HC Deb 16 March 1920 vol 126 cc2023-4
70. Colonel WEDGWOOD

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to a prospectus about to be issued, which claims to have obtained an exclusive concession to deal in palm oil compression in the Island of Sherboro for 21 years; and whether this concession has received the sanction of His Majesty's Government?

The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Lieut.-Colonel Amery)

The concession referred to confers no other exclusive right, except that of erecting power mills for the expression of oil from palm fruit within the area specified. It confers no right to the trees or the fruit. The negotiations for the grant had been carried so far before the War that it was not thought just to refuse to confirm the grant when peace rendered it possible for the concessionaires to resume their operations.