deceased has no known family, and if the chief of the tribe fails to indicate any person, and in the absence of any provision in the code of native law, the money and the proceeds of the sale of the effects shall be paid into the Joint Treasury by the proper Resident Commissioner or by his delegate.

Short Engagements and Employment of Native Labourers without Contract.

LV. (1.) Non-natives may employ natives without restriction, provided that they are not engaged for more than three months, with the option of renewal, and provided that they are not removed to an island more than 10 miles from the island of their tribe. The latter condition shall not be applic able in the case of natives employed on board ship.

(2.) They may, in any case, employ without restriction natives who are known to have served non-natives for at least five years, and who can easily make themselves understood in a European language or the vernacular in use between nonnatives and natives.

Penalties.

LVI. (1.) Any breach by non-natives of the provisions of the present Convention regarding the recruiting and engagement of native labourers shall be punishable by a fine of from 48. to 201. and by imprisonment of from one day to one month, or by either of the above penalties, except that, in the cases specified in paragraphs (5), (6), (7), and (9) of Article XXXI, the penalties fixed by those paragraphs shall be applicable.

(2.) Damages may also be awarded to labourers for any injury suffered by them.

(3.) The Joint Court shall inflict the penalties and assess the damages.

In cases of breaches of the provisions of the Convention relative to the engagement or recruitment of native labour. the Joint Court shall have power to order the immediate return to his home, at the expense of the recruiter or employer, of any native who has been irregularly recruited or engaged.

(4.) In the event of conviction on a serious charge, or for a second offence, the recruiting licence, as well as the right of engaging labourers, may be withdrawn for a period not exceeding two years by the Resident Commissioner of the Power of which the recruiter or employer is a dependent.

ARMS, AMMUNITION, AND INTOXICATING LIQUORS. Prohibition of the Sale of Arms and Ammunition to Natives

LVII. (1.) Subject to the specific exceptions hereafter enumerated, no person shall, from the date when the present Convention comes into operation, sell or supply arms or ammunition in any manner or form whatsoever to the natives,

as defined by Article VIII of the present Convention, in the New Hebrides, including the Banks and Torres Islands, or within the territorial waters of the Group.

(2.) The present prohibition shall not include shot guns, powder for sporting purposes and cartridges for use with shot guns. The High Commissioners or Resident Commissioners may, however, if circumstances require it, temporarily prohibit, by joint regulations, the sale to natives of breach-loading shot guns and of the powder and cartridges for such guns, either in the whole Group or in any particular island, group of islands, or district, as they may think fit.

(3.) The present prohibition shall include rifles, revolvers, and other repeating weapons and the ammunition used for such arms, separate parts for the conversion of sporting guns into military weapons, ball cartridges and all kinds of explosives, other than cartridges specially made for shot guns.

Exceptions.

LVIII. (1.) The two Governments reserve to themselves the right to arm the natives who form part of the regular police forces.

(2.) If a non-native temporarily entrusts to a native employed by him, and solely for the purpose of that employment, prohibited arms or ammunition, it shall not be considered to constitute an offence against Article LVII.

Prohibition of the Sale of Alcoholic Liquors to Natives. LIX. (1.) No person shall, in the New Hebrides, includ ing the Banks and Torres Islands, or within the territorial waters of the Group, sell or supply alcoholic liquors to the natives as defined by Article VIII of the present Convention, in any manner or on any pretext whatsoever.

(2.) Alcoholic drugs or cordials employed in case of disease or sickness are not included in the present prohibition. (3.) The present prohibition shall cover spirits, beer, wine, and generally all fermented and intoxicating liquors.

Report of Offences.

LX. (1.) Breaches of the provisions of Articles LVII and LIX, respecting the prohibition of the supply of arms, ammunition, and alcoholic liquors to the natives, and of the regula tions for carrying these Articles into effect, shall be reported by the officers and agents of the police force, duly authorised for this purpose by the High Commissioners or Resident Commissioners jointly.

(2.) The official report drawn up in accordance with para graph (1) shall be primâ facie evidence before the competent authority of the facts contained therein.

(3.) Any officer or agent of the police force, duly authorised

for this purpose, who finds a native in possession of a prohibited weapon, or in a state of intoxication in a public place, shall arrest him, and, after enquiry into the circumstances of the offence, shall draw up an official report for the information of the High Commissioners or Resident Commissioners.

If the offence is proved, the native shall be punished by the Resident Commissioner having authority over the member of the police force making the arrest or by the person appointed for the purpose, and the non-native suspected of complicity shall be prosecuted before the Joint Court.

Nevertheless, a native found in possession of a prohibited weapon or in a state of intoxication in a public place during a term of engagement can only be punished by the Resident Commissioner of the Power of which the employer is a dependent, after enquiry made by an officer or agent of the police force of that Power.

(4.) Members of the police force shall not enter the house or premises of a non-native without his consent, except as provided by the rules of procedure issued by the Joint Court, or the regulations issued by the authority having jurisdiction over him.

Search-warrants, when considered necessary in the case of a non-native, shall be issued by the Judge of the country of which such non-native is a dependent.

Penalties.

LXI.—(1.) Any breach by non-natives of Articles LVII, LIX and LX shall be punishable by a fine of from 48. to 201. and imprisonment ranging from one day to one month, or by either of these penalties.

(2.) The Joint Court shall inflict the penalties, and may further order the forfeiture of the arms, ammunition, or intoxicating liquors, and shall decide as to their disposal or destruction.

Establishment of Municipalities.

LXII. (1.) Municipalities may be established in the Group, on the application of the non-native inhabitants.

(2.) Applications for the establishment of municipalities shall be addressed to one or other of the High Commissioners or Resident Commissioners, who shall communicate such requests to one another, and determine jointly what action shall be taken thereon.

(3.) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4) below, applications made by a group of thirty inhabitants shall be complied with, if such group forms the majority of the nonnative adult inhabitants residing within a radius of 10 miles of the intended headquarters of the proposed municipality.

(4.) The establishment of a municipality for which appli

cation has been made as above shall only become definitive if, within a period of one year from the day on which the provisional establishment took place, the municipal council has furnished proofs that it has the necessary resources at its disposal to secure the normal working of the municipality.

Councils.

LXIII. (1.) Every municipality shall be administered by a Council consisting of not less than four and not more than eight members.

(2.) The Council shall elect a Chairman and a DeputyChairman from its members.

(3.) Councillors shall hold office for four years.

Elections.

LXIV. (1.) Non-natives of either sex and any nationality, who have completed their twenty-first year and have resided for six months at least in the district, shall be entitled to vote, with the exception of those who have served a sentence of more than three months' imprisonment.

(2.) Voters of either sex who have completed their twentyfifth year shall be eligible for election.

(3.) The first elections shall take place within three months of the establishment of a municipality.

(4.) The elections shall take place under the supervision of two persons respectively appointed by the two Resident Commissioners.

Functions of the Councils.

LXV. The Councils shall pass the annual municipal budget, vote the necessary local taxation, initiate and carry out municipal works, decide upon the establishment of schools and charitable institutions, and, in general, take all measures necessary for the welfare of the local community.

Official Gazette.

LXVI. The two Resident Commissioners shall, as soon as possible, cause to be published in the Group an "Official Gazette" in French and English in which shall be published all official acts and documents concerning the joint services.

Regulations.

LXVII. The High Commissioners or the Resident Commissioners shall prescribe jointly the regulations for carrying out the provisions of Articles LXII to LXV.

FINAL PROVISION.

Duration of the Convention.

LXVIII. The provisions laid down by the present Convention shall remain in force until new provisions are substituted in virtue of an agreement between the Signatory Powers.

In witness whereof the undersigned Delegates have drawn up and signed the present Protocol, to be substituted for the Protocol signed at London the 27th February, 1906. Done in duplicate, at London, the 6th August, 1914.

EMMOTT.

R. A. C. SPERLING.

E. PICANON.

F. TESSERON.

PROVISIONAL AGREEMENT between Great Britain and France relative to Air Navigation.-October 20, 1920.*

I. THIS Agreement applies only to private and commercial aircraft duly registered as such by the French and British Governments respectively.

The French Government pledges itself to grant, in peace time, and on a basis of reciprocity, freedom of innocent passage above French territory and territorial waters, to private and commercial aircraft of the British Government, provided that the conditions set forth in the present Agreement are observed.

II. The French Government and the British Government shall have the right, for military reasons or in the interests of public safety, to prohibit flight above certain areas of their territory, under the penalties provided by their legislation and on condition that no distinction shall be made in this respect between the private aircraft of the two States. The said prohibited areas shall be notified to the State interested.

III. Every aircraft which finds itself above a prohibited area shall immediately give the signal of distress stated in the Air Navigation Regulations of the State flown over, and shall land as soon as possible at one of the aerodromes of the said State and outside the prohibited area.

IV. Every aircraft must be provided with a log book and a certificate of airworthiness issued by the competent authori

League of Nations Treaty Series," No. 85. Signed also in the French language. Prior to the conclusion of this Agreement an informal Agreement between the two countries to the same general effect had been in operation since August 25, 1919.