§ Mr. Morganasked the Lord President of the Council whether he is now in a position to state whether the agreement reached by the Sugar Conference will comapel Great Britain to continue to import a large volume of sugar from. Cuba and 991W thus prevent the replacement of such supplies by sugar grown in the British Empire; and whether it is proposed to submit the draft agreement to the forthcoming Imperial Conference before any final decision is reached?
§ Mr. R. MacDonaldI am not yet in a position to anticipate the conclusions of the International Sugar Conference; but I would state for the information of my hon. Friend that it is not contemplated that the agreement will impose any obligation on the United Kingdom to import sugar from any particular foreign country. As regards the last part of the question, I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Cardiff, East (Mr. T. Morris) on Thursday last. It is not proposed to submit the draft agreement to the forthcoming Imperial Conference before any final decision is reached.
§ Major Procterasked the Lord President of the Council what proportion of the free market for sugar, estimated by the International Sugar Conference at 3,600,000 tons, is accounted for by the sugar imports of Great Britain; and whether, in the event of an agreement being reached allocating to the various producing countries quotas together totalling this amount, it will be obligatory for Great Britain to continue to import sugar from any foreign country and, if so, to what extent in each case?
§ Mr. R. MacDonaldThe estimated net imports of sugar into the United Kingdom amount to a little over one-fifth of the free market. As regards the latter part of the question, it is not contemplated that any change in this respect will be made in the present arrangements which do not impose an obligation on the United Kingdom to import sugar from any specific foreign country.