And whereas a rule to that effect was accordingly made and duly approved of by Her Majesty in Council on the 23rd day of August, 1843.*

And whereas, by another Act, passed in the session of Parliament held in the 18th and 19th years of the reign of her present Majesty [cap. 101],† intituled "An Act for the more effectual execution of the Convention between Her Majesty and the French Government, concerning the Fisheries in the seas between the British Islands and France," and which is directed to be read and construed together with the said recited Act of the 6th and 7th years of the reign of Her present Majesty as one Act, it is enacted, by section 1, that it shall be lawful for any officers or petty officers belonging to Her Majesty's Navy or Revenue Service, or such officers and men of the Coast-Guard stations as may be thereunto authorized by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs, or such persons as may be appointed under the provisions of the said Act, by the Lords of the Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council appointed for Trade and Foreign Plantations, when they go on board any British vessel employed in fishing, to examine whether the regulations of the said first-mentioned Act have been complied with, to seize and throw overboard or destroy any oysters found on board such vessel at any time from the 1st day of May to the 31st day of August in any year, as well as to seize and dispose of, in manner provided by the "Customs' Consolidation Act, 1853," all dredges and other implements for catching oysters found on board such vessels, and also all dredges and other implements for catching oysters found sunk in, or floating upon, the seas at any such time as aforesaid; and, by section 2, it is enacted that no oysters, taken in the seas between the United Kingdom and France, shall be imported into, or landed in any part of, the United Kingdom at any time between the 1st day of May and the 31st. day of August in any year; and that any oysters imported in or landed between such days from any vessel employed in fishing in the said seas shall be deemed to be oysters taken and imported contrary to the provisions of the said Articles and of that Act, unless the contrary be proved; and that it shall be lawful for any officer of the Customs, or any person who may be appointed, under the provisions of the said first-recited Act, by the Lords of the said Committee of Council, to seize and destroy or otherwise dispose of, as the Commissioners of the Customs, or the Lords of the said Committee, may direct, any oysters imported into or landed in any part of the United Kingdom contrary to the said lastmentioned provision:

* Vol. XXXII. Page 1396.

+ Vol. XLV. Page 639.

And whereas the Lords of the said Committee have, in pursuance of the powers vested in them by the said recited Act of the 6th and 7th years of the reign of Her present Majesty, duly made and ordained, and have submitted for the approval of Her Majesty, the following rules or bye-laws, for the more effectual observance of the said Convention and Articles and of the said recited Acts, that is to say:

RULE I. The several officers or persons who are or may be, from time to time, authorized by or under the said recited Acts, to seize dredges or other implements used or employed in taking or catching oysters in the seas between the British Islands and France, or to seize oysters taken or brought into the United Kingdom during the said close months, that is to say, from the 1st day of May to the last day of August in every year, are required to use all diligence in enforcing the observance of the provisions of the said Convention and Articles and of the said recited Acts, and for that purpose, during the said close months, to make seizure of all such dredges and other implements as aforesaid used for taking oysters, and of all oysters, oyster brood or spat taken and found on board any vessel in contravention of the said Convention, Articles, and Acts, and to proceed to the forfeiture thereof and the recovery of such penalties as shall, or may have been, incurred by the parties found using or having in their possession such dredges or other implements as aforesaid, but so, nevertheless, as not to interfere with the rights and interests of the owners of any private oyster beds or layings on the coast of Great Britain, or in the bays, estuaries, and rivers thereof, within the British fishery limits, so far as regards the preservation and propagation of oysters therein, and the removal thereof from one bed or laying to another, or from one part of such bed or laying to another part of the same, under and subject to the following rules.

RULE II. No person shall, during the said close months, be allowed to dredge for, or in any manner take, oysters, oyster brood, or spat on any part of the said coasts of Great Britain, or the bays, estuaries, or rivers thereof, within the British fishery limits, nor to use or have on board any dredge or implement for that purpose; nor to take or have on board any oysters, oyster brood, or spat, except for the preservation and propagation of oysters, or the working or replenishing of such beds or layings as may require the same, or for the removal of oysters, oyster brood, or spat to other beds more contiguous to, or convenient for the market, nor without a special licence, under the hand of the collector, comptroller, or other principal officer of the Customs of the port or place within which such oyster beds or layings are situate, nor, in any case, any longer time than shall be prescribed by such licence.

for

RULE III. No person shall, during the said close months, be allowed to remove any oysters, oyster brood, or spat from the beds or layings in any port or place within the said British fishery limits, to any other beds or layings in any other port or place, without a licence or transire for that purpose, under the hand of the collector, comptroller, or other principal officer of the Customs of the port or place whence the same shall be so removed, addressed to the collector, or comptroller, or other principal officer of the Customs of the port or place where the bed or laying at which the same are to be deposited is situate. Provided always, that no such licence or transire shall be granted for removal of such oysters, oyster brood, or spat, under this rule, until the person requiring to remove the same shall have given bond to Her Majesty for the due removal and deposit thereof at the place of destination, within such time, and in such penal sum, not being less than 1007. as the collector, comptroller, or other such principal officer as aforesaid, may require.

RULE IV. The foregoing rule shall be held to apply to the removal to oyster beds or layings on the coasts of Great Britain, within the British fishery limits, of oysters, oyster brood, or spat, taken or dredged during the said close months on the coasts of Ireland, under the authority of the Commissioner of Public Works in Ireland, by virtue of any Act or Acts to regulate the Irish fisheries.

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, doth hereby approve of the foregoing rules or byelaws, and doth hereby order and direct that the same shall take effect and come into operation at the end of one week from and after the first publication thereof in the "London Gazette."

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and the Commissioners of the Customs, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain.

WM. L. BATHURST.

BRITISH ORDER IN COUNCIL, suspending in the Colony
of Natal the prohibition against the importation of Foreign
Reprints of British Books entitled to Copyright.-Osborne,
May 16, 1857.*

At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, the 16th day of
May, 1857.
PRESENT,

THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS by an Act, passed in the session of Parliament holden in the 5th and 6th years of the reign of Her present Majesty [cap. 45],† entitled "An Act to amend the Law of Copyright," it is, amongst other things, enacted, that it shall not be lawful for any person, not being the proprietor of the copyright, or some person authorized by him, to import into any part of the United Kingdom, or into any other part of the British dominions, for sale or hire, any printed book, first composed or written, or printed and published in any part of the United Kingdom, wherein there shall be copyright, and reprinted in any country or place whatsoever out of the British dominions.

And whereas by the "Customs Consolidation Act, 1853," an Act of the 8th and 9th Victoria, chapter 93, entitled "An Act to regulate the Trade of the British Possessions abroad," was repealed, and by the Act now in recital, books, wherein the copyright is subsisting, first composed, or written, or printed in the United Kingdom, and printed or reprinted in any other country, are absolutely prohibited to be imported into the British possessions abroad; but it is thereby provided that nothing therein contained shall be taken to prevent Her Majesty from exercising the power to suspend, in certain cases, such prohibition vested in her by the 10th and 11th Victoria, chapter 95,‡ intituled "An Act to amend the law relating to the protection, in the colonies, of works entitled to copyright in the United Kingdom."

And whereas by the last-mentioned Act it is enacted, that in case the Legislature, or proper legislative authorities, in any British possession, shall be disposed to make due provision for securing or protecting the rights of British authors in such possession, and shall pass an Act or make an Ordinance for that purpose, and shall transmit the same in the proper manner to the Secretary of State, in order that it may be submitted to Her Majesty, and in case Her Majesty shall be of opinion that such Act or Ordinance is sufficient for the purpose of securing to British authors reasonable protection * "London Gazette" of May 22, 1857. + Vol. XXXI. Page 970. Vol. XXXV. Page 1197.

within such possession, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, if she think fit so to do, to express her royal approval of such Act or Ordinance, and therefore to issue an Order in Council, declaring that, so long as the provisions of such Act or Ordinance continue in force within such colony, the prohibition contained in the aforesaid Acts of the 5th and 6th Victoria, and 8th and 9th Victoria, or in any other Acts, against the importing, selling, letting out to hire, exposing for sale or hire, or possessing, foreign reprints of books first composed, written, printed, or published in the United Kingdom, and entitled to copyright therein, shall be suspended so far as regards such colony, and thereupon such Act or Ordinance shall come into operation, except so far as may be otherwise provided therein, or may be otherwise directed by such Order in Council.

And whereas an Ordinance has been passed (No. 14 of 1856), by the Lieutenant Governor of Natal, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council of that colony, " for authorizing the importation into the colony of Natal, of books, being foreign reprints of books, first composed, or written, or printed, or published in the United Kingdom, and in which there shall be copyright," whereby provision is made for protecting the rights of British authors in the said colony.

And whereas Her Majesty has expressed her royal approval of the said Ordinance.

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of Her Privy Council, and by the authority of the same, doth order, and it is hereby ordered, that, so long as the said Ordinance shall remain and continue in force within the said colony, all prohibitions in any of the said hereinbefore recited Acts of the Imperial Parliament, or in any other Acts thereof contained, against the importing into the said colony, or against the selling, letting out to hire, exposing for sale or hire, or possessing therein foreign reprints of books first composed, written, printed, or published in the United Kingdom, and entitled to copyright therein, shall be suspended so far as regards the said colony.

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, and the Right Honourable Henry Labouchere, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain. WM. L. BATHURST.