the case may be, any other Member may take against that Member the measures of an economic character indicated in the report of the Commission or in the decision of the Court as appropriate to the case. 348. The defaulting Government may at any time inform the Governing Body that it has taken the steps necessary to comply with the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry or with those in the decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice, as the case may be, and may request it to apply to the Secretary-General of the League to constitute a Commission of Enquiry to verify its contention. In this case the provisions of Articles 340, 341, 342, 343, 345 and 346 shall apply, and if the report of the Commission of Enquiry or the decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice is in favour of the defaulting Government, the other Governments shall forthwith discontinue the measures of an economic character that they have taken against the defaulting Government. Chapter III.-General. 349. The Members engage to apply conventions which they have ratified in accordance with the provisions of this Part of the present Treaty to their colonies, protectorates and possessions which are not fully self-governing: (1.) Except where owing to the local conditions the convention is inapplicable, or (2.) Subject to such modifications as may be necessary to adapt the convention to local conditions. And each of the Members shall notify to the International Labour Office the action taken in respect of each of its colonies, protectorates and possessions which are not fully self-governing. 350. Amendments to this Part of the present Treaty which are adopted by the Conference by a majority of two-thirds of the votes cast by the Delegates present shall take effect when ratified by the States whose representatives compose the Council of the League of Nations and by three-fourths of the Members. 351. Any question or dispute relating to the interpretation of this Part of the present Treaty or of any subsequent Convention concluded by the Members in pursuance of the provisions of this Part of the present Treaty shall be referred for decision to the Permanent Court of International Justice. Chapter IV.-Transitory Provisions laid down in the Treaty of Peace concluded with Germany on June 28, 1919.* 352. The first meeting of the Conference shall take place in October, 1919. The place and agenda for this meeting shall be as specified in the Annex hereto. Arrangements for the convening and the organisation of the first meeting of the Conference will be made by the Government designated for the purpose in the said Annex. That Government shall be assisted in the preparation of the documents for submission to the Conference by an International Committee constituted as provided in the said Annex. The expenses of the first meeting and of all subsequent meetings held before the League of Nations has been able to establish a general fund, other than the expenses of Delegates and their advisers, will be borne by the Members in accordance with the apportionment of the expenses of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union. 353. Until the League of Nations has been constituted all communications which under the provisions of the foregoing articles should be addressed to the Secretary-General of the League will be preserved by the Director of the International Labour Office, who will transmit them to the Secretary-General of the League. 354. Pending the creation of a Permanent Court of International Justice, disputes which in accordance with this Part of the present Treaty would be submitted to it for decision will be referred to a tribunal of three persons appointed by the Council of the League of Nations. ANNEX. First Meeting of Annual Labour Conference, 1919. The place of meeting will be Washington. The Government of the United States of America is requested to convene the Conference. The International Organising Committee will consist of seven members, appointed by the United States of America, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium and Switzerland. The Committee may, if it thinks necessary, invite other members to appoint representatives. Agenda (1.) Application of principle of the eight-hours' day or of the fortyeight hours' week. (2.) Question of preventing or providing against unemployment. (3.) Women's employment (a.) Before and after child-birth, including the question of maternity benefit; (6.) During the night; (c.) In unhealthy processes. * Vol. CXII, page 201. (4.) Employment of children (a.) Minimum age of employment; (6.) During the night; (c.) In unhealthy processes. (5.) Extension and application of the International Conventions adopted at Berne in 1906 on the prohibition of night work for women employed in industry and the prohibition of the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches. Section II.-General Principles. 355. The High Contracting Parties, recognising that the well-being, physical, moral and intellectual, of industrial wage-earners is of supreme international importance, have framed, in order to further this great end, the permanent machinery provided for in Section I and associated with that of the League of Nations. They recognise that differences of climate, habits and customs, of economic opportunity and industrial tradition, make strict uniformity in the conditions of labour difficult of immediate attainment. But, holding, as they do, that labour should not be regarded merely as an article of commerce, they think that there are methods and principles for regulating labour conditions which all industrial communities should endeavour to apply, so far as their special circumstances will permit. Among these methods and principles, the following seem to the High Contracting Parties to be of special and urgent importance : First. The guiding principle above enunciated that labour should not be regarded merely as a commodity or article of commerce. Second. The right of association for all lawful purposes by the employed as well as by the employers. Third. The payment to the employed of a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life as this is understood in their time and country. Fourth. The adoption of an eight-hours' day or a fortyeight hours' week as the standard to be aimed at where it has not already been attained. Fifth. The adoption of a weekly rest of at least twentyfour hours, which should include Sunday wherever practicable. Sixth. The abolition of child labour and the imposition. of such limitations on the labour of young persons as shall permit the continuation of their education and assure their proper physical development. Seventh-The principle that men and women should receive equal remuneration for work of equal value. Eighth. The standard set by law in each country with respect to the conditions of labour should have due regard to the equitable economic treatment of all workers lawfully resident therein. Ninth. Each State should make provision for a system of inspection in which women should take part, in order to ensure the enforcement of the laws and regulations for the protection of the employed. Without claiming that these methods and principles are either complete or final, the High Contracting Parties are of opinion that they are well fitted to guide the policy of the League of Nations; and that, if adopted by the industrial communities who are members of the League, and safeguarded in practice by an adequate system of such inspection, they will confer lasting benefits upon the wage-earners of the world. PART XIV.-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 356. Hungary undertakes to recognise and to accept the Conventions made or to be made by the Allied and Associated Powers or any of them with any other Power as to the traffic in arms and in spirituous liquors, and also as to the other subjects dealt with in the General Acts of Berlin of the 26th February, 1885,* and of Brussels of the 2nd July, 1890,† and the Conventions completing or modifying the same. 357. The High Contracting Parties declare and place on record that they have taken note of the Treaty signed by the Government of the French Republic on the 17th July, 1918,‡ with His Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco defining the relations between France and the Principality. 358. The High Contracting Parties, while they recognise the guarantees stipulated by the Treaties of 1815, and especi ally by the Act of the 20th November, 1815, § in favour of Switzerland, the said guarantees constituting international obligations for the maintenance of peace, declare nevertheless that the provisions of these Treaties, Conventions, Declarations and other supplementary Acts concerning the neutralised zone of Savoy, as laid down in paragraph 1 of Article 92 of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna|| and in paragraph 2 of Article 3 of the Treaty of Paris of the 20th November, 1815,¶ are no longer consistent with present conditions. For this reason the High Contracting Parties take note of the agreement reached between the French Government and the Swiss Government for the abrogation of the stipulations relating to this zone which are and remain abrogated. * Vol. LXXVI, page 4. + Vol. LXXXII, page 55. The High Contracting Parties also agree that the stipulations of the Treaties of 1815 and of the other supplementary Acts concerning the free zones of Upper Savoy and the Gex district are no longer consistent with present conditions, and that it is for France and Switzerland to come to an agreement together with a view to settling between themselves the status of these territories under such conditions as shall be considered suitable by both countries. ANNEX. The Swiss Federal Council has informed the French Government on the 5th May, 1919, that after examining the provisions of Article 435 of the peace conditions presented to Germany by the Allied and Associated Powers in a like spirit of sincere friendship it has happily reached the conclusion that it was possible to acquiesce in it under the following conditions and reservations : 1. The neutralised zone of Haute-Savoie : (a.) It will be understood that as long as the Federal Chambers have not ratified the agreement come to between the two Governments concerning the abrogation of the stipulations in respect of the neutralised zone of Savoy, nothing will be definitively settled, on one side or the other, in regard to this subject. (6.) The assent given by the Swiss Government to the abrogation of the above-mentioned stipulations pre-supposes, in conformity with the text adopted, the recognition of the guarantees formulated in favour of Switzerland by the Treaties of 1815 and particularly by the Declaration of the 20th November, 1815. (c.) The agreement between the Governments of France and Switzerland for the abrogation of the above-mentioned stipulations will only be considered as valid if the Treaty of Peace contains this article in its present wording. In addition, the parties to the Treaty of Peace should endeavour to obtain the assent of the signatory Powers of the Treaties of 1815 and of the Declaration of the 20th November, 1815, which are not signatories of the present Treaty of Peace. 2. Free zone of Haute-Savoie and the district of Gex: (a.) The Federal Council makes the most express reservations to the interpretation to be given to the statement mentioned in the last paragraph of the above article for insertion in the Treaty of Peace. which provides that 'the stipulations of the Treaties of 1815 and other supplementary Acts concerning the free zones of Haute-Savoie and the Gex district are no longer consistent with present conditions." The Federal Council would not wish that its acceptance of the above wording should lead to the conclusion that it would agree to the suppression of a system intended to give neighbouring territory the benefit of a special régime which is appropriate to the geographical and economical situation and which has been well tested. The In the opinion of the Federal Council the question is not the modification of the customs system of the zones as set up by the Treaties mentioned above, but only the regulation in a manner more appropriate to the economic conditions of the present day of the terms of the exchange of goods between the regions in question. Federal Council has been led to make the preceding observations by the perusal of the draft Convention concerning the future constitution of the zones which was annexed to the Note of the 26th April from [CXIII] 2 T |