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of the denounced Convention, the effects of it must be considered to terminate on the 30th June, 1892.

I have, &c.,

The Marquess of Salisbury.

MARQUES DE CASA LAIGLESIA.

In consequence of this note, the following Notification was inserted in the "London Gazette" of the 3rd February, 1891 :

Foreign Office, January 31, 1891.

"The Spanish Ambassador at this Court has given notice, on behalf of his Government, to terminate the Commercial Convention of the 26th April, 1886, between Great Britain and Spain, which will accordingly expire on the 30th June, 1892."

SWISS NOTIFICATION of the Accession of New Zealand and Queensland to the Industrial Property Convention of March 20, 1883.*-Berne, September 7, 1891.

Her Majesty's Minister at Berne to the President of the Swiss

M. LE PRÉSIDENT,

Confederation.

Berne, September 7, 1891. IN accordance with instructions which I have received from Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, I have the honour to inform your Excellency that the Colonies of New Zealand and Queensland have expressed their desire to be included in the stipulations of the International Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of the 20th March, 1883.

In notifying to your Excellency the accession of these Colonies, I have the honour to request that I may be informed when the necessary formalities have been completed.

M. Welti.

* Vol. LXXIV,

page 44.

I have, &c.,

C. S. SCOTT.

BRITISH LETTERS PATENT, for the Annexation of the Great Basses Rock and the Little Basses Rock to the Island of Ceylon.-Westminster, June 30, 1891.*

VICTORIA, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India: To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:

WHEREAS the rocks known as the Great Basses Rock and the Little Basses Rock, situated in the Indian Ocean near the coasts of our Island of Ceylon, are part of our dominions, and it is expedient that the said rocks should be annexed to and be dependencies of our said island:

Now we do hereby declare that from and after the Proclamation of these our Letters Patent in our Island of Ceylon, the said Great Basses Rock and Little Basses Rock shall be annexed to and become dependencies of our said Island of Ceylon, and shall be subject to the laws from time to time in force in our said island.

2. And we do hereby further declare that from and after such Proclamation as aforesaid all such powers of government and legislation as are from time to time vested in our Governor and Commander-in-chief of our said island and its dependencies, or the person for the time being administering the Government thereof, and in the Legislative Council thereof, shall apply and extend to the said Great Basses Rock and Little Basses Rock as fully as if they had at all times been dependencies of our said island.

3. We do hereby reserve to us, our heirs and successors, full power and authority from time to time to revoke, alter, or amend these our Letters Patent as to us or them shall seem meet.

4. And we do further direct and enjoin that these our Letters Patent shall be read and proclaimed at such places within our said Island of Ceylon as our said Governor and Commander-in-chief shail think fit.

In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Witness ourself at Westminster, the 30th day of June, in the 55th year of our reign.

By warrant under the Queen's Sign-Manual.

MUIR MACKENZIE.

• Notified in the "London Gazette" of July 7, 1891.

ACT of Congress of the United States, in amendment to the various Acts relative to Immigration and the Importation of Aliens under Contract or Agreement to perform Labour. [Chap. 551.]

[March 3, 1891.] BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United States, in accordance with the existing Acts regulating immigration, other than those concerning Chinese labourers: All idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease, persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanour involving moral turpitude, poly. gamists, and also any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another, or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown on special inquiry that such person does not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes, or to the class of contract labourers excluded by the Act of the 26th February, 1885;* but this section shall not be held to exclude persons living in the United States from sending for a relative or friend who is not of the excluded classes under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe: Provided, that nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to or exclude persons convicted of a political offence, notwithstanding said political offence may be designated as a "felony, crime, infamous crime, or misdemeanour, involving moral turpitude" by the laws of the land whence he came or by the Court convicting.

$ 2. That no suit or proceeding for violations of said Act of the 26th February, 1885, prohibiting the importation and migration of foreigners under contract or agreement to perform labour, shall be settled, compromised, or discontinued without the consent of the Court entered of record with reasons therefor.

§ 3. That it shall be deemed a violation of said Act of the 26th February, 1885, to assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien by promise of employment through advertisements printed and published in any foreign country; and any alien coming to this country in consequence of such an advertisement shall be treated as coming under a contract as contemplated by such Act; and the penalties by said Act imposed shall be applicable in such a case: Provided this section shall not apply to States and Immigration Bureaus of States advertising the inducements they offer for immigration to such States.

* Vol. LXXVII, page 127.

54. That no steam-ship or transportation Company or owners of vessels shall directly, or through agents, either by writing, printing, or oral representations, solicit, invite, or encourage the immigration of any alien into the United States except by ordinary commercial letters, circulars, advertisements, or oral representations, stating the sailings of their vessels and the terms and facilities of transportation therein; and for a violation of this provision any such steam-ship or transportation Company, and any such owners of vessels, and the agents by them employed, shall be subjected to the penalties imposed by the 3rd section of said Act of the 26th February, 1885, for violations of the provision of the first section of said Act.

$5. That section 5 of said Act of the 26th February, 1885, shall be, and hereby is, amended by adding to the second proviso in said section the words "nor to ministers of any religious denomination, nor persons belonging to any recognized profession, nor professors for colleges or seminaries," and by excluding from the second proviso of said section the words "or any relative or personal friend."

§ 6. That any person who shall bring into or land in the United States by vessel or otherwise, or who shall aid to bring into or land in the United States by vessel or otherwise, any alien not lawfully entitled to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding 1,000 dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

§ 7. That the office of Superintendent of Immigration is hereby created and established, and the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, is authorized and directed to appoint such officer, whose salary shall be 4,000 dollars per annum, payable monthly. The Superintendent of Immigration shall be an officer in the Treasury Department, under the control and supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom he shall make annual reports in writing of the transactions of his office, together with such special reports, in writing, as the Secretary of the Treasury shall require. The Secretary shall provide the Superintendent with a suitable furnished office in the city of Washington, and with such books of record and facilities for the discharge of the duties of his office as may be necessary. He shall have a chief clerk, at a salary of 2,000 dollars per annum, and two first-class clerks.

§ 8. That upon the arrival by water at any place within the United States of any alien immigrants it shall be the duty of the Commanding Officer and the agents of the steam or sailing-vessel by which they came, to report the name, nationality, last residence, and destination of every such alien, before any of them are landed, to the proper inspection officers, who shall thereupon go or send competent assistants on board such vessel, and there inspect all

such aliens, or the inspection officers may order a temporary removal of such aliens for examination at a designated time and place, and then and there detain them until a thorough inspection is made. But such removal shall not be considered a landing during the pendency of such examination. The medical examination shall be made by surgeons of the Marine Hospital Service. In cases where the services of a Marine Hospital surgeon cannot be obtained without causing unreasonable delay, the inspector may cause an alien to be examined by a civil surgeon, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall fix the compensation for such examination. The inspection officers and their assistants shall have power to administer oaths, and to take and consider testimony touching the right of any such aliens to enter the United States, all of which shall be entered of record. During such inspection after temporary removal the Superintendent shall cause such aliens to be properly housed, fed, and cared for, and also, in his discretion, such as are delayed in proceeding to their destination after inspection. All decisions made by the inspection officers or their assistants touching the right of any alien to land, when adverse to such right, shall be final, unless appeal be taken to the Superintendent of Immigration, whose action shall be subject to review by the Secretary of the Treasury. It shall be the duty of the aforesaid officers and agents of such vessel to adopt due precautions to prevent the landing of any alien immigrant at any place or time other than that designated by the inspection officers, and any such officer or agent or person in charge of such vessel who shall either knowingly or negligently land, or permit to land, any alien immigrant at any place or time other than that designated by the inspection officers shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, and punished by a fine not exceeding 1,000 dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

That the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe rules for inspection along the borders of Canada, British Columbia, and Mexico so as not to obstruct or unnecessarily delay, impede, or annoy passengers in ordinary travel between said countries: Provided that not exceeding one inspector shall be appointed for each customs district, and whose salary shall not exceed 1,200 dollars per year.

All duties imposed and powers conferred by the 2nd section of the Act of the 3rd August, 1882, upon State Commissioners, Boards, or officers acting under contract with the Secretary of the Treasury shall be performed and exercised, as occasion may arise, by the inspection officers of the United States.

$9. That for the preservation of the peace, and in order that arrests may be made for crimes under the laws of the States where

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