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their nature. But I do not doubt that you will take this grave matter into your consideration, and make it a subject of careful inquiry.

The Proclamations recently in force, which placed Ireland under exceptional provisions of law, have been revoked; and I have the satisfaction of informing you that the condition of that country with respect to agrarian crime continues to improve.

A Bill will be submitted to you, on the earliest available occasion, to amend the provision for the government of Ireland. It has been prepared with the desire to afford contentment to the Irish people, important relief to Parliament, and additional securities for the strength and union of the Empire.

Bills will be promptly laid before you for the amendment of the system of registration in Great Britain, for shortening the duration of Parliaments, and for establishing the equality of the franchise by the limitation of each elector to a single vote.

There will also be proposed to you various Bills bearing on the condition of labour, among which are measures in relation to the liability of employers, the hours of labour for railway servants, and a Bill to amend the Law of Conspiracy.

Your attention will likewise be invited to measures for the further improvement of local government, including the creation of Parish Councils, for the enlargement of the powers of the London County Council, for the prevention of the growth of new vested interests in the ecclesiastical establishments in Scotland and in Wales, and for direct local control over the liquor traffic, together with other measures of public utility.

I humbly commend your labours upon these and upon all other subjects to the guidance of Almighty God.

COPYRIGHT CONVENTION between Great Britain and Austria-Hungary.-Signed at Vienna, April 24, 1893.*

[Ratifications exchanged at Vienna, April 14, 1894.]

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, &c., and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, &c., and Apostolic King of

* Signed also in the German and Hungarian languages.

Hungary, animated with the desire to secure in the most complete manner, within their respective dominions, the rights of authors, or their legal representatives, over their literary or artistic works, have resolved to conclude a Convention to that effect, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, &c., the Right Honourable Sir Augustus Berkeley Paget, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, a member of Her Britannic Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, &c.;

His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, &c., and Apostolic King of Hungary, the Count Gustave Kálnoky de Köröspatak, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, Knight of the Order of Leopold, His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty's Privy Councillor and Chamberlain, Minister of the Imperial House and of Foreign Affairs, General of Cavalry, &c. ;

Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:

ART. I. Authors of literary or artistic works and their legal representatives, including publishers, shall enjoy reciprocally, in the dominions of the High Contracting Parties, the advantages which are, or may be, granted by law there for the protection of works of literature or art.

Consequently, authors of literary or artistic works which have been first published in the dominions of one of the High Contracting Parties, as well as their legal representatives, shall have in the dominions of the other High Contracting Party the same protection, and the same legal remedy against all infringement of their rights, as if the work had been first published in the country where the infringement may have taken place.

In the same manner the authors of literary or artistic works, and their legal representatives, who are subjects of one of the High Contracting Parties, or who reside within its dominions, shall in the dominions of the other Contracting Party enjoy the same protection and the same legal remedies against all infringements of their rights as though they were subjects of or residents in the State in which the infringement may have taken place.

These advantages shall only be reciprocally guaranteed to authors and their legal representatives when the work in question is also protected by the laws of the State where the work was first published, and the duration of protection in the other country shall

not exceed that which is granted to authors and their legal representatives in the country where the work was first published.

II. The right of translation forming part of the copyright, the protection of the right of translation is assured under the conditions laid down by this Convention. If ten years after the expiry of the year in which a work to be protected in Her Majesty's dominions on the basis of this Convention has appeared, no translation in English has been published, the right of translating the work into English shall no longer within those dominions exclusively belong to the author.

In the case of a book published in numbers, the aforesaid period of ten years shall commence at the end of the year in which each number is published.

III. Authorized translations are protected as original works. They consequently enjoy the full protection granted by this Convention against the unauthorized reproduction of original works.

It is understood that in the case of a work for which the translating right has fallen into the public domain, the translator cannot oppose the translation of the same work by other writers.

IV. The expression "literary or artistic works" comprehends books, pamphlets, and all other writings; dramatic or dramaticomusical works, musical compositions, with or without words; works of design, painting, sculpture, and engraving, lithographs, illustrations, geographical charts, plans, sketches, and plastic works relating to geography, topography, architecture, or science, in general; in fact, every production whatsoever in the literary, scientific, or artistic domain which can be published by any mode of impression or reproduction.

V. In the British Empire, and in the Kingdoms and States represented in the Austrian Reichsrath, the enjoyment of the rights. secured by the present Convention is subject only to the accomplishment of the conditions and formalities prescribed by the law of that State in which the work is first published; and no further formalities or conditions shall be required in the other country.

Consequently, it shall not be necessary that a work which has obtained legal protection in one country should be registered, or copies thereof deposited, in the other country, in order that the remedies against infringement may be obtained which are granted in the other country to works first published there.

In the dominions of the Hungarian Crown the enjoyment of these rights is subject, however, to the accomplishment of the conditions and formalities prescribed by the laws and regulations both of Great Britain and of Hungary.

VI. In order that the authors of works protected by the present Convention shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be

considered as such, and be, consequently, admitted to institute proceedings in respect of the infringement of copyright before the Courts of the other State, it will suffice that their name be indicated on the work in the accustomed manner.

The Tribunals may, however, in cases of doubt, require the production of such further evidence as may be required by the laws of the respective countries.

For anonymous or pseudonymous works the publisher whose name is indicated on the work is entitled to protect the rights belonging to the author. He is, without other proof, reputed the legal representative of the anonymous or pseudonymous author, until the latter or his legal representative has declared and proved his rights.

VII. The provisions of the present Convention cannot in any way derogate from the right of each of the High Contracting Parties to control, or to prohibit by measures of domestic legislation or police, the circulation, representation, exhibition, or sale of any work or production.

Each of the High Contracting Parties reserves also its right to prohibit the importation into its own territory of works which, according to its internal laws, or to the stipulations of Treaties with other States, are or may be declared to be illicit reproductions.

VIII. The provisions of the present Convention shall be applied to literary or artistic works produced prior to the date of its coming into effect, subject, however, to the limitations prescribed by the following Regulations :

(a.) In the the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

Copies completed before the coming into force of the present Convention, the production of which has been hitherto allowed, can also be circulated in future.

In the same manner, appliances for the reproduction of works, such as stereotypes, wood-blocks, and engraved plates of every description, such as lithographers' stones, if their production has not hitherto been prohibited may continue to be used during a period of four years from the coming into force of the present Convention.

The distribution of such copies, and the use of the said appliances, is, however, only permitted if an inventory of the said copies and appliances is taken by the Government in question, in consequence of an application of the interested party, within three months from the coming into force of the present Convention, and if these copies and appliances are marked with a special stamp.

Dramatic and dramatico-musical works or musical compositious legally performed before the coming into force of the present Convention can also be performed in the future.

(b.) In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland—

The author and publisher of any literary or artistic work first produced before the date at which this Convention comes into effect shall be entitled to all legal remedies against infringement; provided that where any person has, before the date of the publication of the Order in Council putting this Convention into effect, lawfully produced any work in the United Kingdom, any rights or interests arising from or in connection with such production, which are subsisting and valuable at the said date, shall not be diminished or prejudiced.

IX. The provisions of the present Convention shall apply to all the Colonies and foreign possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, excepting to those hereinafter named, that is to say, except toIndia.

The Dominion of Canada.

Newfoundland.

The Cape.

Natal.

New South Wales.

Victoria.

Queensland.

Tasmania.

South Australia

Western Australia.

New Zealand.

Provided always that the provisions of the present Convention shall apply to any of the above-named Colonies or foreign possessions on whose behalf notice to that effect shall have been given by Her Britannic Majesty's Representative at the Court of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty within two years from the date of the exchange of ratifications of the present Couvention.*

*List of British Colonies and Possessions which have acceded to the above Convention under Article IX.

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The following British Colonies have not acceded to the Convention :

The Dominion of Canada.

The Cape.

New South Wales.

Tasmania.

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