§ MR. LOUGHI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether, seeing that the imports of sugar from the Argentine Republic in 1901 were 666,344, in 1902 808,951, and in eight months of 1903 418,386 cwts., and that since the 1st September, 1903, this trade has been altogether prohibited under the Sugar Convention Act, he can say to what country this sugar has been diverted, and what effects, if any, its diversion has produced on exports to the Argentine Republic on other places.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe quarterly Trade Accounts of the Argentine Government show that n the last quarter of 1903 the export of sugar from the Argentine amounted to 2,586 tons, of which 2,571 tons went to Uruguay. In the corresponding period of 1902 the exports amounted to 14,575 tons, of which 11,335 came to the United Kingdom and 3,180 went to Uruguay. These figures would seem to indicate that the prohibition has so far stopped rather than diverted the trade.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURNo, Sir, it is quite impossible to tell the effects in so short a period.