United States similar rights to those accorded in section 1 (e) of the act of March 4, 1909:

"Now, THEREFORE, I, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, President of the United States of America, do declare and proclaim:

"That on and after April 7, 1934 the conditions specified in section 8 (b) and 1 (e) of the act of March 4, 1909, will exist and be fulfilled in respect of the citizens of the Free City of Danzig and that on and after April 7, 1934 citizens of the Free City of Danzig shall be entitled to all the benefits of this act and acts amendatory thereof:

"Provided, That the enjoyment by any work of the rights and benefits conferred by the act of March 4, 1909, and the acts amendatory thereof, shall be conditional upon compliance with the requirements and formalities prescribed with respect to such works by the copyright laws of the United States;

"And provided further, That the provisions of section 1 (e) of the act of March 4, 1909, insofar as they secure copyright controlling parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically musical works, shall apply only to compositions published after July 1, 1909, and registered for copyright in the United States which have not been reproduced within the United States prior to April 7, 1934 on any contrivance by means of which the work may be mechanically performed.

"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

"DONE at the City of Washington this 7" day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-four, and [SEAL] of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fifty-eighth.

"FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

FINANCE

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF COUNTERFEITING CURRENCY?

Free City of Danzig

The American Consulate at Danzig transmitted to the Department of State with a despatch dated March 31, 1934, copies of the Danzig official law gazette, no. 22, of March 26, 1934, which contains an announcement to the effect that the Senate approves the adherence of Danzig to the international convention for the suppression of counterfeiting currency, signed at Geneva April 20, 1929.

7 See Bulletin No. 49, October 1933, p. 13.

Peru-Spain

SILVER AGREEMENT 8

On April 24, 1934, the Secretary of State received notes from the Peruvian and Spanish Ambassadors at Washington stating that their Governments had approved and ratified the silver agreement of July 22, 1933.

By agreement among all the governments which signed this instrument the time fixed by section 8 thereof, within which instruments of ratification should be deposited or notification given that the affirmative action necessary to carry out the purposes of the agreement had been taken, was extended until May 1, 1934. The receipt of the notes above mentioned completed the necessary action by all the governments signatory to the agreement to put it into effect, and it therefore became effective on April 24, 1934.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION CONVENTION 9

Australia

The Spanish Ambassador at Washington informed the Secretary of State by a note dated April 24, 1934, that the instrument of ratification by Australia of the international telecommunication convention, signed at Madrid December 9, 1932, was deposited in the archives of the Ministry of State at Madrid on March 20, 1934.

Canada-Iceland-Japan-New Zealand

The Spanish Ambassador at Washington informed the Secretary of State by notes dated April 5, 1934, of the deposit in the Ministry of State at Madrid by the following countries, on the dates indicated, of instruments of ratification of the international telecommunication convention, signed at Madrid December 9, 1932:

Canada, March 6, 1934

Iceland, March 9, 1934

Japan, March 1, 1934

New Zealand, March 5, 1934

With respect to Iceland, Japan, and New Zealand, the Ambassador states that notifications of their approval of the regulations annexed to the convention either had been or will be notified to the Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union at Bern.

REGULATIONS AND PROTOCOLS ANNEXED TO THE INTERNATIONAL
TELECOMMUNICATION CONVENTION

Information has been received by the Department of State from the Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union at Bern that the regulations and protocols annexed to the international telecommunication convention of December 9, 1932, have been approved by the following countries:

Austria approved on March 9, 1934, the general radio regulations. the additional radio regulations, the telegraph regulations and the telephone regulations;

Greece approved on January 1, 1934, the general radio regulations. the additional radio regulations, the final radio protocol, the telegraph regulations, the final telegraph protocol, and the telephone regulations;

Irish Free State approved on January 1, 1934, the general radio regulations, the additional radio regulations, the final radio protocol. the telegraph regulations, the final telegraph protocol, and the telephone regulations;

Yugoslavia approved on January 1, 1934, the general radio regulations, the additional radio regulations, the final radio protocol, the telegraph regulations, the final telegraph protocol, and the telephone regulations.

MISCELLANEOUS

CLAIMS

UNITED STATES AND MEXICO: COMMISSIONS 1

On April 24, 1934, the American Ambassador to Mexico and the Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs signed a special claims convention and a general claims protocol. These two agreements cover the general and special claims of the United States over which the General and the Special Claims Commissions were given jurisdiction by the conventions of September 8, 1923,2 and September 10, 1923,3 respectively.

The time limit determined upon in the conventions of 1923 to hear, examine, and decide the claims, expired before all the claims were heard and decided. Conventions were subsequently signed, in 1927 and 1929, extending the duration of the two Commissions. Pursuant to a resolution of the United States Senate approved February 28, 1931, conventions extending the duration of both Commissions for a further period of 2 years from the date of exchange of ratifications were duly signed at Mexico City on June 18, 1932. At the same time two protocols were signed, one for each convention, relating primarily to the functioning of the Commissions and covering such matters as the expediting of the hearing of claims, the fixing of the place of future meetings, procedure in submitting evidence, and proposed standards of interpretation.

The subject matter of the protocol supplementing the general claims convention was within the purview of the original convention of September 8, 1923, and did not require, for its ratification, the advice and consent of the United States Senate, it being understood that sufficient authority for ratification was contained in the resolution of the Senate approved February 28, 1931. The protocol supplementing the special claims convention contained, however, subject matter deemed to be not within the purview of the original convention of September 10, 1923, and, therefore, the President of the United States referred that convention and protocol to the Senate for its consideration with a view to obtaining the advice and

consent of that body to ratification. During the session of the Congress which ended June 15, 1933, this latter convention and protocol were favorably reported by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and ordered placed on the Executive Calendar. The Senate adjourned, however, without taking action on the convention and protocol.

Meanwhile the two Governments have concluded the substitute agreements of April 24, 1934, which are intended to bring about a more expeditious disposition of the claims.

The new general claims protocol contemplates the resumption of activities by the agencies of the two Governments for the preparation and exchange, to be completed within a period of 2 years, of pleadings and briefs covering the claims of their respective nationals; the appointment by each Government of an outstanding national jurist for the examination and appraisal of claims based on the pleadings and briefs presented by each agent; and the conclusion, after the 2-year period referred to above, of a convention for the final settlement of the claims of the two Governments on the basis of the appraisals of the two national commissioners. The rules of procedure to be followed by the agents of the two Governments are also agreed upon in the protocol. Work on the general claims is expected to be initiated in the near future and to be completed within a period of about 2 years.

The new special claims convention provides for a lump sum settlement of the special claims of the United States by the payment by Mexico of an amount representing the same average percentage of liability as Mexico has agreed to pay on the same class of claims to six European countries. The definite amount of this liability is to be computed and determined by a joint committee composed of one representative of each Government whose joint report will be accepted by the two Governments as final. This convention requires approval by the Senates of the two Governments after which the ratifications will be exchanged. After the exchange of ratifications it is contemplated that the special claims will be referred for adjudication on their individual merits to a domestic claims commission in the United States to be established by an act of Congress.