MR. GIBSON BOWLESTo ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the Dutch Minister of Finance stated on the 2nd December, in the Dutch Second Chamber, that Great Britain will be bound by the terms of the Brussels Sugar Convention to levy countervailing duties on 1313 bounty-fed sugar from her autonomous Colonies and from British India; can he state whether any, if so, which of the other States who have signed the Convention adopt a construction of its terms similar to that of the Dutch Minister of Finance; are there any other, and, if so, what points or articles in the Convention as to whcih any of the other contracting States adopt a different construction from that of His Majesty's Government, and which are those States.
(Answered by Lord Cranborne.) The answer to the first Question is in the affirmative. In answer to the second Question I have to say that it is the fact that the interpretation which I gave to the House yesterday has been called in question from other quarters. His Majesty's Government, however, are satisfied that this interpretation is correct, but until the correspondence which has arisen upon the point has been concluded it would be premature to give the information asked for. In reply to the last Question I am not aware of any points or articles upon which a construction is placed different from that adopted by ourselves.