or commission of the factions which have opposed the Constitutionalist Government, shall be tried in accordance with the laws at present in force, unless they shall have been previously pardoned by the said Constitutionalist Government.

11. Until such time as the Congress of the Union and the State Legislatures shall legislate on the agrarian and labour problems, the bases established by this Constitution for the said laws shall be put into force throughout the Republic.

12. All Mexicans who shall have fought in the ranks of the Constitutionalist army and their children and widows, and all other persons who shall have rendered service to the cause of the revolution, or to public instruction, shall be preferred in the acquisition of lots to which Article 27 refers, and shall be entitled to such rebates as the law shall determine.

13. All debts contracted by working men on account of work up to the date of this Constitution with masters, their subordinates and agents, are hereby declared wholly and entirely discharged.

14. The Departments of Justice and of Public Instruction and Fine Arts are hereby abolished.

15. The citizen at present charged with the executive power is hereby authorised to issue the law of civil responsibility applicable to all promoters, accomplices and abettors of the offences committed against the constitutional order in the month of February, 1913, and against the Constitutionalist Government.

16. The Constitutional Congress in the regular period of sessions, to begin on the first day of September of the present year, shall issue all the organic laws of the Constitution which may not have been already issued in the extraordinary session to which Transitory Article number 6 refers; and it shall give preference to the laws relating to personal guarantees and to Articles 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 107 and the latter part of Article 111 of this Constitution. Signed at Querétaro de Arteaga, the 31st January, 1917. (L.S.) LUIS MANUEL ROJAS, President. (L.S.) C. AGUILAR,

NOTIFICATION by the Nicaraguan Government of the Denunciation by the French Government of the Commercial Treaty of January 27, 1902, between France and Nicaragua.-Managua, September 9, 1918.

The Nicaraguan Minister for Foreign Affairs to the British Minister at Guatemala.

(Translation.)

SIR,

National Palace, Managua, September 9, 1918. I HAVE the honour to inform your Excellency that in conformity with the instructions from his Government his Excellency the French Minister in Nicaragua has denounced the Commercial Treaty concluded with the Government of the French Republic on the 27th January, 1902,* in a telegram dated in Guatemala the 6th September of the present year.

In communicating to your Excellency the preceding notice, I express the hope that you will be pleased to communicate it to your Government, which has adhered to the above-mentioned Treaty.

I avail, &c.

J. A. URTECHO.

NORWEGIAN DECREE prescribing Rules to be observed by Ships arriving in Norwegian Ports and Territorial Waters.-October 1, 1915.

1. Tout navire qui se trouve dans les eaux norvégiennes doit battre pavillon national à l'arrivée à un mouillage où se trouve un navire de guerre ou de surveillance norvégien et en outre partout où un tel navire est en vue. De plus, tout navire qui se trouve dans les eaux norvégiennedoit stopper immédiatement lorsqu'un navire de guerre ou de surveillance norvégien l'y invite en donnant, par exemple. un signal d'attention avec le sifflet à vapeur, en arborant des pavillons à signaux ou en tirant un coup de canon d'avertissement.

Dans les eaux norvégiennes, les navires de guerre ou de surveillance norvégiens ont le droit de visiter les navires.

* Vol. XCV, page 818.

leurs cargaisons et les personnes se trouvant à bord. Les officiers du navire visité devront de bon gré se prêter à l'examen et, sur demande, fournir les renseignements intéressant les autorités militaires et qu'ils seraient à même de leur donner, de même qu'ils sont tenus de suivre les instructions qui leur seraient données par rapport à leur conduite et à leur navigation ultérieure.

2. Les contraventions aux prescriptions susmentionnées seront poursuivies conformément à l'article 339 (2) du Code pénal civil du 22 mai, 1902.

3. Les prescriptions de la section 1ère entreront immédiatement en vigueur.

AGREEMENT between Norway and the United States of America extending for a further period of Five Years the Arbitration Convention concluded between the two Countries on April 4, 1908.-Washington, March 30, 1918.*

[Ratifications exchanged at Washington, July 1, 1918.]

THE Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, being desirous of continuing for another period of five years the Arbitration Convention concluded between them on the 4th April, 1908, t which by the terms of the Agreement signed between them on the 16th June, 1913, will expire on the 24th June, 1918, have authorised the undersigned, to wit: Robert Lansing, Secretary of State of the United States, and H. H. Bryn, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Norway to the United States, to conclude the following Agreement:-

ART. I. The Convention of Arbitration of the 4th April, 1908, between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, which by the terms of the Agreement signed between them on the 16th June, 1913, will terminate on the 24th June, 1918, is hereby extended and continued in force for a further period of five years from the 24th June, 1918.

"United States Treaty Series," No. 632.

language.

Vol. CII, page 736. [1917-18. cxI.]

Signed also in the Norwegian

II. The present Agreement shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by His Majesty the King of Norway, and it shall become effective upon the date of the exchange of ratifications, which shall take place at Washington as soon as possible.

Done in duplicate in the English and Norwegian languages at Washington this 30th day of March, 1918.

(L.S.) ROBERT LANSING. (L.S.) HELMER H. BRYN.

CONVENTION between Paraguay and Uruguay relative to Coasting Trade.-Montevideo, October 31, 1918.

(Translation.)

His Excellency the President of the Republic of the Paraguay, and his Excellency the President of the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay, desiring to facilitate the coasting traffic of the ships flying their respective flags, have resolved to enter into an Agreement to this effect, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:

His Excellency the President of the Republic of the Paraguay: Dr. Luis Abente Haedo, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim in the Uruguay; and

His Excellency the President of the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay: Dr. Juan Antonio Buero, his Acting Minister Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs;

Who, having exchanged their respective full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following:

ART. I. The High Contracting Parties grant to the ships engaged in coasting trade in the rivers and ports of their jurisdiction, in accordance with their respective laws and regulations, the same privileges and freedom from dues of customs, ports, lighthouses, quays and taxes, which are granted by those laws and regulations to ships of their respective flags.

II. In order to enjoy the privileges and benefits of this Convention, the ships of each contracting country will submit, in the ports and jurisdictional waters of the other, to the requirements and formalities of the respective laws and rules.

III. Both the contracting Governments reserve the right to regulate, if they have not already done so, by adminis trative process, the procedure for the grant of these privileges

and benefits to the ships of their respective flags, as well as everything relating to the customs papers and the details necessary to facilitate the navigation and coasting traffic between the two countries.

IV. This Convention shall remain in force for one year from the date on which one of the parties shall have communicated to the other its desire to terminate or modify it, and shall be ratified in each of the two contracting countries in accordance with its respective legislation.

In faith of which the aforementioned Plenipotentiaries have signed this Convention and thereunto affixed their seals. Done in duplicate in Montevideo this 31st day of October of the year 1918.

(L.S.) LUIS ABENTE HAEDO. (L.S.) JUAN ANTONIO BUERO.

DENUNCIATION by the Russian Government of the Treaty of Commerce and Narigation of June 9, 1858, between Belgium and Russia.-October 25, 1917.*

LE Ministre de Belgique à Pétrograd a reçu, sous la date du 12/25 octobre, 1917, du Ministre des Affaires Etrangères de Russie, une note constatant que les conditions économiques créées par la guerre ont amené le Gouvernement provisoire à envisager la revision des principes sur lesquels ont été basés jusqu'ici les rapports commerciaux de la Russie avec les pays étrangers.

Le Gouvernement provisoire, faisant usage de la disposition insérée à l'article 22 du Traité de Commerce et de Navigation conclu le 18 mai/9 juin 1858 entre la Belgique et la Russie, a dénoncé en conséquence, par ladite note, ce Traité à la date précitée du 12/25 octobre, 1917.

La note du Ministre des Affaires Etrangères de Russie ajoute qu'en vue de parer aux inconvénients de la situation transitoire résultant de la dénonciation, le Gouvernement provisoire ne manquera pas de s'entendre, en temps utile, avec le Gouvernement belge pour étudier de commun accord les dispositions qui pourraient sauvegarder les intérêts économiques et autres des deux pays.

Notification published in the " Moniteur belge," December 16-22, 1917. + Vol. XLVIII, page 976.