ence by several French marine societies, dated Havre, August 5, 1889, it is recommended to establish a great international tribunal, established in a neutral country, composed of international judges, to decide absolutely, in fact and law, all matters which will be referred to them."

Now, as the learned delegate from Denmark pointed out, the time has not come and will not come for many years when there should be such an international maritime tribunal, and he suggests merely the establishment of a bureau to collect information. As he properly points out, this would be a good thing for the countries which have not got an establishment like the Board of Trade of England. We have such a body already; they have to collect these facts and to deal with and digest all of these questions. Then we communicate with the foreign governments, as soon as we arrive at what we believe to be the key to any difficulty presented or any invention brought before us. I think it would be very desirable that, for instance, the Scandinavian powers should combine to have a bureau amongst themselves, and that countries which have shipping alike and which have uniform objects in commou should also do so. I think it is very desirable that they should have a bureau; but that is a very different thing from establishing a bureau to sit in London which should be represented by delegates from all the maritime powers. The establishment of such a bureau, is not the matter which was referred to us, but it was the question of an international maritime commission.

Now, we have a very interesting report from Captain Augé, which was communicated to us by the gallant delegate from France who formed a member of our committee. I have read that also with great care. His proposal, I take it, is a proposal that an international maritime tribunal should be established to try collision cases. He does not attempt to go into details or to formulate any distinct proposals, but presents what I may call, without any disrespect, a utopian theory that we should have a maritime conference to determine everything connected with maritime matters throughout the world, which is impossible. Let us see whether such a thing as he suggested is practicable. First of all, there is one matter which I think every person connected with the administration of maritime law can have no doubt about, and that is the principle that it is most important that collision cases should be tried with the utmost expedition and celerity. When a vessel comes into port, the crew is there and the witnesses are there. It is most important that you should have the matter decided before they are dispersed, whilst you can easily get your evidence. It has always been laid down by our admiralty judges that in the administration of admiralty law there should be the utmost dispatch, so as to get the evidence while the men have the facts fresh in their minds aud before they can be tutored upon the subject.

In Captain Augé's very interesting work he deals with various proposals; but they are proposals which we could not deal with here. For

instance, he proposes to have an original tribunal which is to be composed of three experts. One is to be chosen by the country in which the litigation takes place, and the other two, one by each side. What would be the use of such experts, one appointed by the plaintiff and one by the defendant? They would agree to differ before they went into court at all; so that the matter would be left to the third expert, who would be appointed by the state in which the litigation took place. After that, he proposes that there should be an international court of seven judges, with experts and secretaries, who are to decide cases upon written reports, and who are not to receive assistance from any one learned in the law at all. That is a proposal which I do not think the lawyers of this Conference would receive with open arms. I think, possibly, that sometimes lawyers may be of assistance to a court which is discussing maritime matters. But his proposal is that the seven judges, with experts and with secretaries, and having the printed evidence before them, should then decide upon the matter at once, without having any argument addressed to them on either side.

There are other proposals. I have before me the proposal of M. Riondel, that there shall be a permanent international commission, composed of members of each of the governments which have accepted the international regulations of 1879. I think there were sixteen powers which sent in their adhesion to those rules. Therefore, a court of sixteen judges would have to be sitting permanently; that is to say, they would have to be at some place where they could sit practically at a moments' notice. That, of course, is a matter which could not be arrived at practically. It is only a matter of theory.

Now, I do not propose to discuss any of these suggestions at any further length. I only wish the Conference to see that we have had the matter before us and that we have done our best to see that all of these suggestions are laid before the respective governments of the maritime powers who take part in the Conference. We think we have taken the best way of doing that by having all of these suggestions printed and annexed to the report on General Division 13 on the programme. I think it will be clear to the gentlemen who are here at the present time that in the absence of some definitive proposal, or in the absence of definite matter, it is impossible for us to take any action. And I go so far as this: I venture to say that in order to deal with a matter of such magnitude as this it would require a year's careful preparation by persons who were devoting their minds to the subject, and that the matter should be most thoroughly considered and reported upon before any conference, however distinguished, could reach any satisfactory determination upon the subject.

At present, as I say, we are all of us of the opinion that this can not be properly dealt with at the present time. No single delegate has got authoritative recommendations from his government to make any proposal with regard to this general division of the programme, and

having regard to the fact that we have no definite or substantial proposal before us and no proposal which has been worked out carefully by any authoritative body, we have been obliged to come to the recommendations which we have made in our report, and that is, that at present the matter is not ripe for discussion. It is practically the same report as that which was made upon the subject of a uniform load line. With regard to the subject of the load line, at any rate we have had the advantage of the report and of the laws which have been acted upon by Great Britain for some time, and the data which were drawn up by a committee which took evidence in all of the various sea-ports in Great Britain, and which was primed with information on the subject. But even then the Conference was of the opinion that the matter was not ripe for discussion. We also say that this matter is not ripe for discussion, because we are really not in the possession of any data upon which we can act.

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, I notice that there is annexed to the report of this committee a minority report made, by the very distinguished delegate from Denmark, and I request that that report should be read for the information of the Conference. I may say this, that I have taken extreme interest in this subject of a permanent international commission, and if it were at all practicable or if I could see any way in which this object aimed at could be accomplished I should be heartily in its favor. In regard to the position of the United States delegates upon this subject I may say, that we were led to insert this subject in our programme by the answer which had been sent to our Government by the Scandinavian conference; and while the United States delegates are quite willing to discuss it we are of the opinion that the report of the committee is of such a nature as to require its adoption by the Conference.

The PRESIDENT. The minority report on General Division 13 will be read by the Secretary.

The minority report is as follows:

Appendix C to Report of Committee upon General Division 13.-Programme of subjects.

"General Division 13.- The establishment of a permanent Maritime Commission.' (a) The composition of the Commission. (b) Its power and authority.

"As a member of the committee appointed to consider and report on the above named Division, I beg to submit for the consideration of this committee the following remarks:

"SECTION (b). The problem to determine the power and authority of any International Commission has always been considered to be most difficult to solve, and this seems particularly to be the case when a Commission shall have to do with maritime matters.

"The Second Northern Marine Conference held at Copenhagen July last year which consisted of about 200 delegates from the greater part of all the existing maritime institutions in Norway, Sweden, Denmark,

and Finland, and which represented a merchant fleet of a registered tonnage between two and three million tons, ranging in order of all merchant fleets as the second or third-unanimously passed a resolution by which the establishment of a 'Permanent International Marine Commission' with a Bureau, was recommended, and also that a memorandum to this effect should be presented to the present 'International Marine Conference' at Washington.

"This memorandum, which also has been distributed to the distinguished members of this committee, will clearly show that it was not the intention of the Northern Conference that the proposed International Marine Commission,' with permanent Bureau, should have any power or authority at all, and therefore in no way would interfere with the sovereignty of the different contracting Powers. On the contrary, it should only form the connecting link between the different maritime Governments and countries in all maritime matters of an international character. It should also be composed as much as possible in conformity with the Commissions or Conferences and their permanent bu reaus, established under the conventions about an international 'Meter' Measure, about the international Postage,' and the international 'Telegraphy,' which have acted with so much benefit to international inter

course.

"As before said, the Northern Conference' of 1888 proposed both a permanent International Marine Commission, consisting of delegates from all maritime nations, and a permanent 'Marine Bureau.'

"Though in accordance with the principle of these proposals, I think it expedient, at present, by the experience gained during the sittings of the present Conference, only to offer some suggestions as to the establishment of a Permanent International Marine Department or Bureau. The views entertained on the composition and mode of action of a 'Permanent International Maritime Commission' seem at present to vary too much. For instance, in a report presented to the present Conference by several French Marine Societies, dated Havre, August 5, 1889, it is recommended (page 104–126) to establish a Tribunal Su prême Internationale établi en pays neutre, et composé de magistrat internationaux pour juger souverainement, en fait et en droit, les jugements nationaux en dernier ressort, qui lui seraient déferés.

*

"As far as I know the general opinion is, that the time for such an institution has not come, and will not come for many years.

"In the report presented by the Branch Hydrographic Office, New York City, it is only said about the Permanent Commission mentioned in Division b:

"The establishment of such a Commission is to be generally desired, and much good can be done by providing for an annual meeting for the purpose of regulating maritime affairs.

"The composition of the Commission and its powers and authority should be settled by the Conference, and can become a part of the international agreement.'

"Maybe the present International Conference will not be actually dissolved, but only adjourned, in order to assist in the further steps necessary for carrying into effect its proposals and recommendations, and so far, some time at least could perform the part of an International Maritime Commission.

"In consideration of these circumstances the following remarks only apply to the establishment of an International Maritime Department or Bureau, which of course would have no other power or authority than that which would result from the knowledge that all international

maritime matters taken up by such an institution would be treated with impartiality and by the best practical and scientific experts which can be procured in the whole world.

"Section (a). As to the formation of said institution I particularly wish to draw the attention of the committee to the rules for the inter national bureaux established according to the Règlements annexé à la convention postale internationale, Paris, June 1, 1878, Art. 16, et à la convention télégraphique internationale de St. Pétersbourg. Révision de Berlin le 17 Septembre 1885, et à l'Union internationale pour la publication des tarifs douaniers. Bruxelles, 1888.'

"In accordance with the principles laid down in these regulations the International Department in question should be established in a great maritime city-presumably in London-and should, if no International Marine Commission is established, be under the supervision of the Foreign Office in the country where it is domiciled. This department would then be the intermediate link between the Governments as to the regular and general communications respecting the internationai sides of merchant shipping questions. Its principal data should be to collect and arrange all sorts of information in respect to international maritime laws or regulations, to prepare the proposals received from the contracting Governments, Maritime Institutions, or private persons, for the consideration of future International Marine Conferences, and on the whole to perform the different inquiries or other special tasks intrusted to it by the contracting Powers. It should take charge of all the necessary publications and the correspondence with the different Governments, as well as with the different maritime institutions and the public in general.

"The Department should also prepare a yearly report of its labors and forward it to the maritime departments in the contracting States. "It should have a staff, consisting of a chief secretary, three or four assistant secretaries, and the necessary number of clerks, etc.

"The chief secretary should attend the future Maritime Conferences and take part in the discussion, but without the right of voting.

"The common yearly expenses of this institution might probably be estimated at about 300,000 francs yearly, which is 200,000 francs higher than the yearly expenses for the International Postage Bureau at Berne, and 175,000 francs higher than the expenses for the bureau of the intended International Custom Tariff Commission' at Brussels; but having regard to the importance of the Maritime Department, its more costly residence, and the practical trials with light and fog apparatus, etc., which must be expected, it is not safe to estimate the yearly expenses at a lower sum. This sum might, perhaps, be defrayed by the contracting Powers in proportion to the number of their merchant ships above 100 tons gross tonnage, or in the manner settled by other international conventions.

"If it is asked who should appoint the officers belonging to such an institution I should think that the simplest way would be to advertise over the whole world that an international maritime department is to be established, with secretaries and clerks, and then, if no international maritime commission is in existence, leave it to delegates from the contracting powers, nominated expressly for that purpose, to make the selection among the applicants. The voting might perhaps be given according to the above-named proportion, and the said delegates would no doubt be careful to select the officers from different countries in order to secure the greatest possible knowledge of the different languages. "As will be seen there is nothing new or original in this plan, as it is