the weights and measures union in Paris and the agricultural institute at Rome.
The general postal union was created by a convention signed at Berne in 1874. A convention for a similar union for telegraphs was signed in Paris in 1875 (revised at St Petersburg and replaced by another the same year). Both unions issue monthly bulletins and other publications giving useful information about these two services.[1]
The international bureau of weights and measures at Paris was created by a convention signed there in 1875, for the purpose of comparing and verifying weights and measures on the metric system, and preserving their identity for the contracting states.
The double-standard Latin union monetary system was founded by a convention of 1865, between Belgium, France, Italy and Switzerland. In 1868 it was joined by Greece. A single standard union exists between Sweden, Norway and Denmark under a convention of 1873.
The copyright union was created by an international convention signed in 1874. The official bureau of the union is at Berne. It issues a periodical publication called Le Droit d'auteur giving information respecting the laws of different states relating to published matter of all kinds.
The term “industrial property” covers patents, trade marks, merchandise marks, trade names, designs and models. The convention dealing with them signed in 1883 created a union with its central office at Berne. It, too, issues a bulletin and other publications which help to prevent misunderstandings.
The railway traffic union was formed by a convention of 1890. The central bureau at Berne issues a monthly bulletin. A subsequent convention was signed at Berne in 1886 relating to matters of technical unification.
Under the convention creating the customs tariffs union, signed in 1890, thirty states, including Great Britain and most British colonies, are associated for the purpose of prompt publication of custom tariffs and their modifications.
The agricultural institute, created by a convention of 1905 with its seat at Rome, as the latest in date is perhaps the most interesting of the series. It shows how deep and widespread the sense of the utility of international state co-operation has become. The convention sets out the scope and objects of the institute, which a recent British official publication states has been joined by 38 states, including Great Britain and all other great powers, as follows: —
Whilst limiting its action to international questions, it shall be the duty of the institute: (a) To collect, elaborate and publish, with as little delay as possible, statistical, technical, or economic information regarding the cultivation of the soil, its productions, whether animal or vegetable, the trade in agricultural products, and the prices obtained on the various markets. (b) To communicate to interested parties, also without delay, full information of the nature above mentioned. (c) To indicate the wages of rural labour. (d) To notify all new diseases of plants which may appear in any part of the world, indicating the districts affected, the spread of the disease, and, if possible, the efficacious means of resistance. (e) To consider questions relating to agricultural co-operation, insurance and credit, in all their forms, collecting and publishing information which may be useful in the various countries for the organization of undertakings relating to agricultural co-operation, insurance and credit. (f) To present, if expedient, to the governments, for their approval, measures for the protection of the common interests of agriculturists and for the improvement of their condition, after having previously taken every means of obtaining the necessary information, e.g. resolutions passed by international congresses or other congresses relating to agriculture or to sciences applied to agriculture, agricultural societies, academies, learned societies, &c.
All questions relating to the economic interests, the legislation and administration of any particular state, must be excluded from the sphere of the institute. (Art. 9).
Lastly, there is a class of difficulties which might arise from preferential treatment of trade from different countries. To obviate them statesmen have been led to adopt the principle of the “most-favoured-nation-clause” — that is to say, a clause providing that if any reductions of tariff or other advantages are granted by either contracting state to any third state, the others shall have the benefit of it. In Europe this clause has been uniformly treated as applying to all reductions of tariff without distinction. The United States interpretation, on the other hand, distinguishes between reductions of a general character and reductions made specifically in return for reductions by some other state. The latter do not come within the operation of the clause, and a co-contracting state is only entitled to obtain extension of them to itself on granting similar concessions. In other words, concessions to any co-contracting state are only allowed gratuitously to a third co-contracting state when nothing has been given for them, the clause not covering advantages granted in return for advantages. It is to be hoped that this special view of the meaning of the clause will be met in the future, as in some recent treaties, by specifically dealing with the exceptions.[2]
The Utility of Popular Effort. — Until quite recently it had been a distinctive mark of practical wisdom to treat private efforts for the improvement of international relations for the preservation of peace, with the patronizing tolerance courteous people of the world extend to half-crazy idealists. Since the opening of the century, an immense change has taken place in the attitude of the leaders of popular opinion towards the advocacy of peace. This new attitude has been contemporary with the greater interest displayed by the mercantile classes of England and the United States in the improvement of their political relations with their neighbours. It may be said to have begun with the visit of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce to Paris in 1900, at a time when France was still smarting from the humiliation of the Fashoda affair, and the Boer War was exciting hostile demonstrations against Great Britain throughout the continent of Europe. That some four hundred British manufacturers
- ↑
A subsidiary convention not quite falling within the scope of
the above convention is the submarine telegraphs convention,
which was signed in 1884. It applies outside territorial waters
to all legally established submarine cables landed on the territories,
colonies or possessions of one or more of the high contracting
parties. Under its provisions it is a punishable offence “to break
or injure a submarine cable wilfully or by culpable negligence in
such manner as might interrupt or obstruct telegraphic communication
either wholly or partially, such punishment being without
prejudice to any civil action for damages.” It also provides that: —
“Vessels engaged in laying or repairing submarine cables shall conform to the regulations as to signals which have been, or may be, adopted by mutual agreement among the high contracting parties with the view of preventing collisions at sea. When a ship engaged in repairing a cable exhibits the said signals, other vessels which see them or are able to see them shall withdraw to or keep beyond a distance of one nautical mile at least from the ship in question so as not to interfere with her operations” (art. 5). “Owners of ships or vessels who can prove that they have sacrificed an anchor, a net or other fishing-gear in order to avoid injuring a submarine cable shall receive compensation from the owner of the cable,” and “in order to establish a claim to such compensation a statement supported by the evidence of the crew should whenever possible be drawn up immediately after the occurrence and the master must within twenty-four hours after his return to or next putting into port make a declaration to the proper authorities” (art. 7). “The tribunals competent to take cognizance of infractions of the present convention are those of the country to which the vessel on board of which the offence was committed belongs” (art. 8). By art. 15 it is provided that the stipulations of the convention do not in any way restrict the action of belligerents. It may be remarked that the British representative at the time of signing the convention declared that his government understood that in the time of war a belligerent would be free to act in regard to submarine cables as though the convention did not exist. The act to carry into effect the above convention is the Submarine Telegraph Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 49) which was slightly modified by 50 Vict. c. 3. Section 3 of the earlier act provides that a person who injures the cable either wilfully or by culpable negligence is “guilty of a misdemeanour and on conviction: (a) if he acted wilfully, shall be liable to penal servitude for a term not exceeding five years, or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding two years, and to a fine either in lieu of or in addition to such penal servitude or imprisonment; and (b) if he acted by culpable negligence shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months without hard labour, and to a fine not exceeding £100 either in lieu of or in addition to such imprisonment.”
See Board of Trade Correspondence on Protection of Submarine Cables, printed on the 24th of July 1882; and Parliamentary Paper C. 5910: 1890.
- ↑ See Barclay, Problems of International Practice and Diplomacy (1907), p. 137 seq.
