§ SIR ARTHUR MONCKasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is true that the Government of the United States have imposed a Duty upon the cans in which canned lobsters are imported into that country from the Dominion of Canada; whether the imposition of that Duty does not amount practically to a Duty upon the lobsters, and is not an infraction of the Treaty of Washington, which provides for the free importation of fish into the United States from Canada; and, whether it is true that the United States Government refuse to admit British Columbia to the advantages of the Treaty of Washington on the plea that she was not incorporated with the Dominion of Canada until after the ratification of the said Treaty, or on any other plea?
§ MR. BOURKENo communications, Sir, have been received at the Foreign Office on the subject either from Sir Edward Thornton or the Governor General of Canada. Her Majesty's Government have therefore no official information upon the subject. I am told by my hon. Friend the Under Secretary for the Colonies that these matters have been adverted to in the Dominion House of 606 Commons; but, as I have stated, no representation on the subject has been made from that country. With regard to the latter part of the Question, I cannot say whether the course taken is an infraction of the Treaty of Washington, so far as it provides for the free importation of fish from Canada.