STATISTICS

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION AND PROTOCOL CONCERNING ECONOMIC STATISTICS

Great Britain. According to communiqué No. 4379, May 10, 1930, of the Information Section of the League of Nations, the Government of Great Britain deposited with the Secretariat of the League on May 9, 1930, the instrument of ratification by Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the international convention and protocol concerning economic statistics, signed at Geneva, December 14, 1928.

India. On April 8, 1930, the Secretary General of the League of Nations transmitted to the Secretary of State a copy of a letter which the Government of India addressed to him containing the reservations which that Government desires to make in acceding to the international convention concerning economic statistics, signed at Geneva, December 14, 1928. The text of this letter follows:

LONDON, S.W. 1.
14th February, 1930.

SIR: With reference to your letter of the 21st January 1929, No. C. L. 9. 1929. II., with regard to the international convention relating to economic statistics which was signed at Geneva on the 14th December 1928, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India to inform you that the Government of India, having carefully examined the terms of this convention, have expressed a desire to accede to it, subject to the following reservations:

A. Under the terms of Article 11 the obligations of the convention shall not extend to the territories in India of any Prince or Chief under the suzerainty of His Majesty the King Emperor.

B. Reservations under Article 17:

(1) Article 2. I(a). The provisions for returns of "transit trade" made in Annex I, Part I, I(b), shall not apply to India nor shall returns of the "land frontier trade" of India be acquired.

NOTES. (a) Transit trade" includes transhipment trade, but Indian ports are not transhipment centres for foreign countries to any considerable extent and the trade returns of India accordingly take no account of merchandise transhipped.

(b) On account of the geographical nature of the Indian land frontiers the registration of all traffic crossing them has been found impracticable and would involve expenditure out of all proportion to the value of the results. The practice is to record only the traffic in selected articles at the chief centres and by quantities only, not by values.

(2) Article 2. III (a). The question whether a general census of agriculture can be held in India and if so, on what lines and at what intervals still remains to be settled. For the present India can assume no obligations under this article.

(3) Article 2. III(b) (1). For farms in the "permanently settled" tracts in India, estimates of the cultivated areas may be used in compiling the returns.

NOTE. In the parts of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and elsewhere, where the land revenue has been permanently fixed, there is no administrative agency for recording exact figures and the statistics of the cultivated area are based on approximate estimates made by District Officers.

Article 2. III (b) (2). The returns of quantities of crops harvested may be based on estimates of yield each year per unit area in each locality.

NOTE. In view of the great practical difficulty of collecting actual figures from farmers, the returns of the yield of harvested crops are based on estimates made by District Officers.

(4) Article 2. III(d). Complete returns cannot be guaranteed from Burma and in respect of the rest of India, the returns shall refer to Government forests only.

I am to request that under the terms of Article 17 of the convention you will be so good as to communicate the above-stated reservations to the Governments of the countries which are parties to the convention, and that you will inform the Secretary of State in due course whether any objections to them are received.

I am further to say, with regard to the second paragraph of Article 3 of the convention, that with the means of investigation at their disposal the Government of India cannot usefully undertake to prepare experimentally the specified tables, and that for similar reasons they are not in a position to accept the proposal contained in Recommendation II of the convention, and referred to in your letter of the 13th April 1929, No. CL.61.1929.XI.

I am [etc.]

E. J. TURNER

Union of South Africa. On May 16, 1930, the Secretary General of the League of Nations informed the Secretary of State that the Permanent Representative of the Union of South Africa accredited to the League of Nations, deposited with the Secretariat of the League on May 1, 1930, the instrument of ratification of the Union of South Africa of the international convention concerning economic statistics, and protocol thereto, signed at Geneva, December 14, 1928. This ratification includes also the Mandated Territory of South West Africa.

VISA FEES

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE NETHERLANDS FOR THE RECIPROCAL REDUCTION OF PASSPORT VISA FEES

The Netherlands. In a note to the Secretary of State dated May 21, 1930, the Minister of the Netherlands at Washington, Mr. J. H. van Royen, inquired whether the agreement concluded on March 30 and 31, 1928, between the United States Government and the Government of the Netherlands for the reciprocal reduction of passport visa fees to $1.00, is considered as applicable to citizens of the Netherlands proceeding to the Philippine Islands.

In a reply dated June 7, 1930, the Secretary of State informed the Minister of the Netherlands that the Government of the United States considers the agreement as applicable to subjects of the Netherlands proceeding to the United States and its insular possessions, including the Philippine Islands.

MISCELLANEOUS

CLAIMS

UNITED STATES-MEXICO

Mexico. The Department of State has been informed by the American Minister in Panama that Dr. Horacio Alfaro of Panama has consented to act as presiding commissioner of the General and Special Claims Commission, United States and Mexico. Dr. Alfaro succeeds Dr. Kristian Sindballe of Denmark, who resigned.

17

TEXTS OF CONVENTIONS

CONVENTION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA FOR THE RENDITION OF THE BRITISH CONCESSION AT WEIHAIWEI, AND SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENT

1

I.

CONVENTION FOR THE RENDITION OF WEIHAIWEI

His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, and

His Excellency, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China,

Desiring that the territory of Weihaiwei leased by China to His Britannic Majesty under the Convention of the 1st July, 1898, should be restored in full sovereignty to China, have resolved to conclude a Convention for that purpose and to that end have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:

His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India:

For Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

Sir Miles Wedderburn Lampson, K. C. M. G., C. B., M. V. O., His Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China;

His Excellency the President of the National Government of the Republic of China:

Dr. Chengting T. Wang, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the the Republic of China;

Who, having communicated their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE 1.

The territory of Weihaiwei, as delimited by the boundary stones fixed by the boundary Commission of 1899-1901, comprising a belt of land 10 English miles wide along the entire coastline of the Bay of Weihaiwei and including Liukungtao and all other islands in the Bay of Weihaiwei, is hereby returned by His Britannic Majesty to the Republic of China.

'Texts as printed in British Command Paper 3590.