SPANISH DECREE, respecting the Trade with Spain of Great Britain and other Foreign Countries with whom Spain concluded Treaties of Commerce which are awaiting Ratification.-Madrid, December 31, 1893.*

(Translation.)

IN the name of my August son, King Alphonso XIII, and as Queen-Regent of the Realm, at the instance of the Council of Ministers,

I hereby decree as follows:

ART. 1. From the 1st January next, and pending the deliberations of the Cortes on the Project of Law to be immediately laid before them, the most reduced ("mas reducidos") Tariff and further advantages resulting from the Commercial Conventions with Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, and Holland shall be applied to the products of the soil and industries of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Denmark, France, Great Britain and her Colonies, and Italy, subject to the same conditions as those under which those benefits are conceded.

2. Similar rights and immunities shall be applied to those nations possessing the most-favoured-nation clause in Treaties of Commerce, Peace, or Friendship, which have not been named.

3. The duties of the second column of the Tariff shall continue to be levied in the form now applying to the products of the soil and industries of all other nations entitled to this advantage, in virtue of the Royal Order of the 29th June, 1892.†

4. The Government shall notify the provisions of this Decree to the Cortes.

Given at the Palace, the 31st December, 1893.

PRAXIDES MATEO SAGASTA,

President of the Council of Ministers.

MARIA CHRISTINA.

ARRANGEMENT for an Exchange of Parcels between the Post Office of India and the Post Office of Siam.-Signed at Simla, May 15, 1893; and at Bangkok, June 24, 1893.

In order to establish an exchange of parcels between India and Siam, the Undersigned, duly authorized for that purpose, have agreed upon the following Articles :

*Notified in the "London Gazette," January 9, 1894.

+ Vol. LXXXIV, page 239.

ART. I. There shall be a regular exchangé of parcels between the Post Office of India and the Post Office of Siam.

II. The exchange of parcels between the two countries shall be performed exclusively through Offices of Exchange. The Offices of Exchange shall be, on the side of India, Calcutta and Rangoon, and on the side of Siam, Bangkok.

III. Prepayment of parcel postage shall be compulsory, and each country will retain its own postage collections.

IV. The Post Office of India will provide for the sea conveyance of the parcels between India and Singapore in both directions, and the Post Office of Siam will provide for the sea conveyance of the parcels between Singapore and Bangkok in both directions. Each country will make its own arrangements with the Post Office of the Straits Settlements for the transhipment at Singapore of the parcel mails dispatched from it to the other country.

V. Parcels shall be dispatched inclosed in bags addressed to Bangkok in the case of despatches from Calcutta and Rangoon, and addressed to Calcutta in the case of despatches from Bangkok.

VI. The maximum limit of weight for a parcel shall be 11 lbs., and the declared value may not exceed 107. No parcel shall exceed 3 ft. 6 in. in length or 6 feet in length and girth combined, nor shall it measure less than 3 inches in length by 2 inches in width by 2 inches in depth.

VII. Parcels exchanged between the two countries may not contain liquids or substances of a dangerous, damaging, or offensive nature, or contraband articles or substances, nor may they contain a letter.

VIII. Every parcel shall bear the name and address of the person for whom it is intended, given with such completeness as will enable delivery to be effected.

IX. The sender of a parcel shall be responsible that it is securely packed in such a manner as to protect the contents from damage.

X. To every parcel shall be attached a declaration of its contents and value, signed by the sender. The declaration shall also contain the address of the parcel.

XI. The conditions as to the posting, transmission, delivery of parcels (including the levy of customs duty and other charges) and redirection within the limits of the country of destination, shall be governed by the [? inland] regulations of the country concerned.

XII. If for any reason a parcel cannot be delivered, the Offices of Exchange of the two countries shall communicate with one another with a view to ascertaining the sender's wishes in respect of the disposal of the parcel. A parcel which cannot be delivered to the original addressee shall, at the sender's request, be delivered

to any other person named by him in the country of destination, or returned to him (the sender), as the case may be, without further charge.

XIII. Parcels exchanged between the two countries shall be entered in invoices in the annexed Form (A) or (AA), prepared by the dispatching Office of Exchange. The invoices shall be forwarded with the parcels to the Office of Exchange of the country of destination.

XIV. The invoices dispatched by each Office of Exchange shall be numbered in a consecutive series commencing with No. 1 for the first invoice of each calendar year, and these numbers shall be termed the invoice numbers. The entries in each invoice shall also be numbered consecutively, commencing with No. 1 for each invoice, and these numbers shall be termed the entry numbers.

XV. The invoice number and entry number relating to each parcel shall be noted on the declaration of contents and value of the parcel.

XVI. Every discrepancy between an invoice and the parcels entered therein, or other error in an invoice, observed by the receiving Office of Exchange, shall be intimated by return mail to the dispatching Office of Exchange.

XVII. The exchange will not give rise to any accounts between the two countries.

XVIII. In ordinary correspondence affecting the preparation, transmission, or correction of invoices, &c., or relating to the disposal of parcels, the Offices of Exchange shall be the media; but in matters involving questions other than detail, the Offices of correspondence shall be the Offices of the Director-General of the Post Office of India and the Secretary, Department of Posts, Siam.

XIX. The present Arrangement shall take effect on the 1st July, 1893. It shall then continue in force until one year after the date on which one of the Contracting Parties shall have notified the other of its intention to terminate it.

Executed in duplicate and signed.

At Simla, the 15th May, 1893.

(L.S.) A. U. FANSHAWE, Director-General of the Post Office of India.

At Bangkok, the 24th June, 1893.

(L.S.) (Signature of the Secretary, Department of Posts, Siam.)

PROCLAMATION by the President of the United States, suspending the Collection of Toll on Canadian Freight passing through Saint Mary's Falls Canal.-Washington, February 21, 1893.

WHEREAS by my Proclamation of the 18th August, 1892, and in pursuance of the authority conferred on me by an Act of Congress approved the 26th July, 1892, intituled "An Act to enforce the Reciprocal Commercial Relations between the United States and Canada, and for other purposes," I directed "that from and after the 1st September, 1892, until further notice, a toll of 20 cents per ton be levied, collected, and paid on all freight of whatever kind or description passing through the St. Mary's Falls Canal in transit to any port of the Dominion of Canada, whether carried in vessels of the United States or of other nations;" and to that extent thereby suspended "from and after said date the right of free passage through said St. Mary's Falls Canal of any and all cargoes or portions of cargoes in transit to Canadian ports;"

And whereas the above order was issued in consequence of the imposition by the Government of the Dominion of Canada of a discriminating toll whereby unjust and unreasonable burdens were placed, in violation of Article XXVII of the Treaty of Washington, upon the carrying of passengers and cargoes through the Welland Canal in transit to ports of the United States, as is fully set forth in the said Proclamation;

And whereas by an Order in Council dated the 13th February, 1893, the Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada has directed that "for the season of 1893 the canal tolls for the passage of the following food products, wheat, Indian corn, peas, barley, rye, oats, flax seed, and buckwheat, for passage eastward through the Welland Canal be 10 cents per ton, and for passage westward through the St. Lawrence Canals only 10 cents per ton; payment of the said toll of 10 cents per ton for passage through the Welland Canal to entitle these products to free passage through the St. Lawrence Canals;"

And whereas I have received satisfactory assurances that this Order revokes during the season of 1893 the discriminating provisions above referred to and secures to citizens of the United States equality with British subjects as regards the use of said canals:

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United * Vol. LXXXIV, page 1022. † Vol. LXXXIV, page 1021.

Vol. LXI, page 40.

States of America, by virtue of the said Act of Congress approved the 26th July, 1892, do hereby declare and proclaim that from and after the date hereof, and until further notice, the provisions of my said Proclamation of the 18th August, 1892, are suspended, in so far as they direct that a toll of 20 cents per ton be levied, collected, and paid on all freight of whatever kind or description passing through the St. Mary's Falls Canal in transit to any port of the Dominion of Canada, whether carried in vessels of the United States or of other nations.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 21st day of February, 1893, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 117th.

By the President:

JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State.

(L.S.) BENJ. HARRISON

PROCLAMATION by the President of the United States, warning persons against entering Behring Sea for the purpose of killing Seals in contravention of the Convention between Great Britain and the United States, of April 18, 1892.*— Washington, April 8, 1893.

THE following provisions of the Laws of the United States are hereby published for the information of all concerned :

Section 1956, Revised Statutes, Chapter 3, Title XXIII, enacts

that:

"No person shall kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, or fur-seal, or other fur-bearing animal within the limits of Alaska Territory, or in the waters thereof; and every person guilty thereof shall, for each offence, be fined not less than 200 nor more than 1,000 dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo found engaged in violation of this section shall be forfeited; but the Secretary of the Treasury shall have power to authorize the killing of any such mink, marten, sable, or other fur-bearing animal, except fur-seals, under such regulations as he may prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary to prevent the killing of any fur-seal, and to provide for the execution of the provisions of this section until it is otherwise provided by law; nor shall he grant any special privileges under this section."

* Vol. LXXXIV, page 62.