(1.) Exempts Latvia from all responsibility with regard to all the debts and obligations of Russia, including the issue of paper-money Treasury Ronds resulting from Treasury obligations or receipts, and with regard to the domestic and foreign loans of the Russian Empire, guarantees given or loans contracted by various institutions and undertakings, &c. All claims of this nature, lodged by creditors of Russia, must be exclusively addressed to Russia.

(2.) With a view to assisting the Latvian peasants in the restoration of buildings destroyed in the course of the war, the latter are accorded the right to cut down wood over an area of 100,000 dessiatines, in as close proximity as possible to the Latvian frontier and also to railways and navigable rivers; the procedure for giving effect to this concession shall be decided by a mixed Russo-Latvian Commission composed of an equal number of representatives of both countries. This Commission shall be set up immediately after the ratification of the Treaty.

XVII. (1.) The contracting Parties have agreed to conclude, immediately after the ratification of the present Treaty, commercial and transit agreements, consular, postal and telegraphic conventions, and a convention relating to the deepening of the bed of the western reaches of the Dvina.

(2.) Pending the conclusion of these commercial and transit agreements, the contracting Parties are agreed that their economic relations shall be governed according to the following principles:

(a.) The two Parties guarantee to each other mostfavoured-nation treatment.

(b.) Goods in transit through the territory of the contracting Parties are exempt from all taxes and customs. duties.

(c.) Freight rates applied to goods in transit must not be higher than the rates applied to goods of the same nature of national origin.

(3.) Property bequeathed by a national of one of the contracting Parties, but situated in the territory of the other, shall be transferred in its entirety to the Consul or Representative of the Government of the country to which the deceased belonged, to be disposed of according to the laws. of the country of origin of the deceased.

XVIII. The contracting Parties bind themselves simultaneously to take the necessary steps to ensure the safe navigation of trading vessels in their waters by organising the necessary pilot services, and by re-establishing lighthouses and buoys in dangerous zones; and they bind themselves to do all that is necessary with a view to the location of mine-fields until they have been completely swept.

The two contracting Parties have agreed to take part in the work of sweeping for mines in the Baltic. With this object an agreement will be concluded between the two Parties. An arbitration tribunal will assign to each Party its share in this work in the event of their failing to agree upon this point.

XIX. Diplomatic and consular relations between the contracting Parties will be renewed immediately after the ratification of the present Treaty.

XX. After the ratification of the present Treaty, Latvian citizens and those who opt for Latvian nationality, on the one hand, and Russian citizens and those who opt for Russian nationality, on the other hand, military and civilians alike, shall be amnestied by the Russian and Latvian Governments respectively from all penalties for political or disciplinary offences. If judgment in respect of such offences has not yet been pronounced the case shall be dismissed.

Persons committing any of the above-mentioned offences after the ratification of the present Treaty shall not benefit by this amnesty.

Persons undergoing trial, or who have been convicted or arrested for crimes and offences against common law committed before the ratification of the present Treaty, as well as those who are undergoing sentences for the same offences, shall be immediately handed over to their Government, if the latter should so desire; all documents connected with their cases shall also be handed over at the time of extradition.

The two contracting Parties shall, at the same time, amnesty their own nationals from penalties for offences committed to the advantage of the other party before the signature of the present Treaty.

Note 1.-The provisions of the foregoing paragraph relating to amnesty and extradition are only applicable to persons upon whom sentence has not been passed at the time of the signature of the present Treaty.

Note 2.-Russian citizens, and persons opting for Russian nationality, who took part in the conspiracy of the 16th April, 1919, and in Bermondt's attack, shall not benefit under the provisions of this paragraph.

XXI. The solution of questions relating to public or domestic legislation which may arise between the Government of one country and the citizens of the other country shall be entrusted to a Mixed Commission consisting of an equal number from both sides to be appointed immediately after the ratification of the present Treaty. The composition, rights and obligations of this Commission shall be laid down in instructions which are to be drawn up by agreement between the two contracting Parties.

XXII. The present Treaty is drawn up in Russian and Lettish.

For purposes of interpretation both texts are to be regarded as officiai.

XXIII. The present Treaty is to be submitted for ratification and shall come into force from the moment of ratification, except as otherwise provided in the Treaty.

The exchange of letters of ratification shall take place at Moscow.

In all cases, in the present Treaty, in which reference is made to the time of ratification of the Treaty, this is to be understood to mean the time of the exchange of letters of ratification.

In witness whereof the representatives of the two contracting Parties have signed the present Treaty and have affixed their seals thereto.

The original text is in duplicate.

Done at Moscow, completed and signed at Riga on the 11th August, 1920.

[Signatures of Plenipotentiaries.]

ACCESSIONS to the Covenant of the League of Nations.Signed at Versailles, June 28, 1919.*

MANDATE for the Administration of German Samoa, conferred upon His Britannic Majesty for and on behalf of the Government of the Dominion of New Zealand, confirmed and defined by the Council of the League of Nations.-Geneva, December 17, 1920.*

THE Council of the League of Nations:

WHEREAS by Article 119 of the Treaty of Peace with Germany signed at Versailles on the 28th June, 1919, Germany renounced in favour of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers all her rights over her overseas possessions, including therein German Samoa; and

Whereas the Principal Allied and Associated Powers agreed that, in accordance with Article 22, Part I (Covenant of the League of Nations), of the said Treaty, a mandate should be conferred upon His Britannic Majesty, to be exercised on his behalf by the Government of the Dominion of New Zealand, to administer German Samoa, and have proposed that the mandate should be formulated in the following terms; and

Whereas His Britannic Majesty, for and on behalf of the Government of the Dominion of New Zealand, has agreed to accept the mandate in respect of the said territory and has undertaken to exercise it on behalf of the League of Nations in accordance with the following provisions; and

Whereas, by the aforementioned Article 22, paragraph 8, it is provided that the degree of authority, control or administration to be exercised by the mandatory, not having been previously agreed upon by the members of the League, shall be explicitly defined by the Council of the League of Nations: Confirming the said mandate, defines its terms as follows:-

ART. 1. The territory over which a mandate is conferred upon His Britannic Majesty for and on behalf of the Govern ment of the Dominion of New Zealand (hereinafter called the mandatory) is the former German colony of Samoa.

2. The mandatory shall have full power of administration and legislation over the territory subject to the present mandate as an integral portion of the Dominion of New Zealand, and may apply the laws of the Dominion of New Zealand to the territory, subject to such local modifications as circumstances may require.

The mandatory shall promote to the utmost the material and moral well-being and the social progress of the inhabitants of the territory subject to the present mandate.

* Parliamentary Paper, " Miscellaneous No. 7 (1921).” + Vol. CXII, page 73.

4 B 2

Vol. CXII, page 21.

3. The mandatory shall see that the slave trade is prohibited, and that no forced labour is permitted, except for essential public works and services, and then only for adequate remuneration.

The mandatory shall also see that the traffic in arms and ammunition is controlled in accordance with principles analogous to those laid down in the Convention relating to the control of the arms traffic, signed on the 10th September, 1919,* or in any Convention amending the same.

The supply of intoxicating spirits and beverages to the natives shall be prohibited.

4. The military training of the natives, otherwise than for purposes of internal police and the local defence of the territory, shall be prohibited. Furthermore, no military or naval bases shall be established or fortifications erected in the territory.

5. Subject to the provisions of any local law for the maintenance of public order and public morals, the mandatory shall ensure in the territory freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship, and shall allow all missionaries, nationals of any State member of the League of Nations, to enter into, travel and reside in the territory for the purpose of prosecuting their calling.

6. The mandatory shall make to the Council of the League of Nations an annual report to the satisfaction of the Council, containing full information with regard to the territory, and indicating the measures taken to carry out the obligations assumed under Articles 2, 3, 4 and 5.

7. The consent of the Council of the League of Nations is required for any modification of the terms of the present mandate.

The mandatory agrees that, if any dispute whatever should arise between the mandatory and another member of the League of Nations relating to the interpretation or the application of the provisions of the mandate, such dispute, if it cannot be settled by negotiation, shall be submitted to the Permanent Court of International Justice provided for by Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations.

The present declaration shall be deposited in the archives of the League of Nations. Certified copies shall be forwarded by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations to all Powers signatories of the Treaty of Peace with Germany. Made at Geneva, the 17th day of December, 1920.

Certified true copy.

ERIC DRUMMOND,
Secretary-General.

Vol. CXII, page 909.

+ Vol. CXII, page 17.