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mala, signed Washington, Sept. 20, 1914, proclaimed Oct. 13, 1914. 5 p. (Treaty series 598). English and Spanish. State Dept.

Philippine Islands. Report favoring H. 18459 to declare purpose of United States as to future status and to provide more autonomous government for Philippine Islands. Aug. 26, 1914. 19 p. (H. rp. 1115, pt. 1). Paper, 5c. Insular Affairs Committee.

Views of minority. Aug. 31, 1914. 7 p. (H. rp. 1115, pt. 2.)

Insular Affairs Committee.

Prices. H. J. R. 311, instructing American delegate to International Institute of Agriculture to present to permanent committee for action at general assembly in 1915 certain resolutions relative to holding of international conference in Rome, Italy, in 1917, on subject of steadying world's prices of staples, said conference to consider advisability of formulating convention for establishment of permanent international commerce commission on merchant marine and on ocean freight rates. Sept. 19, 1914. (Pub. 50.) 5c.

Hearings, Aug. 7, 1914. 34 p. Foreign Affairs Committee.

Report favoring. Aug. 18, 1914. 2 p. (H. rp. 1095.) Foreign Affairs Committee; report favoring, Aug. 25, 1914. 2 p. (S. rp. 778.) Commerce Committee.

Radiotelegraphy. Executive Order No. 2011, Aug. 5, 1914, prohibiting unneutral service by radio stations. 1 p. State Dept.

Executive Order No. 2042, Sept. 5, 1914. Supplemental.

1 p. State Dept.

Radio communication laws of the United States and international radiotelegraph convention, signed London, July 5, 1912, regulations governing radio operators and use of radio apparatus on ships and on land. Edition, July 27, 1914. 100 p. il. Paper, 15c. Navigation Bureau.

Seaman's bill (S. 136). Hearings, Sept. 10, 1914, on bill to promote welfare of American seamen in merchant marine, to abolish arrest and imprisonment as penalty for desertion, to secure abrogation of treaty 21 p. provisions in relation thereto, and to promote safety at sea. Commerce Committee.

Shipping. Hearing on H. 8753 to make owners of vessels transporting merchandise or property between United States and foreign ports liable for loss or damage arising from faults or errors in navigation or management of vessels. 1914. 31 p. Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. Vera Cruz, Mexico. Record of proceedings of board of inquiry rela

tive to shooting of Mexican prisoners by United States naval forces. Aug. 3, 1914. 77 p. (S. doc. 561.) Paper, 5c. Navy Dept.

War Risk Insurance Bureau. S. 6357 to authorize establishment of, in Treasury Dept. Sept. 2, 1914. 2 p. (Pub. 193.) 5c.

Decisions 1 and 2 relating to applications for insurance on vessels and cargo. 4 p. (Treasury Decisions, v. 27, No. 13.) Treasury Dept.

GEORGE A. FINCH.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS INVOLVING QUESTIONS OF

INTERNATIONAL LAW

ARBITRAL AWARD RENDERED IN EXECUTION OF THE COMPROMIS SIGNED

AT THE HAGUE, APRIL 3, 1913, BETWEEN THE NETHERLANDS AND

PORTUGAL CONCERNING THE SUBJECT OF THE BOUNDARY OF A PART
OF THEIR POSSESSIONS IN THE ISLAND OF TIMOR

1

A dispute having arisen between the Royal Government of the Netherlands and that of the Portuguese Republic concerning the subject of the boundary of a part of their respective possessions in the Island of Timor, the two governments, by a convention signed at The Hague, April 3, 1913, of which ratifications were exchanged in the same city on July 31st following, decided as a last resort to refer its solution to an arbitrator, and accordingly by common accord designated the undersigned.

To understand the sense and scope of the compromis of April 3, 1913, there is need succinctly to explain the negotiations that preceded that compromis.

I. HISTORICAL

The Island of Timor, the farthest east of the continuous series of the Sonde Islands and the nearest to Australia, was discovered by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century; the island measures about 500 kilometers in length from west to east by a maximum width of 100 kilometers. A lofty chain of mountains, certain summits of which reach an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters, divides this island lengthwise into two slopes.

The eastern part of the island, with an approximate area of 19,000 square kilometers, and a population of about 300,000 inhabitants, is Portuguese. The western part, with a population estimated in 1907 of 131,000 inhabitants and an area of about 20,000 square kilometers, is

1 Translation by courtesy of Mr. S. F. Bemis of Medford, Mass., from the official prints of the award published in French by the International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

under the sovereignty of the Netherlands, with the exception of the "Kingdom of Okussi and Ambeno," situate on the northwest coast and surrounded on all sides by Dutch territory except on the shore.

The name of "kings" given by the Portuguese to the chieftains of tribes is explained by the fact that in the native tongue they are called leorey; the final syllable of this word has been translated into Portuguese by the word Rey. The Dutch give these chieftains the more modest title of radjahs.

This territorial partition between the Netherlands and Portugal rests on the following agreements:

April 20, 1859, a treaty signed at Lisbon and duly ratified in the course of the summer of 1860, had defined the respective frontiers of the middle of the island, but had left existing (Art. 2) the Dutch "enclave" of Maucatar in the midst of Portuguese territory, and the Portuguese "enclave" of "Oikoussi" in the midst of Dutch territory in the west of the island. It was stipulated (Art. 3) that the "enclave" of Oikoussi consists of the state of Ambenu wherever the "Portuguese flag is raised, the state of Oikoussi proper and that of Noimuti." See annex A, page 31.2

By another convention signed at Lisbon June 10, 1893, and duly ratified, the two governments, "desiring to settle on conditions most favorable to the development of civilization and commerce" their relations in the archipelago of Timor, agreed "to establish the boundary of their possessions in the clearest and most exact fashion" in that island and "to cause the enclaves now existing to disappear" (Preamble and Art. 1). A commission of experts was to be designated to the end of "formulating a proposition capable of serving as the basis for the conclusion of a further convention fixing the new boundary line in the said island" (Art. II). In case of difficulties the two parties engaged "to submit to the decision of an * * arbitrator" (Art. VII). See annex B, page 34.

This mixed commission repaired to the premises and agreed in 18981899 on most of the boundary. Notwithstanding, a considerable number of divergencies persisted as to the principal frontier in the middle of the Island of Timor as well as to the frontier of the Kingdom of OkussiAmbenu in the western part of the island. The map annexed under Number II indicates the respective claims. A conference was assembled at The Hague from June 23 to July 3, 1902, to attempt their solution. The annexes referred to in the award are omitted from the JOURNAL.

It decreed July 3, 1902, a plan which was transformed into a diplomatic convention signed at The Hague October 1, 1904, and duly ratified. See annex C, page 37.

A summary of the results of the Convention of 1904 is shown on the transparent map annexed under No. I; the superposition of the transparent map No. I on the map No. II shows what Portugal obtained, in the center of the Island of Timor, the Dutch enclave of Maukatar, and what the Netherlands obtained in the same region, Tahakay, and Tamira Ailala. On the other hand, in the northwest of the Island of Timor and to the south of the territory designated by the treaty of 1859, under the name of Oikussi enclave, the Netherlands obtained Noimuti. Finally, the controverted eastern limit of the territory of Oikussi-Ambeno is fixed theoretically according to a line A-C, which was to be "surveyed and indicated on the grounds within the shortest possible delay" (Acts of the Conference of 1902, sessions of June 27, pages 10 and 11, and of June 28, page 12; convention of October 1, 1904, Article 4.) The line A-C allowed by the conference was fixed in Article III, Number 10 of the convention of 1904 in the following terms: "From this point" (the confluence of the Noel Bilomi with the Oe-Sunan) "the boundary follows the thalweg of the Oe-Sunan, runs as much as possible across Nipani and Kelali (Keli), strikes the source of the Noel Meto, and follows the thalweg of that river to its mouth."

All seemed ended, when the boundary commissioners, having arrived at the premises in June 1909, for the work of setting the metes of the eastern frontier of Oikussi-Ambeno could not agree and decided to refer the matter to their governments. The two governments were none the more able to agree and decided to have recourse to arbitration. What was this difficulty that the boundary commissioners encountered?

II. THE DIFFICULTY WHICH INSTIGATED THE ARBITRATION In proceeding to the work of bounding the eastern frontier of OikussiAmbeno the commissioners had commenced in the north, on the coast, and ascended in a southerly direction the course of the Noel Meto river, which was to serve as a frontier from its mouth to its source. These operations took place between the 1st and the 10th of June, 1909, and a mete was placed at the source of the Noel Meto. The source being obstructed by some steep cliffs impossible to cross, the commissioners decided on a general reconnaissance between the northern and southern parts of the country still to be bounded, that is to say, between the

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