THE HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8534, 12 September 1907, Page 5

THE HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCE.

INTERNATIONAL PRIZE COURTS. Received September 11, 8.48 a.m. THE HAGUE, September 10. It was suggested at the Peace Conference that fifteen judires should constitute the Bench of International Prize Courts, eight great Powers always to be represented, the other thirty-eight Powers to substitute judges according to a scheme of rotation. The Great Powers insist that they are the most probable belligerents, and most likely to lose by supporting an institution of international jurisdiction. Received S< p'ember 11, 10.30 p.m. THE HAGUE, September 11. . The first suL- ommittee of the Peace Convention, by 26 votes to 2, with 14 abstentions, includii g Japan and Russia, adopted the proposal for an international prize court and the distribution of judges. Japan declared that the •• tubjeet required careful consideration, as the new institution must necessarily influence national jurisdiction. Russia's abstention was based on the incomplete nature of legislation relating to prizes, and the necessity for further consideration of the matter particu • larly of Article 7, which declares that the court must judge according to any convention between the parties, and according to the general principles of justice and equity should the rules of international law not apply. The delegates are delighted at the creation of a prize court after so many initial difficulties.