§ Mr. BOWLESasked with regard to the statement on page 4 of Cd. 4556, of 1909, that Canada, Australia, and the South African Customs Union have all been declared by the Permanent Sugar Commission at The Hague to give bounties, whether sugar from each and either of these British Colonies refined in the United Kingdom is liable to be excluded from the countries whose Governments are signatories of the Brussels Sugar Convention; if so, does this liability apply as well to sugared products made of these sugars as to refined sugar made therefrom, and, if so, does the Government propose to take any steps to avert the setting up of such an exclusion?
§ Mr. T. McKINNON WOODUnder Article 4 of the Convention of 1902 the contracting powers reserve to themselves each so far as it concerns itself the right to prohibit the importation of bounty-fed sugar. Sugar refined in the United Kingdom and coming from the British Colonies, referred to in the question, is, therefore, liable to such prohibition. The actual practice of the Contracting States is, however, to impose countervailing duties. The reply to the second part of the question is in the negative, and the question of any steps being taken by the Government in the matter does not, therefore, arise.