reparation is due, they shall decide the sum to be placed under this head to the credit of the said States. As regards the Danube, the arbitrator or arbitrators. referred to in this article will also decide all questions as to the permanent allocation and the conditions thereof of the vessels whose ownership or nationality is in dispute between States. Pending final allocation the control of these vessels shall be vested in a Commission consisting of representatives of the United States of America, the British Empire, France and Italy, who will be empowered to make provisional arrangements for the working of these vessels in the general interest by any local organisation, or failing such arrangements by themselves, without prejudice to the final allocation. As far as possible these provisional arrangements will be on a commercial basis, the net receipts by the Commission for the hire of these vessels being disposed of as directed by the Reparation Commission. 2. Special Clauses relating to the Danube. 285. The European Commission of the Danube re-assumes the powers it possessed before the war. Nevertheless, as a provisional measure, only representatives of Great Britain, Italy and Roumania shall constitute this Commission. 286. From the point where the competence of the European Commission ceases, the Danube system referred to in Article 275 shall be placed under the administration of an International Commission composed as follows: Two representatives of German riparian States; One representative of each non-riparian State represented in the future on the European Commission of the Danube. If certain of these representatives cannot be appointed at the time of the coming into force of the present Treaty, the decisions of the Commission shall nevertheless be valid. 287. The International Commission provided for in the preceding Article shall meet as soon as possible after the coming into force of the present Treaty, and shall undertake provisionally the administration of the river in conformity with the provisions of Articles 276 and 278 to 282, until such time as a definitive statute regarding the Danube is concluded by the Powers nominated by the Allied and Associated Powers. The decisions of this International Commission shall be taken by a majority vote. The salaries of the Commissioners. shall be fixed and paid by their respective countries. As a provisional measure, any deficit in the administrative expenses of this International Commission shall be borne equally by the States represented on the Commission. In particular this Commission shall regulate the licensing of pilots, charges for pilotage and the administration of the pilot service. 288. Hungary agrees to accept the régime which shall be laid down for the Danube by a Conference of the Powers nominated by the Allied and Associated Powers, which shall meet within one year after the coming into force of the present Treaty, and at which Hungarian representatives may be present. Until such time as a definite statute regarding the Danube is concluded, the International Commission provided for in Article 286 shall have provisionally under its control the equipment, buildings and installations used for carrying out and maintaining works on the section of the Danube between Turnu-Severin and Moldava. The final allocation of the equipment, buildings and installations shall be determined by the Conference provided for in the preceding paragraph. Hungary renounces all interest in and all control over the said equipment, buildings and installations. 289. The mandate given by Article 57 of the Treaty of Berlin of the 13th July, 1878,* to Austria-Hungary, and transferred by her to Hungary, to carry out works at the Iron Gates, is abrogated. The Commission entrusted with the administration of this part of the river shall lay down provisions for the settlement of accounts subject to the financial provisions of the present Treaty. Charges which may be necessary shall in no case be levied by Hungary. 290. Should the Czecho-Slovak State, the Serb-CroatSlovene State or Roumania, with the authorisation of or under mandate from the International Commission, undertake maintenance, improvement, weir, or other works on a part of the river system which forms a frontier, these States shall enjoy on the opposite bank, and also on the part of the bed which is outside their territory, all necessary facilities for the survey, execution and maintenance of such works. 291. Hungary shall be obliged to make to the European Commission of the Danube all restitutions, reparations and indemnities for damages inflicted on the Commission during the war. Chapter III.-Hydraulic System. 292. In default of any provisions to the contrary, when as the result of the fixing of a new frontier the hydraulic system (canalisation, inundations, irrigation, drainage, or similar matters) in a State is dependent on works executed within the territory of another State, or when use is made on the territory of a State, in virtue of pre-war usage, of water or hydraulic * Vol. LXIX, page 749. power, the source of which is on the territory of another State, an agreement shall be made between the States concerned to safeguard the interests and rights acquired by each of them. Unless otherwise provided, when use is made for municipal or domestic purposes in one State of electricity or water, the source of which as the result of the fixing of a new frontier is on the territory of another State, an agreement shall be made between the States concerned to safeguard the interests and rights acquired by each of them. Pending an agreement, central electric stations and waterworks shall be required to continue the supply up to an amount corresponding to the undertakings and contracts in force on the 3rd November, 1918. Failing an agreement in the case of either of the above paragraphs, and subject to the provisions of Article 293, the matter shall be regulated by an arbitrator appointed by the Council of the League of Nations. 293. In view of the application of Article 292 to the territories of the former Kingdom of Hungary forming the Basin of the Danube, excluding the Basin of the Olt, as well as for the exercise of the powers provided for below, there shall be set up, in the common interest of the States possessing sovereignty over the territories in question, a permanent technical Hydraulic System Commission, composed of one representative of each of the States territorially concerned. and a chairman appointed by the Council of the League of Nations. This Commission shall bring about the conclusion, and supervise and, in urgent cases, ensure the carrying out, of the agreements provided for in Article 292; it shall maintain and improve, particularly as regards deforestation and afforestation, the uniform character of the hydraulic system, as well as of the services connected therewith, such as the hydrometric service and the service of information as to the rising of the waters. It shall also study questions relating to navigation, excepting those falling within the competence of the Commission for regulating the navigation of the Upper Danube, which it shall refer to the said Commission, and it shall give special consideration to fishery interests. The Commission shall in addition undertake all works or schemes and shall establish all services with which it may be charged by the unanimous consent of the interested States. The Hydraulic System Commission shall meet within three months from the coming into force of the present Treaty; it shall draw up a regulation as to its functions and procedure, which will be subject to approval by the States concerned. Any disputes which may arise out of the matters dealt with in this article shall be settled as provided by the League of Nations. Section III.-Railways. Chapter I.-Freedom of Transit to the Adriatic for Hungary. 294. Free access to the Adriatic Sea is accorded to Hungary, who with this object will enjoy freedom of transit over the territories and in the ports severed from the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Freedom of transit is the freedom defined in Article 268 until such time as a general convention on the subject shall have been concluded between the Allied and Associated Powers, whereupon the dispositions of the new convention shall be substituted therefor. Special conventions between the States or Administrations concerned will lay down the conditions of the exercise of the right accorded above, and will settle in particular the method of using the ports and the free zones existing in them, and the railways ordinarily giving access thereto, the establishment of international (joint) services and tariffs, including through tickets and way-bills, and the maintenance of the Convention of Berne of the 14th October, 1890, and its supplementary provisions until its replacement by a new convention. Freedom of transit will extend to postal, telegraphic and telephonic services. Chapter II.-Clauses relating to International Transport. 295. Goods coming from the territories of the Allied and Associated Powers and going to Hungary, or in transit through Hungary from or to the territories of the Allied and Associated Powers, shall enjoy on the Hungarian railways as regards charges to be collected (rebates and drawbacks being taken into account), facilities, and in all other matters, the most favourable treatment applied to goods of the same kind carried on any Hungarian lines, either in internal traffic, or for export, import or in transit, under similar conditions of transport, for example, as regards length of route. The same rule shall be applied, on the request of one or more of the Allied and Associated Powers, to goods specially designated by such Power or Powers coming from Hungary and going to their territories. International tariffs established in accordance with the rates referred to in the preceding paragraph and involving through way-bills shall be established when one of the Allied and Associated Powers shall require it from Hungary. However, without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 272 and 273, Hungary undertakes to maintain on her own lines the régime of tariffs existing before the war as regards traffic to Adriatic and Black Sea ports, from the point of view of competition with North German ports. 296. From the coming into force of the present Treaty the High Contracting Parties shall renew, in so far as concerns them and under the reserves indicated in the second paragraph of the present article, the Conventions and Arrangements signed at Berne on the 14th October, 1890,* the 20th September, 1893, the 16th July, 1895, the 16th June, 1898, § and the 19th September, 1906, regarding the transportation of goods by rail. If within five years from the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty a new convention for the transportation of passengers, luggage and goods by rail shall have been concluded to replace the Berne Convention of the 14th October, 1890, and the subsequent additions referred to above, this new convention and the supplementary provisions for international transport by rail which may be based on it shall bind Hungary, even if she shall have refused to take part in the preparation of the convention or to subscribe to it. Until a new convention shall have been concluded, Hungary shall conform to the provisions of the Berne Convention and the subsequent additions referred to above and to the current supplementary provisions. 297. Hungary shall be bound to co-operate in the establishment of through ticket services (for passengers and their luggage) which shall be required by any of the Allied and Associated Powers to ensure their communication by rail with each other and with all other countries by transit across the territories of Hungary; in particular Hungary shall, for this purpose, accept trains and carriages coming from the territories of the Allied and Associated Powers and shall forward them with a speed at least equal to that of her best long-distance trains on the same lines. The rates applicable to such through services shall not in any case be higher than the rates collected on Hungarian internal services for the same distance, under the same conditions of speed and comfort. The tariffs applicable under the same conditions of speed and comfort to the transportation of emigrants going to or coming from ports of the Allied and Associated Powers and using the Hungarian railways shall not be at a higher kilo• Vol. LXXXII, page 771. + Vol. LXXXV, page 750. + Vol. LXXXVII, page 806. § Vol. XCII, page 433 (Convention signed at Paris). |