§ Mr. ASHLEYasked the Secretary for Foreign Affairs whether he acquiesced in the decision of the Court of Dutch Guiana that the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain and the Netherlands, stipulating that ships of both countries shall mutually be admitted to communicate with all the ports belonging to either party, did not apply to the colonies possessed by both countries; and, if not, what steps he proposed to take to safeguard our interests in British Guiana and elsewhere?
Mr. McKINNON WOODAt the time of the ratification of the Treaty of 27th October, 1837, which, as extended and amended by the Treaty of 27th March, 1851, is the one in question, it was expressly declared by both parties not to apply to the Colonies of either. Nothing to modify this appears in the later Treaty, nor was any contrary declaration made. The decision of the Court of Dutch Guiana appears therefore to be quite correst.