§ SIR H. STAFFORD NORTHCOTE (Exeter)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether the German and Belgian Governments have suggested the temporary prolongation of the existing Treaties of Commerce with Great Britain, in order to afford more time for the negotiation of new Treaties to replace those which terminate at the end of next July?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYYes. A suggestion to this effect has been made by both the German and Belgian Governments. Her Majesty's Government, while expressing their willingness to make temporary arrangements for most favoured nation treatment in regard to the United Kingdom, with power to the British colonies to accede, have replied that they cannot in any circumstances consent to the renewal of Articles 7 and 15 of the existing Treaties, under which German and Belgian goods respectively are entitled in the British colonies to the same treatment as British goods.