§ MR. FRANCIS STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, considering that by Article X. of the Sugar Convention it is provided that, in case a Colony should wish to retire separately from the Convention, a notification to that effect will be made to the contracting Powers by the Government of the Mother Country with the consequences shown in Article IX., it is intended that the withdrawal of a Colony from the Convention shall have the effect of entitling one of the Signatory Powers to notify its intention of retiring from the 1st of August of the following year; and, whether, in fact, the withdrawal of a Colony is to be treated as equivalent to the withdrawal of a signatory Power, except as regards the mode of notification?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSArticles IX. and X. are capable of the interpretation suggested in the hon. Member's question. The question as to whether the withdrawal of a Colony is to be treated as equivalent to the withdrawal of a Signatory Power except as regards the mode of notification, is, in my view, one which would have to be decided by all the Signatory Powers, should the case arise, and is not one on which I should feel justified in expressing an opinion in anticipation.