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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 30тн OCTOBER, 1886. 1027

Inclosure in No. 1.

Memorial from Copyright Owners of Great Britain.

To the Right Honourable and Most Noble the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., Prime Minister and

Principal Secretary of State for Foreigu Affairs.

My Lord,

WE, the Undersigned, respectfully ask your Lordship, as representing Her Majesty's Government, to undertake legislation on the subject of copyright, with a view to consolidate and amend the laws relating thereto in this country.

The subject has of late years engaged much attention, and a general consensus of opinion has been arrived at which, we think, will prevent such a measure occupying much time in its passage through Parliament. The defects of the present state of the law have been brought out by the Royal Commission initiated by the late Earl of Beaconsfield, and the principles adopted and recommendations made by that Commission for its improvement have been, with but few exceptions, very generally accepted by the literary and artistic portions of the community.

It is especially desirable that such a measure should be promoted at the present time, because the recent Conference on Copyright at Berne has matured a scheme for a general Copyright Union, which is likely very shortly to result in the denouncing of our existing Treaties relating thereto.

The present Law is embodied in no less than fifteen Acts of Parliament and various judicial decisions, and is, to quote the language of the Copyright Commission Report, "wholly destitute of any sort of arrangement, incomplete, often obscure, and so ill-expressed that no one who does not give long study to it can expect to understand it" (see paragraph 7). Obscurity of style is, however, only one of the defects of these Acts; their arrangement is often worse than their style, and of this the Copyright Act of 1842 (the principal Act) is a conspicuous instance (see paragragh 9); these imperfections induced the Copyright Commission to recommend its consolidation as a work of par- amount importance.

We think also that the offer to make publication in a British possession carry copyright co- extensive with the Empire, made to the Colonies by Her Majesty's Government in 1879, ought in justice to them to be realized without unnecessary delay; and, we may add, that the present state of the law has hitherto prevented some important Treaties being made which would be very desirable in the interests of literature and art.

Some legislation is absolutely necessary to enable this country to join in the said Copyright Union in September next, and our present request is that the new legislation should embrace the whole subject, and should place the law on a sound and intelligible footing; instead of legislating merely with special reference to that Union.

To promote this end, the Incorporated Society of Authors, the Copyright Association and the Musical Copyright Association have laid before the Board of Trade a scheme for a Bill which deals with the subject in the manner they jointly think desirable; and they are also about to send to the same authorities a complete draft of a Bill embodying that scheme, so that the Board of Trade may have at any rate the materials at hand which will enable them to draw a Bill quickly which may secure your sanction and support.

We have received so much attention from the Departments of the Government most interested (Colonial Office, Foreign Office, and Board of Trade), that we refrain from troubling you with details, and merely inclose copies of the above-referretl-to scheme for your information.*

We embrace this opportunity respectfully to thank your Lordship for allowing this country to be fittingly represented at the above mentioned Conference; and your well-known interest in the subject will, we feel sure, insure due attention to it.

In conclusion, we earnestly hope that your Lordship may be able to benefit the press, and the art and musical and dramatic world, by undertaking to present a complete Bill on the subject to the attention of Parliament early in the Session about to commence.

(Signed)

HENRY REEVE, C.B., D.C.L., Editor of the "Edinburgh

Review;"

WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D., Editor of the "Quarterly Review;" JOHN MURRAY, Publisher;

Members of the Committee of the Copyright Association, who sign because the President, Lord Houghton, is dead, and no successor has yet been elected.

T. NORTON LONGMAN, Publisher, Treasurer of the Copy-

right Association.

F. R. DALDY, Honorary Secretary of ditto.

THOMAS CHAPPELL, President, Music Publishers' Copy-

right Association.

EDWIN ASHDOWN, Vice-President, ditto.

* See "Switzerland No. 1 (1886)."