HC Deb 01 April 1889 vol 334 cc1251-2
MR. ILLINGWORTH (Bradford, N.)

Can the right hon. Gentleman state when the Bill dealing with the Sugar Convention will be laid before the House?

*MR. W. H. SMITH

I hope that the Bill dealing with this subject will be introduced next week.

MR. MUNDELLA

I have to ask the hon. Gentleman the Secretary for the Colonies whether he will lay on the Table the full correspondence, a portion of which has already appeared in the newspapers, between him and a firm of wholesale confectioners on the subject of the Sugar Convention?

*BARON H. DE WORMS

Some of the letters are private, and therefore the right hon. Gentleman can hardly expect them to be laid on the Table.

MR. GLADSTONE (Mid Lothian)

The question is whether the hon. Gentleman will lay on the Table the letters asked for, which may be material in regard to the question to which they relate. They are public documents belonging to a public office.

*BARON H. DE WORMS

My private answer to a private letter from the firm referred to cannot be called official. The other letters have been published by the firm.

MR. MUNDELLA

I will move for the production of the documents as a Return, and I trust the First Lord of the Treasury will see the importance of giving them.