CAPTAIN AYLMERasked the first Lord of the Treasury, Whether his attention has been called to the fact that Spain has been in the habit of buying yearly about 200,000 cwts. of fish cured in Newfoundland; that from the 1st of August such fish will be charged a duty of 2s. per cwt. in excess of that charged on fish from Norway, Denmark, and other countries; and, whether, as such an extra duty will entirely prohibit the importation of British cured fish into Spain, and will seriously injure our fisheries, he intends taking any steps towards remedying this injustice?
MR. GLADSTONE,in reply, said, that the Colonial Office had received, through the Foreign Office, information to the effect stated in the Question, and explanations had been asked for from the Minister at Madrid; but they had not yet been received. At the same time, he could say that, if the intelligence proved to be true, however much he might regret the policy which the Spanish Ministry had thought fit to pursue as regarded the trade of this country, he was not aware that it was in his power to take any measures, if, indeed, there were any, to obviate the consequences, or to relieve the people of Spain from the disadvantages which, as the Government believed, would be inflicted on them.