REGULATIONS of the British Central Africa Protectorate, for the Payment of Fees for passing Goods in Transit through the Protectorate.-April 24, 1899.

WHEREAS under the provisions of the Africa Orders in Council, 1889 to 1893, Her Majesty's Commissioner and Consul-General for the British Central Africa Protectorate, by the authority of the Secretary of State, has power to make Queen's Regulations for peace, order, and good government;

And whereas it is expedient that Regulations should be made in accordance with the General Acts of the Conferences of Berlin and Brussels, for the payment of fees in compensation for the expenditure of the Administration of the Protectorate, in providing the means of passing goods in transit through the Protectorate, and in examining and guarding the same:

It is hereby notified that Her Majesty's Commissioner and Consul-General has, in pursuance of the powers aforesaid, made the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as "The Guarding Transit Goods Regulations, 1899."

2. In respect of all goods imported into the Protectorate, declared to be in transit to any place without the Protectorate, there shall be paid to Her Majesty's Commissioner and ConsulGeneral the fees following, that is to say :

(1.) On every package of goods so declared as passing in transit, and in respect of which the provisions of Part V of "The Customs Regulations, 1895," are duly observed, a guarding and examining fee of 3 per cent. ad valorem.

"The Customs Regulations, 1895," shall, so far as circumstances admit, apply to the fees payable under these Regulations as if they were duties imposed by those Regulations, and Her Majesty's Commissioner and Consul-General shall have the like powers of making rules for the better carrying these Regulations into effect as under section 17 of "The Customs Regulations, 1895."

Foreign Office, April 24, 1899.

SALISBURY, Her Majesty's Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs.

CONVENTION between Colombia and Costa Rica, for the Settlement of the Question of the Boundary between the two Republics.*-Signed at Paris, January 20, 1886.

[Approved by the Governments and Legislatures of the two
Countries.]

(Translation.)

THE Undersigned, namely, Carlos Holguin, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of Colombia in Spain; and Léon Fernandez, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Costa Rica in Spain, France, and Great Britain, in the desire of obviating the difficulties that might arise as regards the execution of the Arbitration Convention concluded between the two Governments respectively on the 25th December, 1880,† and considering

1. That His Majesty the King of Spain, Don Alfonso XII, having condescended to accept the office of Umpire which the Undersigned proposed to him, in the name of their respective Governments, in order to decide the territorial questions pending between both Republics, and that thereby the Convention of Arbitration of the 25th December, 1880, has now a principle to be carried into execution before the Government of Spain ;

2. That it will be in the interests of both Republics to hold there the Arbitration Tribunal proposed, because of the fact that in the archives of Spain are to be found the greater number of the original documents that will have to be made use of in order to prove effectually, and with full knowledge of the causes, the pending question of boundaries; and moreover because there are there a number of competent persons who have made a special study of American affairs, and whose opinion and advice will materially contribute to the true and just settlement of the case; and

3. That in the deplorable event of the premature decease of His Majesty Don Alfonso XII doubts would arise as to the competency of his successor to carry on the arbitration proceedings to a definite conclusion; have agreed to conclude the following Convention, ad referendum, additional to that signed at San José on the 25th December, 1880, by the Plenipotentiaries of Colombia and Costa Rica, for the settlement of the question of the boundary between the two Republics :

* Amended and confirmed by Convention of November 4, 1896. page 1036.

+ Vol. LXXI, page 215.

See

ART. I. The United States of Colombia and the Republic of Costa Rica agree and declare that notwithstanding the decease of His Majesty Don Alfonso XII, the Government of Spain is competent to continue the arbitration proposed by the two Republics, and to pronounce, irrevocably and without appeal, a definitive judgment in the dispute respecting the territorial limits pending between the two Contracting Parties.

II. The territorial limit claimed by the United States of Colombia extends, on the Atlantic side, as far as Cape de Gracias à Dios inclusive; and, on the Pacific side, as far as the mouth of the River Golfito in Dulce Gulf. The territorial limit claimed by the Republic of Costa Rica on the Atlantic side extends up to the Island of the Escudo de Veragua and the River Chiriqui (Calobebora) inclusive; and, on the Pacific side, as far as the River Chiriqui-Viejo inclusive, to the east of Punta Burica.

III. The case for arbitration shall be restricted to the disputed territory contained within the extreme limits here described, and shall not in any manner affect the rights of a third party who, having taken no part in the arbitration, may lay claim to the ownership of territory included within the indicated limits.

IV. If from any cause the Umpire shall be unable to deliver his Award within the period stipulated in Article II of the Arbitration Convention of the 25th December, 1880, the High Contracting Parties may agree to extend the said period for a further ten months to be reckoned from the date of the expiration of the first term.

V. Except for the foregoing additions and modifications the Arbitration Convention of the 25th December, 1880, shall, in all its parts, remain in force.

In faith of which we have signed this in duplicate and sealed it with our respective seals, at Paris, on the 20th January, 1886.

(L.S.) CARLOS HOLGUIN. (L.S.) LÉON FERNANDEZ.

CONVENTION between Colombia and Costa Rica, for submitting the Question of the Boundary between the two States to the Arbitration of the President of the French Republic.Signed at Bogotá, November 4, 1896.

[Approved by the Legislatures of the two Countries.]

(Translation.)

THE Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Costa Rica, desiring to put an end to the boundary question now pending between them, and to arrive at a definite territorial adjustment, have decided to put into effect, with the additions and modifications here below expressed, the Arbitration Conventions entered into in San José de Costa Rica the 25th December, 1880, through their Plenipotentiaries Dr. José Maria Quijano Otero and José Maria Castro, and in Paris the 20th January, 1886,† through their Plenipotentiaries Dr. Carlos Holguin and Don Leon Fernandez; and to this end have named as Plenipotentiaries:

The Government of Colombia, General Don Jorge Holguin, Minister for Foreign Affairs; and

The Government of Costa Rica, M. Ascencion Esquivel, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Colombia;

Who, after having shown their full powers, found to be in due form, have agreed upon the following Articles :

ART. I. The above-mentioned Arbitration Conventions are hereby declared in force, and they shall be observed and executed with the modifications expressed in the following Articles:

II. The High Contracting Parties name as Arbitrator his Excellency the President of the French Republic, or, should he be unable to accept, the President of the United States of Mexico, and in case that he should also refuse to accept, the President of the Swiss Confederation, in all of whom the High Contracting Parties without any difference have the most unlimited confidence. The High Contracting Parties hereby state that, if in declaring the validity of the Arbitration Conventions, they have not chosen the Spanish Government Arbitrator, which had previously accepted this office, it is because Colombia hesitates to ask so many continuous services from the said Government, having but recently signed with Ecuador and Peru a Treaty in regard to frontiers wherein His Catholic Majesty is named Arbitrator, and this after the laborious question of the Colombian-Venezuelan frontier question.

III. The acceptance of the first Arbitrator on the list shall be

*Vol. LXXI, page 215.

+ Page 1034.

requested within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present Agreement, and in case one of the Arbitrators should excuse himself, and it should be necessary to apply to the next in order, the request to accept shall be made within three months after the day on which the excuse has been notified to the Parties.

Should the three months elapse without one of the Parties having requested the acceptance, the Party present is thereby authorized to request it, and the acceptance shall be as valid as if the two Parties had solicited it.

IV. The Arbitration Court shall be governed by the following Rules :

Within the limit of eighteen months, counted from the time when the acceptance of the Arbitrator shall have been notified to the High Contracting Parties, they shall present their pleadings and documents.

In order that the acceptance may have been duly notified to the Parties, so that they cannot allege ignorance of it, it is sufficient that it should be published in the official Gazette of the country of the Arbitrator.

The Arbitrator shall present the Representative of each Government with a copy of the pleadings of the other three months after having been presented, in order that he may refute them, during the following six months.

The decision of the Arbitrator, to be valid, must be given within a year, counting from the date upon which the time for the reply to the pleadings shall have elapsed, whether they have or have not been presented.

The Arbitrator may delegate his authority, provided that he take part, personally, in drawing up the final decision.

The decision of the Arbitrator, whatever it may be, shall be considered as a perfect and obligatory Treaty between the High Contracting Parties, and shall be final. Both Parties bind themselves to comply faithfully with the decision of the Arbitrator, and renounce all rights of appeal, pledging thereto their national honour.

V. Articles II and IV of the present Agreement are substituted for Articles II and VI of the Agreement of the 25th December, 1880, and for Articles I and IV of the Agreement of the 20th January, 1886. Excepting these modifications and expressed additions, which are binding, the Arbitral Agreements referred to shall again become valid and in force.

VI. The present Convention shall be submitted to the approval of the Congress of Colombia, during its present Sessions, and to the Congress of Costa Rica during its next Sessions, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in Panamá, San José de Costa Rica, or Washington, within the shortest possible time.