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That this Council desires to record its conviction :

That the intimation of His Majesty's Government that the terms of the Conven- tion are incompatible with the interests of British consumers and sugar manufac- turers is inconsistent with the fact that average price of sugar since the Convention came into operation (leaving out of consideration abnormal prices in the season 1904-5, due to a short beet crop caused by drought and to speculation) has been lower than the average price of the ten years preceding the Convention;

That the interests of British consumers and British sugar-producing Colonies are identical, and depend on the maintenance of conditions which will allow of the operation of the laws of supply and demand unimpeded by artificial protection or restrictions;

That an open market on equal terms will lead to increased production of cane sugar so necessary to meet the world's increasing consumption, and to minimise the risk of fluctuating prices incident to a production substantially confined to the beet-growing areas on the Continent;

That the sugar industry in this Colony prior to the Brussels Convention suffered from a paralysis of credit, and of confidence on the part of proprietors of estates and of capitalists. During the last quarter of a century the export of sugar and its bye-products has been reduced from over 45 per cent. to under 15 per cent. of the total exports of the Colony;

That since the 'Convention credit has been restored and capital has become available for the improvement and extension of the sugar industry in Jamaica, leading to large importations of British machinery;

That His Majesty's loyal subjects in Jamaica have welcomed this new develop- ment, recognising as they do that it must bring the Colony into fuller and closer business relations with the Mother Country;

That the threatened action of His Majesty's Government will again lead to a lack of credit and confidence in the industry, will interfere with further develop- ments, and involve a sacrifice to theoretical considerations of the interests both of British consumers and producers of sugar;

That His Excellency the Governor be respectfully requested to represent to His Lordship the Secretary of State for the Colonies the gravity of the situation from the point of view of this Colony, and to urge on His Lordship as guardian and representative of the interests of the Colony to do all in his power to safeguard such interests.

Motion seconded by Mr. Vickers.

Agreed to unanimously.

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injustice to His Majesty's sugar-growing dominions, this Society most strongly protests.

That His Excellency the Governor be respectfully requested to represent these facts to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, together with an expression of his own opinions, if in agreement with this resolution.

Enclosure 3 in No. 65.

At a meeting of the Council of the Royal Jamaica Society of Agriculture and Commerce and Merchants' Exchange, held this day, it was unanimously Resolved:

That this Council learns with regret that His Majesty's Government intend to give notice of withdrawal from the Brussels Convention unless it will allow of the unrestricted importation of bounty-fed sugar into Great Britain.

That the advent of the Convention revived and in a great measure restored

the formerly decaying sugar industry of this island, led to the introduction of improved machinery and improved methods of cultivation, as well as to the develop- ment and extension of the sugar interest in the Colony generally, no less a sum than £200,000 having already been spent in the Colony on improved machinery and increased cultivation.

That believing in the continuation of this Convention which has been of con- siderable advantage to the British public as well as the British sugar planter, arrangements have been made under which further large sums have been appro- priated for the extension and development of the industry in this island, which will in a great measure be jeopardised should this retrograde policy be adopted.

That this Council desires to impress upon His Lordship the Secretary of State for the Colonies the great damage, injury and loss the withdrawal from the Convention and abrogation of the present arrangements must entail upon this Colony, and would urge upon His Lordship the necessity of protecting the common interest by seeking to prevent such withdrawal by every means in his power.

That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to His Excellency the Governor with a request that he be pleased to transmit same to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Kingston, Jamaica,

June 21, 1907.

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

Enclosure 2 in No. 65.

RESOLUTION passed at the Half-yearly General Meeting of the Jamaica Agricultural Society.

Resolved:

Jamaica Agricultural Society, 82, Hanover Street,

Kingston, Jamaica, June 21, 1907.

That the Jamaica Agricultural Society views with regret and with appre hension the probability of the Government of Great Britain withdrawing from the Brussels Sugar Convention, thereby again enabling foreign countries, by the restora tion of bounties on beetroot sugar and possibly the cartel system, to exclude the cane sugar of His Majesty's Dominions beyond the Seas from the markets of Great Britain, and it may be to consummate the ruin of the sugar industry in His loyal. long-suffering, sugar-growing Colonies.

That after a struggle for fair-play and for existence, over a period of nearly thirty years, these Colonies, five years ago, obtained an open market for their sugars in the Mother Country, and as the result of the abolition of bounties, confidence in the future of the industry was being restored, and capital has been forthcoming to carry on estates and the manufacture of sugar on the most approved system of machinery and appliances.

That under the unfair operation of bounties, a form of protection altogether at variance with a profession of Free Trade-the sugar industry, should the Brussels Convention be denounced, will be sacrificed for the sake of class interests, to the exigencies of Party Government, and to the benefit of aliens, against which gross

No. 66.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received July 17, 1907.)

The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments

to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and, by direction of the Secretary

of State, transmits herewith copy of the under-mentioned paper.

Foreign Office,

July 16, 1907.

DESCRIPTION OF ENCLOSURES.

Name and Date,

Subject.

Belgian Minister, July 15

Sugar Convention.

Manufacturing Confectioners' Alliance, July 15...

(Copy sent to India Office, Treasury and Board of Trade.)