667963-1886-Commercial-Treaty-between-Great-Britain-and-Spain- — Page 2

754

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 14TH AUGUST, 1886.

ARTICLE III.

of

The present Convention has been drawn up subject to the sanction of the Legislatures United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Spain respectively. When approved, it sh remain in force until the 30th June, 1892, and in case neither of the High Contracting Parties shou have notified, twelve months before the said date, the intention of terminating it, the present Conver tion shall remain binding until the expiration of one year from the day on which either of the tw High Contracting Parties shall have denounced it.

Done in duplicate at Madrid, this 26th day of April, 1886.

Sir Clare Ford to Señor Moret.

(L.S.)

F. CLARE FORD,

N

M. le Ministre,

Madrid, April 26, 1886.

I HAVE the honour to inform your Excellency that I have received the authorization of the Ear of Rosebery, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to sign with your k cellency the Convention which we had agreed to draw up for facilitating the commercial relation between Great Britain and Spain, and a copy of which I have the honour to transmit herewith to you Excellency.

!

I shall feel obliged if your Excellency will name a day when I can proceed to the Ministry State-in order to sign the Convention in question.

Before doing so, however, I have been instructed to place on record the following points, on whic we are also agreed, but which it has not been thought necessary to insert in the body of the instrumen which I propose to sign with your Excellency.

The first point refers to wines in bottle, which it is understood may be excluded at the option c Her Majesty's Government, from the stipulations of Article II of the Convention.

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The second point refers to a possible future division of the lower half of the alcoholic scale. It) understood that nothing in the Convention shall preclude Her Majesty's Government from dividing, at some future time it shall be found desirable to do so, the present lower half of the alcoholic scale a a point not above 15 degrees, and treating wines below that point differently from wines above it.

It is further agreed that it shall be open to any British Colony to withdraw from the present Cor vention on notice to this effect being given by Her Majesty's Minister at Madrid to the Spanish Minist for Foreign Affairs within a year after the date of its signature.

The agreement on the part of the Government of Her Majesty the Queen-Regent of Spain on th above points shall be deemed to be recorded by the reply which I have the honour to solicit you 1xcellency to be so good as address to me in a note on the subject.

I avail, &c.

(Signed)

Señor Moret to Sir Clare Ford.

FRANCIS CLARE FORD.

Excellency,

Ministry of State, the Palace, April 26, 1886.

IN acknowledging the receipt of your note of to-day, I have the honour to state that I agree with its contents, as, also, with the draft of Convention which it incloses.

The Convention and the note faithfully represent the agreement to which we have happily come being the result of the discussion which was entered into since your arrival at this Court, with a vie to facilitate the commercial relations between Great Britain and Spain.

It is my duty to inform your Excellency that the Spanish Government agree with the three point! contained in your note, and consider that Her Britannic Majesty's Government are authorized t exclude from the reduction which is to be made in the alcoholic scale the wines which arrive in bottle: into the United Kingdom.

They agree, also, that the Convention which we are about to sign will not hinder Her Britanni Majesty's Government from dividing into two parts the lower half of the alcoholic scale, that is to say that part which terminates at 30 degrees, in such a way that the wines below 15 degrees may b treated differently from those above it.

With regard to Her Britannic Majesty's Colonies, it is understood that if, within a year after th date of this Convention, and reckoned from the day on which it is signed, any of the said Colonie declare their intention to withdraw from the present Convention, the said Colony will be exclude from the stipulations contained therein.