Wishing to ensure by arrangements suitable to modern requirements the application of the general principles of civilisation established by the Acts of Berlin and Brussels, Have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries: THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMER- The Honourable Frank Lyon Polk, Under-Secretary of State; General Tasker H. Bliss, Military Representative of the United IANS HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS: M. Paul Hymans, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of M. Jules van den Heuvel, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister M. Émile Vandervelde, Minister of Justice, Minister of State; HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, EMPEROR OF INDIA: The Right Honourable Arthur James Balfour, O.M., M.P., His The Right Honourable Andrew Bonar Law, M.P., His Lord The Right Honourable Viscount Milner, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., His The Right Honourable George Nicoll Barnes, M.P., Minister And: for the DOMINION of CANADA: The Honourable Sir Albert Edward Kemp, K.C.M.G., Minister of the Overseas Forces; for the COMMONWEALTH of AUSTRALIA: The Honourable George Foster Pearce, Minister of Defence; for the UNION of SOUTH AFRICA: The Right Honourable Viscount Milner, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.; for the DOMINION of NEW ZEALAND: The Honourable Sir Thomas Mackenzie, K.C.M.G., High Commissioner for New Zealand in the United Kingdom; for INDIA: The Right Honourable Baron Sinha, K.C., Under-Secretary of THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC: M. Georges Clemenceau, President of the Council, Minister of M. Stephen Pichon, Minister for Foreign Affairs; M. Louis-Lucien Klotz, Minister of Finance; M. André Tardieu, Commissary-General for Franco-American M. Jules Cambon, Ambassador of France; HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF ITALY: The Honourable Tommaso Tittoni, Senator of the Kingdom, Minister for Foreign Affairs; The Honourable Vittorio Scialoja, Senator of the Kingdom; The Honourable Maggiorino Ferraris, Senator of the Kingdom; dom: The Honourable Guglielmo Marconi, Senator of the Kingdom; The Honourable Silvio Crespi, Deputy; HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN: Viscount Chinda, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of H.M. the Emperor of Japan at London; M. K. Matsui, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of H.M. the Emperor of Japan at Paris; M. H. Ijuin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of THE PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC: Dr. Augusto Luiz Vieira Soares, formerly Minister for Foreign Who, after having communicated their full powers resognised in good and due form, Have agreed as follows: ARTICLE 1. The Signatory Powers undertake to maintain between their respective nationals and those of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention a complete commercial equality in the territories under their authority within the area defined by Article 1 of the General Act of Berlin of February 26, 1885, set out in the Annex hereto, but subject to the reservation specified in the final paragraph of that article. ANNEX. Article 1 of the General Act of Berlin of February 26, 1885. The trade of all nations shall enjoy.complete freedom: 1. In all the regions forming the basin of the Congo and its outlets. This basin is bounded by the watersheds (or mountain ridges) of the adjacent basins, namely, in particular, those of the Niari, the Ogowé, the Shari, and the Nile, on the north; by the eastern watershed line of the affluents of Lake Tanganyika on the east; and by the watersheds of the basins of the Zambesi and the Logé on the south. It therefore comprises all the regions watered by the Congo and its affluents, including Lake Tanganyika, with its eastern tributaries. 2. In the maritime zone extending along the Atlantic Ocean from the parallel situated in 2° 30′ of south latitude to the mouth of the Logé. The northern boundary will follow the parallel situated in 2° 30′ from the coast to the point where it meets the geographical basin of the Congo, avoiding the basin of the Ogowé, to which the provisions of the present Act do not apply. The southern boundary will follow the course of the Logé to its source, and thence pass eastward till it joins the geographical basin of the Congo. 3. In the zone stretching eastward from the Congo Basin as above defined, to` the Indian Ocean from 5° of north latitude to the mouth of the Zambesi in the south, from which point the line of demarcation will ascend the Zambesi to 5 miles above its confluence with the Shiré, and then follow the watershed between the affluents of Lake Nyassa and those of the Zambesi, till at last it reaches the watershed between the waters of the Zambesi and the Congo. It is expressly recognised that in extending the principal of free trade to this eastern zone, the Conference Powers only undertake engagements for themselves, and that in the territories belonging to an independent Sovereign State this principle shall only be applicable in so far as it is approved by such State. But the Powers agree to use their good offices with the Governments established on the African shore of the Indian Ocean for the purpose of obtaining such approval, and in any case of securing the most favorable conditions to the transit (traffic) of all nations. ARTICLE 2. Merchandise belonging to the nationals of the Signatory Powers, and to those of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention, shall have free access to the interior of the regions specified in Article 1. No differential treatment shall be imposed upon the said merchandise on importation or exportation, the transit remaining free from all duties, taxes or dues, other than those collected for services rendered. Vessels flying the flag of any of the said Powers shall also have access to all the coast and to all maritime ports in the territories specified in Article 1; they shall be subject to no differential treat ment. Subject to these provisions, the States concerned reserve to themselves complete liberty of action as to the customs and navigation regulations and tariffs to be applied in their territories. ARTICLE 3. In the territories specified in Article 1 and placed under the authority of one of the Signatory Powers, the nationals of those Powers, or of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention shall, subject only to the limitations necessary for the maintenance of public security and order, enjoy without distinction the same treatment and the same rights as the nationals of the Power exercising authority in the territory, with regard to the protection of their persons and effects, with regard to the acquisition and transmission of their movable and real property, and with regard to the exercise of their professions. ARTICLE 4. Each State reserves the right to dispose freely of its property and to grant concessions for the development of the natural resources of the territory, but no regulations on these matters shall admit of any differential treatment between the nationals of the Signatory Powers and of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention. ARTICLE 5. Subject to the provisions of the present chapter, the navigation of the Niger, of its branches and outlets, and of all the rivers, and of their branches and outlets, within the territories specified in Article 1, as well as of the lakes situated within those territories, shall be entirely free for merchant vessels and for the transport of goods and passengers. Craft of every kind belonging to the nationals of the Signatory Powers and of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention shall be treated in all respects on a footing of perfect equality. ARTICLE 6. The navigation shall not be subject to any restriction or dues based on the mere fact of navigation. It shall not be exposed to any obligation in regard to landing, - station, or depôt, or for breaking bulk or for compulsory entry into port. No maritime or river toll, based on the mere fact of navigation, shall be levied on vessels, nor shall any transit duty be levied on goods on board. Only such taxes or duties shall be collected as may be an equivalent for services rendered to navigation itself. The tariff of these taxes or duties shall not admit of any differential treatment. ARTICLE 7. The affluents of the rivers and lakes specified in Article 5 shall in all respects be subject to the same rules as the rivers or lakes of which they are tributaries. The roads, railways or lateral canals which may be constructed with the special object of obviating the innavigability or correcting the imperfections of the water route on certain sections of the rivers and lakes specified in Article 5, their affluents, branches and outlets, shall be considered, in their quality of means of communication, as dependencies of these rivers and lakes, and shall be equally open to the traffic of the nationals of the Signatory Powers and of the States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention. On these roads, railways and canals only such tolls shall be collected as are calculated on the cost of construction, maintenance and management, and on the profits reasonably accruing to the undertaking. As regards the tariff of these tolls, the nationals of the Signatory Powers and of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention, shall be treated on a footing of perfect equality. ARTICLE 8. Each of the Signatory Powers shall remain free to establish the rules which it may consider expedient for the purpose of ensuring the safety and control of navigation, on the understanding that these rules shall facilitate, as far as possible, the circulation of merchant vessels. ARTICLE 9. In such sections of the rivers and of their affluents, as well as on such lakes, as are not necessarily utilised by more than one riverain. State, the Governments exercising authority shall remain free to establish such systems as may be required for the maintenance of public safety and order, and for other necessities of the work of civilisation and colonisation; but the regulations shall not admit of any differential treatment between vessels or between nationals of the Signatory Powers and of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention. ARTICLE 10. The Signatory Powers recognise the obligation to maintain in the regions subject to their jurisdiction an authority and police forces sufficient to ensure protection of persons and of property and, if necessary, freedom of trade and of transit. ARTICLE 11. The Signatory Powers exercising sovereign rights or authority in African territories will continue to watch over the preservation of the native populations and to supervise the improvement of the conditions of their moral and material well-being. They will, in particular, endeavour to secure the complete suppression of slavery in all its forms and of the slave trade by land and sea. They will protect and favour, without distinction of nationality or of religion, the religious, scientific or charitable institutions and undertakings created and organised by the nationals of the other Signatory Powers and of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may adhere to the present Convention, which aim at leading the natives in the path of progress and civilisation. Scientific missions, their property and their collections, chall likewise be the objects of special solicitude. Freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of religion are expressly guaranteed to all nationals of the Signatory Powers and to those under the jurisdiction of States, Members of the League of Nations, which may become parties to the present Convention. Similarly, missionaries shall have the right to enter into, and to travel and reside in, African territory with a view to prosecuting their calling. The application of the provisions of the two preceding paragraphs shall be subject only to such restrictions as may be necessary for the maintenance of public security and order, or as may result from the enforcement of the constitutional law of any of the Powers exercising authority in African territories. ARTICLE 12. The Signatory Powers agree that if any dispute whatever should arise between them relating to the application of the present Convention which cannot be settled by negotiation, this dispute shall be submitted to an arbitral tribunal in conformity with the provisions of the Covenant of the League of Nations. ARTICLE 13. Except in so far as the stipulations contained in Article 1 of the present Convention are concerned, the General Act of Berlin of 26th February, 1885, and the General Act of Brussels of 2nd July, |