§ Captain DOWERasked the President of the Board of Trade what progress has been made in the negotiations designed to ensure that the Dutch Government, in return for the importation of a larger quantity of Java sugar, will guarantee to England an import quota of the dearer kinds of cotton into the Dutch East Indies; and whether any reports on this matter have yet reached his Department?
§ Lieut.-Colonel COLVILLEIt has been informally suggested that an arrangement for the purchase of an increased quantity of Java sugar by the United Kingdom would be to the mutual advantage of both countries, in view of the interest of the United Kingdom in the Netherlands East Indies as a market for cotton goods. This suggestion is being explored.