§ MR. SLAGGasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he will, in the course of the present commercial arrangements with Spain, provide that relief shall be afforded to British exporters in regard to the intricate regulations of the Spanish Customs, which require certificates of origin on all invoices from this country?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEI am well aware of the importance of the subject to which the hon. Member has adverted, and can assure the House that at the proper time it shall receive due attention. I regret, however, to have to state that the commercial negotiations with Spain have come to an unsatisfactory termination. The Spanish Government delayed the presentation to the Cortes of the Declaration of December 21, 1884, which delay prevented the subsequent negotiations intended to remedy the treatment of Yorkshire woollen goods in the Spanish tariff, which is of an especially unfavourable character. They have now further declined to be bound by the engagements recorded in the Declaration in regard to three important matters—(1) to the inclusion of the Colonies of the two Powers; (2) the duration of the intended arrangement, which they seek to terminate in two years' time; and (3) the subsequent negotiations for the conclusion of a definitive Treaty. The ground alleged in support of this contention is that only the portions of the Declaration recorded in the law which has recently passed the Cortes are binding between the two Governments. 704 This law only includes the clause relating to most favoured nation treatment in the Peninsula and the United Kingdom, and is subject to the general provision of the Spanish tariff that a Declaration similar to that signed last December will not confer the benefits of the further reductions which are to be made in 1887. Parliament would, therefore, not be asked to make the alteration in the Wine Duties in the United Kingdom proposed in the Customs and Inland Revenue Bill in return for an engagement of an incomplete nature and of short duration, which will leave British trade, after a brief interval, again subject to differential treatment. Her Majesty's Government could only look upon this refusal to fulfil fundamental conditions of the Declaration of December 21, 1884, as the breaking off by the Spanish Government of the present negotiations; and Her Majesty's Minister at Madrid has accordingly been instructed to inform the Spanish Government that the negotiations are at an end. Papers are in preparation, and will be distributed during the Whitsuntide Recess.
§ MR. BOURKECould the noble Lord state what is the position at the present moment with respect to the Most Favoured Nation Clause as regards British goods going to Spain and Spanish goods coming here?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEThe object of the Declaration which is in the hands of hon. Members is to obtain the admission into Spain of British goods upon an equal footing with those of other Powers. Spanish goods are now admitted into this country on the same terms as those of other Powers, in keeping with the general commercial policy of this country.
§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEI should like to ask whether this breakdown of the negotiations will make any difference in the financial proposals of the Government?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEThat is a Question which ought to be addressed to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEI will put it to-morrow.