THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 5TH FEBRUARY, 1887.
113
In reply, I am to state, for the information of Lord Rosebery, that the Board of Trade concur in the terms of the proposed instructions to the Delegates.
The Board of Trade are further of opinion that it is desirable the Delegates should bring forward the question of the inadvisability of too early a date being fixed for holding the next Conference for considering the revision of the International Convention.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
COURTENAY BOYLE.
Sir,
No. 10.
Mr. Walpole to Mr. Bryce.-(Received July 31.)
India Office, Whitehall, July 30, 1886.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, and in reply to state that, as the Government of India have expressed their desire to enter the International Copyright Union, the Earl of Kimberley concurs in the adoption of the course proposed by the Earl of Rosebery, but is of opinion that the declaration referred to in your letter should be added to the Convention about to be signed.
I have, &c.
No. 11.
(Signed)
HORACE WALPOLE,
Gentlemen,
The Earl of Rosebery to Mr. Adams and Mr. Bergne.
Foreign Office, August 2, 1886.
I HAVE appointed you to be British Delegates to the International Copyright Conference to meet at Berne on the 6th September next, and I transmit to you herewith a Full Power to enable you to sign the Convention which was agreed upon at the Conference of last year.
It having been then decided that the draft proposed as the basis of the International Copyright Union should not be altered, Her Majesty's Government have passed an Act amending the British International Copyright Acts in such a manner as to correspond. with the draft, and to enable Her Majesty's Government to enter the Union.
A copy of this Act is inclosed.*
Two proposals have, however, since been received for additions to, or changes in, the bases laid down in 1885.
4
1. A proposal by the French Government for an Additional Declaration.
2. A proposal by the Swiss Government to insert certain words into the text of Article 7.
Notes from the Swiss Government containing these proposals are inclosed for your information.† In regard to the first, Her Majesty's Government, although they would have preferred that no additions of any kind should be made to the draft Convention, do not see any objection to the terms of the Declaration, save that it would be desirable to obtain some explanation of the exact meaning attached to the first part of Article 3; and that Article 4 will require qualification to make it come within the scope of existing English law, by which the publication of an unauthorized dramatic version of a novel is prohibited, but not its representation on the stage.
You will therefore endeavour to obtain the modification of this Article in the sense that it shall be understood to apply only so far as the domestic law of each State will permit.
To the proposal of the Swiss Government Her Majesty's Government have no objection to offer, considering it to be merely an explanation of the present text.
Subject to these observations you are authorized to sign on behalf of Great Britain.
No. 12.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
ROSEBERY.
Gentlemen,
The Earl of Iddesleigh to Sir Francis Adams and Mr. Bergne.
Foreign Office, August 21, 1886.
I TRANSMIT to you herewith copies of correspondence, as marked in the margin, with the India and Colonial Departments, relative to the inclusion of the British Colonies in the scope of the International Copyright Convention.
* 49 & 50 Vict., cap. 33.
Inclosures in Nos. 1 and 4.
Nos. 2, 8, and 10.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.