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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

سانسيسا

Reference :-

C.O.885

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

Italy

Country.

Date of Treaty.

Nature of Treaty Provision.

1883 -

Japan

1894-

Italians are entitled to national!

treatment in matters of navi- gation (Art. I.).

Japanese entitled to national treatment in regard to trade with all places open to foreign commerce (Art. III.).

Liberia

Mexico

1848-

1888 -

Most-favoured - nation

ment (Art. II.), Most favoured - nation

ment (Art. IV.).

Morocco

treat-

British Possessions bound by Treaty.

New South Wales, Queens- land, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Natal, Newfound- land-by adherence. Also the Crown Colonies. Natal, Newfoundland-by adherence. Queensland, Canada--by special arrange- ments. Also the Crown Colonies.

dominious

All the British

(Art. II.). treat- Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, South Austra- Jia, Tasmania, Natal, New- foundland by adherence. Also the Crown Colonies.

1856 (con- No Treaty provision in this

firmed by

Algeciras

Act).

Netherlands

Nicaragua

1537 & 1851

1905 -

Norway

l'araguay

1826, &c.

1881.

I'eru

Portugal

Roumania

1850 -

1905 -

Russia

Salvador -

18.59.

respect.

No Treaty provision in this

respect,

-> Nicaraguans are entitled to national treatment in matters of navigation (Art. I.). No specific Treaty provision in

this respect. Paraguayan ships are entitled | to national treatment (Art. IV.).

Most favoured - nation treat-

ment (Art. 11.). No Treaty.

Roumanian ships are entitled to

national treatment (Art. I.).

Russians are entitled to national | treatment in matters of navi gation (Art. I.). 1862 & 1886 Salvador has national rights in matters of navigation (Art. 11.).

Spain

Sweden

1826, &c.

·

United States

1815.

Uruguay -

Venezuela

No Treaty.

No specific Treaty provision in

this respect.

No Treaty provision in this

respect.

1885 & 1899 Uruguayan ships are entitled to national treatment (Art. III.).

1825, &c.

Most favoured - nation treat-

meut (Art. II.).

No British possessions have

as yet adhered.

Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, Natal, Cape Colony, Newfound- land-by adherence. Also the Crown Colonies. All the British dominions

(Art. II.).

No Self-Governing Colonies have yet adhiered. Six- teen Crown Colonies have adhered.

All the British dominions

(Art. 1.).

Queensland, South Australia,

Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Tas- mania, Natal, Newfound- land-by adherence. Also India and the Crown Colonies.

New Zealand, Newfoundland

by adherence. Also 16 Crown Colonies.

All the British territories

(Art. III.).

IV.

RESOLUTION OF COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.

ISLANDS OF THe Pacific.

is

That in view of the probable completion of the Panama Canal desirable that all possible means of strengthening British interests in the Pacific should be adopted.

MEMORANDUM RESPECTING THE EXTENSION OF BRITISH INTERESTS IN THE PACIFIC IN CONNECTION WITH THE OPENING OF THE PANAMA CANAL.

The question of the effect which the opening of an Isthmian Canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would have on British interests in the latter has ever since the matter came within the domain of practical politics engaged the serious attention of His Majesty's Government.

When the question arose in 1898 of the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, and its supersession by a fresh Agreement with the United States for the construction and neutralization of the Canal, an early opportunity was taken of consulting the technical advisers of His Majesty's Government on the strategic and commercial questions which were raised in that connection, and the views of the Director of Military Intelligence and of the President of the Board of Trade and of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were accordingly obtained. It was then pointed out that, though in the event of hostilities with the United States the advantage would certainly lie with them, should they hold the Canal, yet in times of peace the opening of such a Canal would, if its dues were moderate, attract a large custom, and confer a great and continuous benefit upon our merchant ships, and ordinarily be a material convenience to our ships of war.

The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which was signed between His Majesty's Government and the United States' Government on the 18th November 1901, agreed to the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer Convention and to the construction of an interoceanic canal under the auspices of the United States and provided for its neutralization; while, two years later, on the 18th November 1903, a Treaty between the United States and Panamá determined that the Canal should follow the Panamá route.

Since the latter date, when this route was decided on in preference to that via Nicaragua, the attention of His Majesty's Government has naturally been specially directed to the consequences involved in that decision, and the Governments of Australia and New Zealand have not failed to press upon them the desirability of acquiring, if possible, a coaling station on one of the islands lying between Panamá and the Australian Colonies. unnecessary for the purposes of the present Memorandum to enter at length It appears into the commercial and strategic results of the opening of the Canal, but it may be convenient to summarize the communications which have passed and the suggestions which have been made with respect to the possible sites for naval or trading stations-viz., Tahiti, the Leeward Islands, and the Gambier Islands.

As regards Tahiti, in August 1906 Captain E. F. A. Gaunt, of His Majesty's ship "Cambrian," seat home a Report, a copy of which was supplied to the Governor-General of Australia, on the changes of administra- tion then proceeding there. The French, having removed all their troops and reduced the number of their fonctionnaires, were, he stated, preparing to give up the whole of the islands if they could be sold or exchanged for a

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