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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 14TH AUGUST, 1886.

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I trust that this reply will meet the wishes which we expressed in the concluding portion of ur Excellency's note, and that, therefore, we may sign the Convention, a translation of which I close that you may examine it and compare it with the English text.

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In concluding my reply to the note which your Excellency transmitted to me to-day, and con- dering as satisfactorily terminated for both countries the negotiations which have occupied your xcellency since the commencement of your mission, I fulfil a pleasing duty in conveying to your xcellency the expression of my most sincere gratitude for the frankness and loyalty with which you ave conducted these negotiations, and for the sincere interest with which, acting within the instruc- ons you had received from your Government, you have treated the representations which, in the ame of Spain, I have had the honour to make to you, thanks to which the commercial relations etween Spain and England will henceforth rest on a solid and just basis, thus strengthening, in a rin and lasting manner, the friendship which from of old exists between the two nations.

I avail, &c.

(Signed)

S. MORET.

Sir Clare Ford to Señor Moret.

4. le Ministre,

Madrid, May 9, 1886.

I HAVE the honour to inform your Excellency that on the 26th ultimo I transmitted to the Earl of Rosebery a copy of the Convention which we had signed in duplicate on that day, for facili-·

the commercial relations between Great Britain and Spain.

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Her Majesty's Government had not previously seen the whole of the Spanish rendering of the lish text of that Convention, and now that they have done so they have called my attention to one ise in it which occurs at the end of Article II. The English text runs as follows:-

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They will, in addition, apply to Parliament for the necessary authority to provide that the limit of the lower half of the alcoholic scale shall extend up to, but not exceed, 30 degrees. of proof spirit."

The Spanish translation is as follows:

“Pedirá ademas al Parlamento la autorización necesaria para extender el limite inferior de la escala alcohólica de los vinos desde los 26 á los 30 grados inclusive."

Her Majesty's Government consider that the Spanish translation with regard to the portion of the Convention above quoted is not a correct version of the English, and I have been instructed by the Eart of Rosebery to inquire of your Excellency whether the Spanish Government understand the Spanish text to convey precisely the same meaning as the English expression, "shall extend up to but not exceed 30 degrees."

I shall feel obliged to your Excellency if you would kindly inform me whether that is so, and if you would be so good as to record the fact, and assure me that the Spanish words used in translating the English text do not cover the fractions of a degree between 30 and 31 degrees of the alcoholic scale.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

FRANCIS CLARE FORD.

Exvellency,

Señor Moret to Sir Clare Ford.

Ministry of State, the Palace, May 10, 1886.

I HAVE the honour to state to your Excellency, in reply to your note of yesterday, that there is no difference whatever between the sense of the Spanish translation of the last paragraph of the IInd Article of the Convention of the 26th April and the English text.

The literal translation of the words which your Excellency mentions would be this:-

"

Que el limite inferior de la escala alcohólica se extienda hasta, pero sin exceder, los 30 grados de fuerza alcohólica.”

Considering that the literal rendering of those words did not, in my judgment, read well in Spanish, I had the honour to propose to your Excellency the present translation, which is as follows:-

"El limite inferior de la escala alcohólica de los vinos desde los 26 hasta los 30 grados inclusive," Which words do not appear to your Excellency to clearly convey the idea. In order, therefore, to fully dispel the doubts which appear to have arisen in the British Chancery, it is enough for me to ratify the meaning of the words above referred to, and I repeat that they have the same as those of the British text, and that the Spanish Government consider that the alcoholic scale mentioned in the Ind Article will extend to but is not to exceed 30 degrees.

I avail, &c.

(Signed) S. MORET.