c.,

J. A. SWETTENHAM,

Governor.

*