on June 2, 1911, and the Agreement of April 14, 1891, concerning the international registration of trade-marks shall be applied as from the coming into force of the present Treaty, in so far as they are not affected or modified by the exceptions and restrictions resulting therefrom.

ARTICLE 238.

From the coming into force of the present Treaty the High Contracting Parties shall apply, in so far as concerns them, the Convention of The Hague of July 17, 1905, relating to civil procedure. This provision, however, will not apply to France, Portugal and Roumania..

ARTICLE 239.

Austria undertakes, within twelve months of the coming into force of the present Treaty, to adhere in the prescribed form to the International Convention of Berne of September 9, 1886, for the protection of literary and artistic works, revised at Berlin on November 13, 1908, and completed by the additional Protocol signed at Berne on March 20, 1914, relating to the protection of literary and artistic works.

Until her adherence, Austria undertakes to recognise and protect by effective measures and in accordance with the principles of the said Convention the literary and artistic works of nationals of the Allied and Associated Powers.

In addition, and irrespective of the above-mentioned adherence, Austria undertakes to continue to assure such recognition and such protection to all literary and artistic works of the nationals of each of the Allied and Associated Powers to an extent at least as great as upon July 28, 1914, and upon the same conditions.

ARTICLE 240.

Austria undertakes to adhere to the following Conventions :(1) Convention of September 26, 1906. for the suppression of the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches. (2) Convention of December 31, 1913, regarding the unification of commercial statistics.

ARTICLE 241.

Each of the Allied or Associated Powers, being guided by the general principles or special provisions of the present Treaty, shall notify to Austria the bilateral agreements of all kinds which were in force between her and the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and which she wishes should be in force as between her and Austria.

The notification referred to in the present Article shall be made either directly or through the intermediary of another

Power. Receipt thereof shall be acknowledged in writing by Austria. The date of the coming into force shall be that of the notification.

The Allied and Associated Powers undertake among themselves not to apply, as between themselves and Austria, any agreements which are not in accordance with the terms of the present Treaty.

The notification shall mention any provisions of the said agreements which, not being in accordance with the terms of the present Treaty, shall not be considered as coming into force. In case of any difference of opinion, the League of Nations will be called on to decide.

A period of six months from the coming into force of the present Treaty is allowed to the Allied and Associated Powers within which to make the notification.

Only those bilateral agreements which have been the subject of such a notification shall be put in force between the Allied and Associated Powers and Austria.

The above rules apply to all bilateral agreements existing between any Allied and Associated Powers signatories to the present Treaty and Austria, even if the said Allied and Associated Powers have not been in a state of war with Austria.

ARTICLE 242.

Austria hereby recognises that all treaties, conventions or agreements concluded by her, or by the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, with Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey since August 1, 1914, until the coming into force of the present Treaty are of no effect.

ARTICLE 243.

Austria undertakes to secure to the Allied and Associated Powers, and to the officials and nationals of the said Powers, the enjoyment of all the rights and advantages of any kind which she, or the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, may have granted to Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey, or to the officials and nationals of these States by treaties, conventions or arrangements concluded before August 1, 1914, as long as those treaties, conventions, or arrangements are in force.

The Allied and Associated Powers reserve the right to accept or not the enjoyment of these rights and advantages.

ARTICLE 244.

Austria recognises that all treaties, conventions or arrangements which she, or the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, concluded with Russia, or with any State or Government of which the territory previously formed a part of Russia, or with Roumania, before July 28, 1914, or after that date until the coming into force of the present Treaty, are of no effect.

ARTICLE 245.

Should an Allied or Associated Power, Russia, or a State or Government of which the territory formerly constituted a part of Russia, have been forced since July 27, 1914, by reason of military occupation or by any other means or for any other cause, to grant or to allow to be granted by the act of any public authority, concessions, privileges and favours of any kind to the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy or to Austria or to an Austrian national, such concessions, privileges and favours are ipso facto annulled by the present Treaty.

No claims or indemnities which may result from this annulment shall be charged against the Allied or Associated Powers or the Powers, States, Governments or public authorities which are released from their engagements by the present Article.

ARTICLE 246.

From the coming into force of the present Treaty, Austria undertakes, so far as she is concerned, to give the Allied and Associated Powers and their nationals the benefit ipso facto of the rights and advantages of any kind which she or the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy has granted by treaties, conventions or arrangements to non-belligerent States or their nationals since July 28, 1914, until the coming into force of the present Treaty, so long as those treaties, conventions or arrangements are in force for Austria.

ARTICLE 247.

Those of the High Contracting Parties who have not yet signed, or who have signed but not yet ratified, the Opium Convention signed at The Hague on January 23, 1912, agree to bring the said Convention into force, and for this purpose to enact the necessary legislation without delay and, in any case, within a period of twelve months from the coming into force of the present Treaty.

Furthermore, they agree that ratification of the present Treaty should, in the case of Powers which have not yet ratified the Opium Convention, be deemed in all respects equivalent

the ratification of that Convention and to the signature of the Special Protocol which was opened at The Hague in accordance with the resolutions adopted by the Third Opium Conference in 1914 for bringing the said Convention into force.

For this purpose the Government of the French Republic will communicate to the Government of the Netherlands a certified copy of the protocol of the deposit of ratifications of the present Treaty, and will invite the Government of the Netherlands to accept and deposit the said certified copy as if it were a deposit of ratifications of the Opium Convention and a signature of the Additional Protocol of 1914.

SECTION III.

DEBTS.

ARTICLE 248.

There shall be settled, through the intervention of Clearing Offices to be established by each of the High Contracting Parties within three months of the notification referred to in paragraph (e) hereafter, the following classes of pecuniary obligations:

(1) Debts payable before the war and due by a national of one of the Contracting Powers, residing within its territory, to a national of an Opposing Power, residing within its territory;

(2) Debts which became payable during the war to nationals of one Contracting Power residing within its territory and arose out of transactions or contracts with the nationals of an Opposing Power, resident within its territory, of which the total or partial execution was suspended on account of the existence of a state of war;

(3) Interest which has accrued due before and during the war to a national of one of the Contracting Powers in respect of securities issued or taken over by an Opposing Power, provided that the payment of interest on such securities to the nationals of that Power or to neutrals has not been suspended during the

war;

(4) Capital sums which have become payable before and during the war to nationals of one of the Contracting Powers in respect of securities issued by one of the Opposing Powers, provided that the payment of such capital sums to nationals of that Power or to neutrals has not been suspended during the war.

In the case of interest or capital sums payable in respect of securities issued or taken over by the former Austro-Hungarian Government, the amount to be credited and paid by Austria will be the interest or capital in respect only of the debt for which Austria is liable in accordance with Part IX (Financial Clauses) of the present Treaty, and the principles laid down by the Reparation Commission.

The proceeds of liquidation of enemy property, rights, and interests mentioned in Section IV and in the Annex thereto will be accounted for through the Clearing Offices, in the currency and at the rate of exchange hereinafter provided for in paragraph (d), and disposed of by them under the conditions provided by the said Section and Annex.

The settlements provided for in this Article shall be effected according to the following principles and in accordance with the Annex to this Section :

(a) Each of the High Contracting Parties shall prohibit, as from the coming into force of the present Treaty, both the pay

ment and the acceptance of payment of such debts, and also all communications between the interested parties with regard to the settlement of the said debts otherwise than through the Clearing Offices;

(b) Each of the High Contracting Parties shall be respectively responsible for the payment of such debts due by its nationals except in the cases where before the war the debtor was in a state of bankruptcy or failure, or had given formal indication of insolvency, or where the debt was due by a company whose business has been liquidated under emergency legislation during the war;

(c) The sums due to the nationals of one of the High Contracting Parties by the nationals of an Opposing State will be debited to the Clearing Office of the country of the debtor, and paid to the creditor by the Clearing Office of the country of the creditor;

(d) Debts shall be paid or credited in the currency of such one of the Allied and Associated Powers, their colonies or protectorates, or the British Dominions or India, as may be concerned. If the debts are payable in some other currency, they shall be paid or credited in the currency of the country concerned, whether an Allied or Associated Power, Colony, Protectorate, British Dominion, or India, at the pre-war rate of exchange.

For the purpose of this provision, the pre-war rate of exchange shall be defined as the average cable transfer rate prevailing in the Allied or Associated country concerned during the month immediately preceding the outbreak of war between the said country concerned and Austria-Hungary.

If a contract provides for a fixed rate of exchange governing the conversion of the currency in which the debt is stated into the currency of the Allied or Associated country concerned, then the above provisions concerning the rate of exchange shall not apply.

In the case of the new States of Poland and the CzechoSlovak State, the currency in which and the rate of exchange at which debts shall be paid or credited shall be determined by the Reparation Commission provided for in Part VIII, unless they shall have been previously settled by agreement between the States interested;

(e) The provisions of this Article and of the Annex hereto shall not apply as between Austria, on the one hand, and any one of the Allied and Associated Powers, their colonies or protectorates, or any one of the British Dominions or India, on the other hand, unless within a period of one month from the deposit of the ratification of the present Treaty by the Power in question, or of the ratification on behalf of such Dominion or of India, notice to that effect is given to Austria by the Government of