§ Mr. HAROLD SMITHMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a question, of which I have given him private notice, whether the precise claim put forward by Russia at the recent meeting of the Brussels Sugar Convention was that she should be permitted, during the period of the 1st September, 1911, to 31st August, 1912, to increase her export of 200,000 tons of sugar now allowed to her under Protocol of 19th December, 1907, to 400,000 tons, and whether, in view of the fact that any such proposal must first be approved by the German Reichstag, which does not meet until January, it will be impossible for such increased export to reach western markets before March or April next year?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Acland)The precise proposal made by the Russian Delegate was that 400,000 tons should be exported beyond the so-called contingent fixed by the Protocol of 19th December, 1907. I cannot undertake to say what the exact constitutional position of the Reichstag may be in the matter, but, as a matter of fact, that body is now in session.
§ Mr. HAROLD SMITHWas it not intended that they should be permitted to export 600,000 tons in future and not 400,000?
§ Mr. ACLANDThe proposal was that they should be allowed to export in the following season 400,000 tons in addition to the usual 200,000 tons, making a total of 600,000 tons in all.