§ SIR EDWARD BIRKBECK (Norfolk, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is proposed in the new French Tariff to impose a duty upon fish of 10 francs per 100 kilogrammes instead of five as heretofore; whether, in view of the facts that the French covenanted in the Fisheries Convention of 1867 to admit British fish free of duty, and that Parliament, in pursuance of our reciprocal obligation, legislated in 1868 and admitted French caught fish free, the imposition of such [duties in France is a violation of the Convention; and whether Her Majesty's Government have endeavoured to procure the fulfilment of the Convention by the French Government?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir J. FER-GUSSON, Manchester, N.E.)It is proposed to increase the duty upon foreign fish imported into France. Article 31 of the Fisheries Convention of 1867 between Great Britain and France provides that—
Fishing boats of either of the two countries shall he admitted to sell their fish in such ports of either country as may he designated for the purpose, on condition that they conform to the regulations mutually agreed upon.Full effect was given to the Convention by Great Britain by the Fisheries Act of 1868, and French fishermen sell their fish in British ports free of duty, but in France the Convention has never been put into force. The imposition of duties upon fish forwarded from England as goods is not a violation of the Treaty, but the chief subject of complaint is the failure to admit our fishermen to sell fish on any terms whatever in the ports of France, and generally the failure to give effect to the Treaty. Her Majesty's Government have repeatedly endeavoured to procure the fulfilment of the Convention in this and other particulars, but without success.