23018
24
No. 36.
HONG KONG.
THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received June 28, 1907.)
1907/Miscellaneous.]
[Acknowledged, July 9, 1907/
[Printed except the part in [
(No. 133.)
MY LORD,
] as No. 26 in [Cd. 3565], July, 1907.]
Government House, Hong Kong, May 23, 1907. REFERRING to your Lordship's despatch, No. 40, of the 21st February last,* I have the honour to forward a despatch addressed to your Lordship by the local Chamber of Commerce on the subject of the renewal of the adhesion of His Majesty's Government to the Brussels Sugar Convention of 1902.
2. The two large and fully equipped sugar refineries established in this Colony control at the present time by far the larger part of the trade in refined sugar in the Far Eastern markets, [and I have fully to endorse the opinion expressed by the Chamber that it is of the greatest importance in the interests of Hong Kong and of British trade in the East that the advantages secured by the Convention should be continued].
I have, &c.,
R. F. MAY,
Officer Administering the Government.
25
Our policy with regard to that Convention had been modified, and I thought it desirable that the Convention should be maintained, if possible, on the lines we proposed. As, however, on a previous occasion we seemed to have taken a leading part in preventing Russia from joining the Convention, I should like it understood that we were now quite favourable to her joining, and if she wished to reopen the question she would not meet with opposition from us.
It did not seem to me that Russia had anything to gain from the complications which would ensue upon the break-up of the Convention.
22237
No. 40.
I am, &c.,
E. GREY.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to GOVERNORS AND HIGH COMMISSIONERS OF ALL COLONIES AND PROTECTORATES.
(Circular.)
SIR,
[Copy to Foreign Office, July 6, 1907. L.F.].
for you,
Downing Street, July 2, 1907. I HAVE the honour to transmit to
the information of your Ministers, the accompanying copy of a despatch* which has been addressed by the Secretary
your information, of State for Foreign Affairs to His Majesty's Minister at Brussels on the subject of the Brussels Sugar Convention.
I have, &c.,
ELGIN.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Attached to 22650
No. 37.
MEMORANDUM COMMUNICATED to FRENCH AMBASSADOR. His Majesty's Government have had under their consideration a Memorandum communicated by the French Ambassador on the 21st instant,f inquiring their views as to the duration of the Brussels Sugar Convention, and as to the desirability of the Russian Government adhering thereto.
In the event of the Convention being amended in the sense which they desire, His Majesty's Government will agree to the duration of the Convention being fixed at two, three, or five years. They further consider it desirable that Russia should participate in the Convention, and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs will bring the matter to the notice of the Russian Ambassador in London. Foreign Office,
23198
June 29, 1907.
No. 38.
NEW ZEALAND.
THE AUCKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received July 1, 1907.)
[See No. 47.]
Swanson Street, Auckland, New Zealand,
[Printed as No. 27 in [Cd. 3565], July, 1907.]
May 20, 1907.
23432
No. 41.
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
July 3, 1907.
SIR GILBERT PARKER asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies if he would place in the Library for inspection by Members the memorials received from public bodies in the United Kingdom and the Colonies concerning the Sugar Convention.
MR. CHURCHILL, in reply, said:-" We are considering whether papers can be laid, and if it is decided to do so, the memorials in question might well be included."
SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend) asked the Secretary of State for India if he would place in the Library for inspection by Members the memorials received at the India Office from public bodies in India concerning the Sugar Convention.
MR. MORLEY, in reply, said:-"I will cause them to be placed in the Library as desired."
23434
No. 42.
July 3, 1907.
Attached to 23648
SIR,
No. 39.
SIR EDWARD GREY to SIR A. NICOLSON (St. Petersburg). (No. 33A. Commercial.)
Foreign Office, July 1, 1907.
I TOLD Count Benckendorff to-day that we had made proposals as to the→→ conditions on which we could remain in the Sugar Convention.
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
SIR GILBERT PARKER asked the Prime Minister whether any representa- tions had been made to this Government by Russia as to any disadvantages they may have suffered from the Sugar Convention.
THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Sir H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, Stirling Burghs), in reply, said:"Yes, Sir, representations were made by Russia, and were followed up by the surtax on Indian and Ceylon
teas."
MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN: Was this surtax general, or did it only apply to tea carried over the Manchurian Railway?
SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN: I must ask for notice of that question.
11
• No. 17 in Miscellaneous No. 206.
† Enclosure in No. 29.
[Cd 3577], June, 1907. See Enclosure in No. 9.
28570
† Papera were presented to Parliament; see [Cd, 3565], July, 1907.
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