ECONOMIC

AVIATION

CONVENTION FOR THE UNIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES RELATING TO INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION BY AIR, AND ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL (TREATY SERIES, No. 876)1

New Zealand

By a note dated June 8, 1937, the Ambassador of Poland at Washington informed the Secretary of State that the adherence of New Zealand to the convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international transportation by air and additional protocol, signed at Warsaw October 12, 1929, was notified to the Polish Government on April 6, 1937. The adherence will become effective, in accordance with paragraph 3, article 38, of the convention, 90 days after April 6, 1937.

CONVENTION FOR THE UNIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES RELATING TO THE PRECAUTIONARY ATTACHMENT OF AIRCRAFT 2

Hungary

By a note dated June 8, 1937, the Italian Ambassador at Washington informed the Secretary of State that the instrument of ratification by Hungary of the convention for the unification of certain rules relating to the precautionary attachment of aircraft, signed at Rome on May 29, 1933, was deposited with the Italian Government on May 15, 1937. The convention will become effective in respect of Hungary on August 13, 1937.

COMMERCE

PROTOCOL ON ARBITRATION CLAUSES IN COMMERCIAL MATTERS 3

RESERVATION BY LIECHTENSTEIN

There is printed below a circular letter dated May 26, 1937, from the League of Nations regarding the reservation made by Liechten

1 49 Stat. (pt. 2) 3000; see also Bulletin No. 85, October 1936, p. 13.

2

See Bulletin No. 86, November 1936, p. 17.

3 See Bulletin No. 31, April 1932, p. 12.

stein when signing the protocol of September 24, 1923, on arbitration clauses in commercial matters:

"I have the honour to inform you that, on May 13th, 1937, M. Camille Gorge, Chief of the League of Nations Section at the Swiss Federal Political Department, signed, on behalf of the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein and duly authorised by it, the Protocol on Arbitration Clauses in Commercial Matters, concluded at Geneva on September 24th, 1923.

"On signing the Protocol, the Plenipotentiary of the Government of Liechtenstein made the following reservation:

"Translation:

"I sign the present Protocol, on behalf of the Principality of Liechtenstein, subject to the following reservation:

"Agreements which are the subject of a special contract, or of clauses embodied in other contracts, attributing competence to a foreign tribunal, if they are concluded between nationals and foreigners or between nationals in the country, shall henceforth be valid only when they have been drawn up in due legal form.

““This provision shall apply also to stipulations in articles of association, deeds of partnership and similar instruments and also to agreements for the submission of a dispute to an arbitral tribunal sitting in a foreign country.

"Any agreement which submits to a foreign tribunal or to an arbitral tribunal a dispute relating to insurance contracts shall be null and void if the person insured is domiciled in the country or if the interest insured is situated in the country.

"It shall be the duty of the tribunal to ensure as a matter of routine that this provision is observed even during procedure for distraint or during bankruptcy proceedings.'

"In virtue of the resolution adopted by the Council of the League of Nations on June 17th, 1927, on the admissibility of reservations to general conventions, and in view of the ratification of this Protocol by the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein, I have the honour to ask you to let me know whether your Government has any objection to the acceptance of this reservation."

TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE, AND CONSULAR RIGHTS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND ESTONIA (TREATY SERIES, No. 736) *

The American Chargé d'Affaires at Tallinn transmitted to the Secretary of State with a despatch dated May 18, 1937, a copy of a note received from the Estonian Foreign Office under date of May 15, 1937, whereby the Estonian Government agrees to withdraw their proposal that the treaty of friendship, commerce, and consular rights between the United States and Estonia of December 23, 1925, terminate on May 22, 1937. The note adds that it is the desire of the Estonian Government to modify the existing treaty on May 22, 1938, at the latest, and expresses the hope that the prolongation of the treaty for 1 year under the provisions of article XXIX, will be sufficient for the conclusion and enforcement of a treaty containing the desired modifications.

*44 Stat. (pt. 3) 2379; see also Bulletin No. 81, June 1936, p. 15.

COPYRIGHT

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE PROTECTION OF LITERARY AND
ARTISTIC WORKS

CONVENTION AS REVISED AT ROME, JUNE 2, 1928 5

Portugal

The American Minister to Portugal transmitted to the Secretary of State with a despatch dated April 27, 1937, a copy and translation of decree law (no. 27,670) of April 26, 1937, authorizing the adherence of Portugal to the convention for the protection of literary and artistic works signed at Bern September 9, 1886, and revised at Rome June 2, 1928.

FINANCE

CONVENTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE UNIFICATION OF LAWS ON BILLS OF EXCHANGE, PROMISSORY NOTES, AND CHEQUES

RESERVATION BY AUSTRALIA

There is printed below a circular letter dated June 2, 1937, from the League of Nations regarding the desire of the Commonwealth of Australia to adhere to the convention on stamp laws in connection with bills of exchange and promissory notes with protocol, signed June 7, 1930, with the limitation specified in section D, paragraph 1, of the protocol of the convention :

"I have the honour to inform you that, in virtue of the provisions of Section "D", paragraph 4, of the Protocol to the Convention on the Stamp Laws in connection with Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes signed at Geneva on June 7th, 1930, the Minister for External Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia has informed me, by a communication dated April 6th, 1937, that the Commonwealth of Australia is ready to accede to this Convention, but desires to be allowed the limitation specified in Section "D", paragraph 1, of the Protocol to the Convention, namely, that the only instruments to which the provisions of the Convention shall apply, in so far as concerns the Commonwealth of Australia, are bills of exchange presented for acceptance or accepted or payable elsewhere than in the Commonwealth.

"According to the same communication, it is also desired that a similar limitation shall apply in the case of the Territories of Papua and Norfolk Island and the Mandated Territories of New Guinea and Nauru.

"Should your Government have any objection to this limitation, I should be grateful if you would inform me before the expiry of the period of six months provided for in section "D", paragraph 4, of the said Protocol.

"If no objection has been received by the end of that period, the limitation with which the Commonwealth of Australia intends to accede to the Convention shall be deemed to have been accepted."

FISHERIES

AGREEMENT FOR THE REGULATION OF WHALING, AND FINAL ACT

7

The American delegate to the International Whaling Conference, which was held in London from May 24 to June 8, 1937, forwarded to the Secretary of State with a despatch dated June 9, 1937, a copy of the agreement for the regulation of whaling and final act, which were signed on June 8, 1937. The object of the agreement is set forth in a communiqué issued by the Conference on June 8, 1937, printed below:

"The International Conference on the Whaling Industry concluded its business this morning with the signature of an Agreement for the regulation of Whaling in all waters.

"The Agreement was signed by the accredited representatives of the Governments of the Union of South Africa, United States of America, the Argentine Republic, the Commonwealth of Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Irish Free State, New Zealand and Norway.

"The following Governments were also represented at the Conference by Observers, viz:-Canada, and Portugal, and there is good reason to hope that they will shortly accede to the Agreement. It is hoped also to secure the adhesion of other Governments who did not take part in the conference but have whaling interests to preserve. "The Agreement is to come into force on the 1st July, next, but is subject to ratification. Subject to this the Agreement will be in full force until June 30th, 1938, and provision is made for its continuance thereafter subject to the provision that any Government may withdraw from it on giving six months notice to terminate on the following thirtieth of June.

"The Agreement follows, on the whole, familiar lines. There will be a close season for what is known as pelagic whaling, that is whaling prosecuted by whale catching ships attached to floating factories, for nine months of the year, except in the first year of its operation, when the open season will be extended by one week at the end of the season.

"North of 40° South Latitude as far as the Equator pelagic whaling for baleen whales is absolutely prohibited and this prohibition is extended to wide areas north of the Equator. For instance, pelagic whaling by ships of the contracting Governments is prohibited North of the Equator in the whole of the Atlantic Ocean, Davis Strait, Baffin Bay and the Greenland Sea, in the Indian

7 See Bulletin No. 92, May 1937, p. 21.

Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean south of 35° North Latitude east of 150° West Longitude and south of 20° North Latitude west of that Longitude.

"Certain species of whales-the various Right Whales and the Grey Whale are protected absolutely as are all whale calves and female whales attended by calves.

"It is also forbidden to kill whales below certain size limits, the size limits being raised above those which have been prescribed by agreement between the United Kingdom and Norway in the past. Under the Agreement it will not be lawful to take blue whales of less than 70 ft. in length, fin whales of less than 55 ft., humpback whales of less than 35 ft., and sperm whales of less than 35 feet. The extension of this form of protection to the sperm whale, which has not hitherto received any protection is one of the novelties of the Agreement.

"Whaling at land stations is to be subject to a six months close season. The dates of the beginning and ending of the close season will vary according to the latitude of the station. The extended period of liberty to hunt whales from land stations is justified by the fact that their operations are limited by the fact that they can only take such whales as come into their vicinity, whereas the factory ships can follow the schools of whales wherever they may be.

"The agreement is accompanied by a final act in which the Conference discusses various matters not dealt with in the Agreement and recommends to the Governments that they should prepare to take in agreement with one another other measures for the further protection of whales in the light of further experience and knowledge. An important suggestion among others is that the Governments should take powers to regulate the methods of shooting whales with a view to preventing the loss of whales fatally wounded through the use of defective guns or harpoons or other causes and at the same time mitigating the cruelty which admittedly attends this process.

"The Conference further points out that the measures they have agreed upon may prove nugatory if the ships of countries not parties to the Agreement are permitted to indulge in unregulated whaling and urges the importance of persuading all interested Governments to accede to the agreement. It concludes with a warning that unless whaling is now strictly regulated, the stock of whales cannot fail to be reduced to a level at which whaling ceases to be remunerative."

LABOR

CONVENTIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR CONFERENCE

Afghanistan

According to a circular letter from the League of Nations dated June 1, 1937, the instrument of ratification by Afghanistan of the convention concerning the employment of women on underground work in mines of all kinds, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its nineteenth session (Geneva, June 4-25, 1935), was registered with the Secretariat on May 14, 1937.