the Reparation Commission to come to a decision thereon. If the decision of the Reparation Commission granting or rejecting such application has been taken by a majority, any member of the Reparation Commission who has participated in the vote may within eight days from the date of the said decision appeal from that decision to an arbitral commission composed of three impartial and independent persons, whose decision shall be final. The members of the arbitral commission shall be appointed for five years by the Reparation Commission deciding by a unanimous vote, or failing unanimity by the president for the time being of the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague. At the end of the fiveyear period or in case of vacancies arising during such period the same procedure will be followed as in the case of the first appointments. The president of the arbitral commission shall be a citizen of the United States of America."

Paragraph 17. If a default by Germany is established under the foregoing conditions, the Commission will forthwith give notice of such default to each of the interested Powers and may make such recommendations as to the action to be taken in consequence of such default as it may think necessary.'

This decision shall be notified to the Powers signatory of the Treaty of Versailles and to the Reparation Commission. London, August 30, 1924.

BN. MONCHEUR.
SAINT-AULAIRE.
EYRE A. CROWE.
TORRETTA.

HAYASHI.
GAVRILOVITCH.

RATIFICATIONS of the Treaty between the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan (the Principal Allied Powers) and Greece relative to the Rights of Minorities, &c.-Sèvres, August 10, 1920. (1)

RATIFICATIONS of the Treaty between the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan (the Principal Allied Powers) and Greece relative to Thrace.-Sèvres, August 10, 1920.(1)

RATIFICATIONS of the Convention between the British Empire, France, Italy and Greece relative to Compensation payable by Greece to Allied Nationals.-Lausanne, July 24, 1923. (1)

CONVENTION between the British Empire, France, Italy, Japan and Lithuania respecting the Memel Territory.— Paris, May 8, 1924.(1)

[British ratification deposited at Paris, August 25, 1925.]

THE British Empire, France, Italy and Japan, signatories with the United States of America, as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, to the Treaty of Peace of Versailles of the 28th June, 1919, (2) of the one part;

And Lithuania of the other part;

Desirous of giving effect to the decision of the four firstmentioned Powers taken at the Conference of their Ambassadors at Paris on the 16th February, 1923, and accepted by Lithuania on the 13th March, 1923;

Have to this end appointed their plenipotentiaries, namely:

(1) "Treaty Series, No. 48 (1925)" (Cmd. 2541). Signed also in the French language.

(2) Vol. CXII, page 1.

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India: the Right Honourable Robert Offley Ashburton, Marquess of Crewe, His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Paris;

The President of the French Republic: M. Raymond Poincaré, President of Council of Ministers, Minister for Foreign Affairs;

His Majesty the King of Italy: Baron Camillo Romano Avezzana, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of Italy at Paris;

His Majesty the Emperor of Japan: Viscount Ishii, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan at Paris;

The President of the Republic of Lithuania: M. Ernest Galvanauskas, President of the Council of the Ministers, Minister for Foreign Affairs;

Who having communicated their full powers found in good and due form have agreed upon the following provisions:

ART. 1. The British Empire, France, Italy and Japan, signatories with the United States of America, as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, to the Treaty of Versailles, transfer to Lithuania, subject to the conditions contained in this Convention, all the rights and titles ceded to them by Germany in virtue of Article 99 of the Treaty of Versailles over the territory lying between the Baltic Sea, the north-eastern frontier of East Prussia (as described in Article 28 of the said Treaty and as defined in particular by the letter sent on the 18th July, 1921, by the President of the Conference of Ambassadors of the Allied Governments at Paris to the German Ambassador at Paris), and the former frontier between Germany and Russia, the said territory being described in the present Convention as "the Memel Territory."

2. The Memel Territory shall constitute, under the sovereignty of Lithuania, a unit enjoying legislative, judicial, administrative and financial autonomy within the limits prescribed by the statute set out in Annex I.

3. Lithuania agrees to give effect to the engagements contained in Annex II in regard to the administration of the Port of Memel and in Annex III in regard to transit traffic.

4. The expenses of occupation, administration and half the expenses of delimitation of the territory shall be repaid by the Lithuanian Republic to the Powers which have advanced them.

The exact amount of such expenses chargeable to Lithuania, as well as the methods and periods of payment, shall be determined by a commission composed of one representative appointed by the Powers and one by Lithuania. In

case such commission cannot reach an agreement, it shall apply to the chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee of the League of Nations to designate an arbitrator.

5. Subject to the provisions of Articles 6 and 7, property situated in the Memel Territory and belonging, on the 10th January, 1920, to the German Empire or a German State, as defined in Article 256, paragraph 2, of the Treaty of Versailles of the 28th June, 1919, shall be transferred to the Lithuanian Republic.

Such property, with the exception of railways, posts, telegraphs and telephones, customs-houses and property constituting the port and its equipment, shall be transferred by the Lithuanian Government to the authorities of the Memel Territory, subject always to the provisions of Article 7.

An Agreement shall be concluded between Lithuania and the authorities of the Memel Territory in regard to the transfer of the property specified in the previous paragraph on the basis of the charges assumed by Lithuania under Article 6 in respect of such property.

6. Lithuania agrees to assume, both as regards herself and as regards the Memel Territory, the obligations incurred by Powers to which German territory is ceded, under the provisions of Articles 254 and 256 of the Treaty of Versailles of the 28th June, 1919, and to ensure the application of the said provisions under conditions to be determined by the Reparation Commission in conformity with the stipulations of Part VIII of the Treaty of Versailles.

7. To ensure payment for the property transferred to it in virtue of Article 5, the Lithuanian Government consents on its own behalf and on that of the Memel Territory to an immediate first mortgage in favour of the Reparation Commission on the property and possessions specified in that Article.

8. Former German nationals over 18 years of age on the date of ratification of the present Convention by Lithuania, who have actually been domiciled in the Memel Territory at least since the 10th January, 1920, shall ipso facto acquire Lithuanian nationality.

The following may opt for Lithuanian nationality, within a period of six months from the date of ratification of the present Convention by Lithuania, on condition that they renounce all other nationality:

(a.) All persons over 18 years of age on the date of ratification of the present Convention by Lithuania, if they were born in the territory and have resided therein for more than ten years.

(b.) All persons over 18 years of age on the date of ratification of the present Convention by Lithuania who were granted a permanent permit of residence by the Inter-Allied Administration, provided that such persons shall have taken up their

residence in the territory not later than the 1st January, 1922.

Persons acquiring Lithuanian nationality through the operation of this Article shall ipso facto acquire the status of citizens of Memel.

9. The persons specified in the first paragraph of Article 8 may opt for German nationality within a time-limit of eighteen months from the date of ratification of the present Convention by Lithuania.

The duration of this time-limit shall, however, be reduced to six months in the case of persons who were domiciled in the Memel Territory only in their capacity of Government officials and who acquire Lithuanian nationality in consequence of such domicile.

The term "Government officials," within the meaning of the previous paragraph, shall be taken to mean officials who were regarded as such by the German legislation and who are under the direct authority either of the Lithuanian Government or of the Directorate of the Memel Territory provided for in Annex I (unmittelbare Staatsbeamte).

Persons exercising the above right of option must transfer their domicile to Germany within the succeeding two years.

They shall be free to retain the immovable property which they possess in the territory and may export their movable property of all kinds. They shall be exempted from all export duties or taxes in this respect.

10. Married women shall take the nationality of their husbands, and children under 18 years of age shall take the nationality of their parents for the purposes of the application of the provisions of Articles 8 and 9 above.

11. The declaration relating to protection of minorities made by the Lithuanian Government before the Council of the League of Nations at its meeting of the 12th May, 1922, (3) applies to minorities within the Memel Territory, with the exception of paragraph 4 of Article 4 of the said Declaration, which is only excluded in view of the provisions of Article 27 of Annex I.

The procedure adopted by the Council of the League of Nations for dealing with petitions concerning the protection of minorities shall be ipso facto applicable to petitions concerning the protection of minorities in the Memel Territory.

12. The nationals of foreign Powers, both private and corporate, shall have the same rights and receive the same treatment in the Memel Territory as the citizens or corporations of Memel and Lithuania in all that concerns the use of the port and its facilities and the purchase, lease or use of real property for legitimate business purposes.

(3) Vol. CXVIII, page 876.