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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Thirteenth Day.
8 May 1907.
TREATY QUESTION. (Sir Wilfrid Laurier.)
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Dependencies of the Crown and in fact at the present time all treaties which are made, except such tariff arrangements as we have between us, We have a treaty with France. are made by the British Government.
Canada has a special treaty with France which was negotiated by the British Government, and therefore whatever provision we may make amongst ourselves cannot be claimed by foreign nations as entitling them to the treatment of the most-favoured-nation.
L
now suggested is Sir WILLIAM ROBSON: Except that what is scarcely an arrangement between ourselves; for instance, it is suggested that Colonies should be at liberty to make their own fiscal arrangements with foreign countries.
Sir WILFRID LAURIER: No, No.
Sir JOSEPH WARD: No.
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE: No. I thought there was a misapprehension ; I do not like to interrupt, Sir William, but that is not so.
Sir JOSEPHI WARD: You are quite right, Mr. Lloyd George. What we ask is that we may make them between ourselves, and we further ask that when you make them with a foreign country we should not be fettered by your treaty with that foreign country unless we concur in it.
Sir WILLIAM ROBSON: You are not fettered in making arrangements between yourselves, but I thought you were suggesting fiscal arrangements with various countries.
Sir JOSEPH WARD: No.
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE: I agree with Sir Wilfrid Laurier in what he said about the whole position having been changed since the renouncement of the Belgian and German Treaties, and I do not see that there can be any possible objection to Sir Joseph Ward's resolution.
Sir WILFRID LAURIER: In view of the change in the situation, there can be no objection at all: may not be absolutely necessary, but it would
at any rate show the policy.
Office approves of this
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE: The Colonial Memorandum, which we submitted to them in the first instance, with regard to treaties in future, and which gives you perfect freedom; no treaty binds you unless you approve of it, and this will facilitate the process of getting rid of treaties which you consider to he obnoxious.
our
Sir WILFRID LAURIER: No treaty binds us except with consent, and we may dissent and put an end to the treaty, so far as we are concerned.
Sir JOSEPH WARD: I presume, Lord Elgin, you will put this resolution, and it may be agreed to?
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE: Yes.
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Mr. DEAKIN: I think it is well that the Solicitor-General did call attention to the facts upon which he is dwelling, because they are material, Any advantages that we have and it is very necessary to keep them in sight. by being at time absolutely one Empire without any division we want to keep, while at the same time we wish to increase the self-governing powers as far as we can within that margin, and in that respect, although the doctrine may not be pertinent to this particular issue, it is a very important thing to keep in mind.
Sir WILLIAM ROBSON: Perhaps I should not have intervened, not understood that Sir having heard the earlier part of the discussion, but Joseph Ward was dealing with the right to make arrangements with foreign countries.
Sir JOSEPH WARD: No, that is not so. CHAIRMAN: This Resolution is agreed to.
question?
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE: I think that is all.
Is that all the Treaty
Mr. F. R. MOOR: I did not quite gather how far Sir Joseph has been
met with regard to Treaties that may impose disabilities on the Colonies without consulting them.
Mr. DEAKIN : The last line deals with that.
Sir JOSEPH WARD: They are not to be fettered.
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE: I think you have a copy of this Memorandum, Mr. Moor, which has been circulated by the Board of Trade. This explains the whole process we suggest should be pursued in future in negotiating Treaties that affect the Colonies.
C
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UNIFORMITY OF PATENT LAWS.
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE: With regard to patents, the Resolution is: That it is desirable in the interests of inventors and the public that patents granted in Great Britain or in any Colony possessing a Patent Office of a standard to be specified should be valid throughout the Empire." That is New Zealand, is it not?
Mr. DEAKIN: No, it is ours. Cape Colony comes next.
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE: Yes.
Sir WILFRID LAURIER: That is a very broad resolution, Mr. Deakin.
Mr. DEAKIN: Very broad indeed. I have not looked at it recently, but I am quite aware that as it stands it sets up a practically impossible standard. How far it is either possible or desirable to secure uniformity in this direction Our Chief Patents Officer, the is still a matter of argument with us. Commissioner of Patents, while admitting that the end in view is most desirable, points out that the enormous distances which separate us, the great importance as we all know in patent matters of prior registration, and the varying conditions under which protection is granted-all these circumstances together make the expectation of anything like real uniformity in connection So that, speaking from with the granting of patents still a far off end.
í 19270.
0
Thirteenth Day.
8 May 1907.
-
"TREATY QUESTION.
UNIFORMITY OF PATENT LAWS.