11612
No. 220.
(GENERAL: AUSTRALIA.) |
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Cousting Trade in Australia: Rights of Greece under the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, 1886.
SIR,
Royal Courts of Justice,
March 31, 1904. WE were honoured with your commands, signified in Mr. H. Bertram Cox's letter of the 12th instant, stating that, with reference to our report of the 17th July, 1903,*
* he was directed by you to request the favour of our report on certain questions which had arisen with regard to the rights of Greece under the Treaty of Com- merce and Navigation of 1886 in respect of the coasting trade in Australia.
That Mr. Bertram Cox was to transmit to us a copy of that treaty, together with correspondence which had passed between your Department and the Governor- General of Australia, the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade.
That it would be seen that in the Navigation Bill, shortly to be introduced in the Commonwealth Parliament, clauses would be inserted which might affect the right of foreign vessels to engage in the coasting trade of Australia, and that the question accordingly arose whether the Anglo-Greek Treaty of 1886, or other similar treaties on the part of two Australian States, must be held to confer on the other contracting party any right to engage in the trade between those two States, that trade having-since the passing of the Commonwealth Act-become part of the coasting trade of the Commonwealth.
That Mr. Bertram Cox was to request us to be good enough to take the papers into our consideration and to report:-
1. What were the rights of Greece under the Treaty of Greece of 1886, in the event of legislation by the Commonwealth of Australia to restrict the coasting trade of the Commonwealth to national vessels ?
2. Whether the separate denunciation of the treaty by the Australian Com- monwealth in respect of all Australian States which had adhered thereto was per- missible?
We have taken the matter into our consideration, and in obedience to your commands, have the honour to
Report-
1. That, in our opinion, the rights of Greece could not be affected by legisla- tion of the Commonwealth of Australia until the treaty of 1886 is denounced or modified by agreement.
2. No. The treaty is with His Majesty and could only be denounced as a whole by His Majesty unless the Greek Government consented to modify it by can- celling the adherence of the Australian States.
The Right Honourable
Alfred Lyttelton, M.P.. &c.. &c., &c.
21 Wt
4/04 D8 $ 17894
• No. 194A.
We have, &c.,
R. B. FINLAY. EDWARD CARSON.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O. 885
Reference :-
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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