§ MR. LOUGH (Islington, W.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the statement on page 11 of the Findings of the Permanent Commission, that the United States sends us no bountied sugar, his attention has been directed to the fact that 23,000 cwts. of sugar was received last year from the United States, that bounties upon sugar cultivation and production have been given in the United States for thirteen years past, having been initiated at the same time as the countervailing duties on foreign bountied sugar, and that details of sugar bounties given in the State of New York are given in the Consular Report for that district; and, if so, whether he will say if any communications have taken place between the Government and the Government of the United States on the possibility that American sugar may be prohibited from entry if the Sugar Convention Bill came into force; and, if so, whether he will lay them upon the Table.
§ LORD CRANBORNEI see no reason to doubt the correctness of the statement referred to in the Question as to the amount of sugar received last year from the United States. His Majesty's Government are not aware of any evidence that it was bounty-fed, but the decision 1285 whether or not sugar exported from any country is bounty-fed lies with the Brussels Commission, and in the absence of any such finding no action is called for on the part of His Majesty's Government, and no communications have passed between the two Governments.