THE HAGUE CONVENTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3769, 20 July 1907, Page 3

THE HAGUE CONVENTION.

Inviolability of private property. An interesting division. The Hague, July xB. At the sitting of the Fourth Committee of the Hague Convention yesterday a vote was taken on the proposal submitted by Mr J. H. Choate, on behalf of the United States “That private property, except conti aband of war, be exempt from capture at sea, unless in the event of ships attempting - to enter blockaded ports.” The proposal was supported by the delegates representing German?', Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Brazil, Uruguay, Cuba, Ecuador, Hayti, San. Domingo, China, Siam, Persia, and Turkey. Delegates from the following countries voted against the resolution Britain, France, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Columbia, San Salvador, and Montenegro, The Chilian representative abstained from voting, and there were eleven absentees. The result of the division amounts to a negative vote, since an absolute majority was necessary to carry the proposal. Later. At the Peace convention, during the discussion of the United States proposal as to the inviolability of private property at sea (which was rejected), Britain and German?'insisted on the necessity first to settle the question of contraband and blockade before dealing with the abolition of prizes. Professor Maartens argued that the abolition of privateering would enable merchants to benefit from a state of war. 1 Britain well ask the Convention to adopt the resolution submitted to last Conference respecting limitation of armaments, as the question has now become more urgent. Baron von Marschall von Bieberstein stated Germany did not consider the question as pressing. M. Bourgeois, the French representative, personally favours the British position, but France considers the queition academic.