Page images
PDF
EPUB

SIR,

No. 3.-The Earl of Rosebery to the President of the Swiss

Confederation.

Foreign Office, March 20, 1893.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of the 9th instant, in which you inform me that the Principality of Montenegro has acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

Her Majesty's Government have taken due note of this announcement, in order that the necessary steps may be taken, without delay, for securing to the Principality the privileges accorded in Her Majesty's dominions to States which are parties to the Union. I have, &c.,

M. Schenk.

ROSEBERY.

AGREEMENT supplementary to the Convention of the th March, 1886, between the Post Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Postal Administration of the Netherlands, concerning the Exchange of Postal Parcels. Signed at London, November 29, and at the Hague, December 16, 1893.*

ART. I.-1. On and after the 1st January, 1894, the postal parcels exchanged between Great Britain and the Netherlands under the Convention of the th March, 1886,† between the Post Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Postal Administration of the Netherlands, may be insured.

2. The two Administrations shall mutually serve as intermediaries for the exchange of insured parcels to and from the other countries with which they respectively maintain similar exchanges. They shall communicate to each other the amount of the insurance fee to be credited in each case, and the other conditions of the service.

II. The maximum amount for which parcels exchanged between the two countries may be insured is 407. in the United Kingdom and 500 fl. in the Netherlands.

III. The insurance fee, which shall be paid at the same time as the postage, shall be in the United Kingdom 2d. for each 127., or fraction of 12., of insured value, and in the Netherlands 12 cents for each 150 fl., or fraction of 150 fl., of insured value.

IV. The insurance fee for each 127. or 150 fl. of insured value

Signed also in the Dutch language.

+ Vol. LXXVII, page 34.

levied on parcels posted in the United Kingdom addressed to the Netherlands, or posted in the Netherlands addressed to the United Kingdom, shall be apportioned as follows:

To the office of origin, 10 centimes.

To the office which provides the sea service, 10 centimes.
To the office of destination, 5 centimes.

V. On every insured parcel sent under this Agreement, the Administration of the country of origin may levy a registration fee not exceeding 24d. or 123 cents, to be paid by the sender in addition to the insurance fee. This registration fee shall be retained by the

office which levies it.

VI. When an insured parcel is redirected or returned to the office of origin, a new insurance fee is collected from the addressee or the sender, as the case may be.

So far as the relations of the two Administrations are concerned, the amount of the insurance fees on redirected or returned parcels and the apportionment of such amount shall be regulated in the sime manner as the amount and apportionment of the fees levied on other parcels passing between the two countries.

VII. Compensation for the loss or damage of insured parcels shall be paid in accordance with Article X of the Convention of the 1th March, 1886, but the compensation paid in the case of any one parcel shall not exceed the sum for which it has been insured.

VIII. In the case of all parcels containing coin, objects of gold or silver, or other precious articles, exchanged between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, insurance is obligatory.

If such a parcel is forwarded uninsured, the Administration which delivers it is entitled to collect the proper insurance fee from the addressee, and to retain the same.

IX. No parcel may be insured for an amount above the real value of its contents.

In case the sender of an insured parcel, with intent to defraud, declares the contents to be above their real value, he loses all claim to compensation; and the enforcement of this rule does not prejudice any judicial proceedings of which the law of the country of origin may admit.

X. The provisions of the Convention of the 9th March, 1886, remain generally applicable to insured postal parcels. Moreover, the following additional detailed regulations are applicable to such parcels :

1. An insured parcel must bear on the cover, as well as on the dispatch note, a statement of the amount for which it is insured, and no erasure or addition, even if certified, is allowed. When this statement is made in English or Dutch money, the sender or the Post Office of the country of origin must indicate by new figures,

[ocr errors]

placed beside or below the others, the equivalent of the amount in francs and centimes.

2. The same dispatch-note cannot be used with both insured and uninsured parcels.

3. The exact weight of an insured parcel in kilogrammes and grammes must be entered by the office of origin both on the cover of the parcel and on the dispatch-note in the place provided for the

purpose.

4. Each insured parcel must bear a red label with the word "insured" or valeur déclarée" upon it.

5. The labels on insured parcels containing coin, articles of gold or silver, jewellery, or other precious objects, must be so placed that they cannot serve to conceal injuries to the cover. They must not be folded over two sides of the cover so as to hide the edge. The address in such cases must be written on the actual covering of the parcels.

6. The parcels bills used for the service between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom shall be enlarged by the addition of columns for the entry of the weight of insured parcels and the sums in francs and centimes for which they are insured.

XI. The following addition is made to Article VI of the Convention of the 6th March, 1886:

The postage on parcels exceeding 3 kilog, or 7 lbs. avoirdupois, but not exceeding 5 kilog. or 11 lbs. avoirdupois, exchanged between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, viâ Queenborough and Flushing, is fixed at 2s. 3d. in the United Kingdom, and 1:35 fl. in the Netherlands, and is divided as follows:

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

XII. Article X of the Convention above mentioned is modified in so far that the maximum of the compensation to be paid in case of the loss or damage of an uninsured parcel is fixed at 25 fr.

Done in duplicate at London on the 29th day of November, 1893, and at the Hague on the 16th day of December, 1893.

(L.S.) ARNOLD MORLEY. (L.S.) HAVELAAR.

AGREEMENT between Great Britain and Portugal, relative to Spheres of Influence north of the Zambezi.-Signed at London, May, June, 1893.

No. 1.-The Earl of Rosebery to M. de Soveral.

M. LE MINISTRE, Foreign Office, May 31, 1893. In compliance with the desire of the Portuguese Government that a formal exchange of uotes should take place recording the understanding come to between the two Governments in the early part of 1892 for a modus vivendi pending the delimitation of the boundaries of the British and Portuguese spheres of influence north of the Zambezi under the Treaty of the 11th June, 1891,* I have the honour to submit the following draft of Articles which Her Majesty's Government trust will be found to meet the purpose:

:

"Art. I. Pending actual delimitation, all natural lines of demarcation specified in sub-head 2, Article I, of the AngloPortuguese Treaty of the 11th June, 1891, shall be considered for all purposes as constituting the boundaries between the British and Portuguese spheres of influence in all localities in which there can be no doubt as to their coinciding with the line described in the above-mentioned sub-head.

"The natural lines of demarcation above referred to are as follows, viz. :—

"The eastern shore of Lake Chiuta.

"The eastern shore of Lake Chilwa, or Shirwa.

"The easternmost affluent of the River Ruo.

"The River Ruo below the confluence of its easternmost affluent to its junction with the River Shiré.

"The River Shiré between the point where the River Ruo flows into it and a point situated just below Chiwanga.

"The watershed between Lake Nyassa and the River Zambezi south of latitude 14° south.

"The River Aroangwa, or Loangwa, south of latitude 15° south to its junction with the River Zambezi.

"Art. II. Pending the exact determination of the point where latitude 13° 30′ south cuts the eastern shore of Lake Nyassa, Padimba, and Makanjira, and the shore south of those places, shall be recognized as being within the British sphere of influence; and similarly the eastern shore of the lake north of the River Lomazi, and as far as the point where it is intersected by the line described in sub-head 1, Article I, of the Treaty of the 11th June, 1891, shall be recognized as being within the Portuguese sphere of influence.

[blocks in formation]

"Art. III. Pending a definite agreement, the post erected as a boundary beacon by Mr. Johnston on the right bank of the River Shiré shall be accepted provisionally as the point just below Chiwanga,' mentioned in Article I of the Anglo-Portuguese Convention; and a line traced by the Portuguese authorities from that point due west to the watershed between the Shiré and the Zambezi shall be similarly accepted as a temporary boundary between the British and Portuguese spheres of influence.

"Art. IV. The Islands of Chisamulu and Lukomo, or Dikomo, and all other islands of Lake Nyassa further to the south, shall be recognized as being within the British sphere of influence.

"Art. V. Pending the delimitation of a boundary-line as laid down in Article IV of the Treaty of the 11th June, 1891, the line formed by the course of the Zambezi from the cataracts of Katima up to its confluence with the Cabompo River, and thence by the course of the Cabompo, shall be the provisional boundary between the respective spheres of influence in that region, and the provisions of Article VIII of the Treaty above referred to shall be applicable to the territories separated by the said provisional boundary until a definitive boundary shall have been substituted in its stead.

"Art. VI. Wherever, previous to delimitation, the actual course of the boundary-line described in sub-head 2, Article I, of the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty appears to be doubtful, neither the Government of Great Britain nor that of Portugal shall make acquisitions, conclude Treaties, or accept sovereign rights in territories which after delimitation are likely to be proved to be within the sphere of influence of the other; and neither of them will recognize, nor lead to suppose that the other will recognize, any rights of whatever nature which the subjects of the one may claim to have acquired in such territories subsequently to the 11th June, 1891, either by means of Treaties with the natives or any other title.

“Art. VII. As soon as the definitive demarcation of the boundary, or of any section of it, is completed, there shall cease, in territories which, in virtue of such demarcation, become subject to the sovereignty, protection, or influence of one of the two Powers, all acts of jurisdiction or government by the officials, and all occupation by the military or police forces of the other Power or its concessionaires; and there shall lapse, ipso facto, all concessions which the latter may have made to individuals, and all rights to property, usufruct, or exploration which its subjects or dependents may claim to have acquired in those territories subsequently to the 11th June, 1891.

"Art. VIII. Acts of occupation or jurisdiction performed by the officials or concessionaires of one of the two Powers subsequently

« PreviousContinue »