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A.—2

Enclosure. [Public —No. 113 —63d Congress.] [H. R. 14385.J An Aot to amend section five of " An Act to provide for the Opening, Maintenance, Protection, and Operation of the Panama Canal, and the Sanitation and Government of the Canal Zone," approved August twenty-fourth, Nineteen hundred and twelve. Be it enacted by the Senate of the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the second sentence in section five of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the Opening, Maintenance, Protection, and Operation of the Panama Canal, and the Sanitation and Government of the Canal Zone," approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, which reads as follows —" No tolls shall be levied upon vessels engaged in the coastwise trade of the United States " —be and the same is hereby repealed. Sec. 2. That the third sentence of the third paragraph of said section of said Act be so amended as to read as follows : '' When based upon net registered tonnage for ships of commerce the tolls shall not exceed $125 per net registered ton, nor be less than 75 cents per net registered ton, subject, however, to the provisions of article nineteen of the Convention between the United States and the Republic of Panama, entered into November eighteenth, nineteen hundred and three": Provided that the passage of this Act shall not be construed or held as a waiver or relinquishment of any right the United States may have under the treaty with Great Britain, ratified the twenty-first of February, nineteen hundred and two, or the treaty with the Republic of Panama, ratified February twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and four, or otherwise, to discriminate in favour of its vessels by exempting the vessels of the United States or its citizens from the payment of tolls for passage through said canal, or as in any way waving, impairing, or affecting any right of the United States under said treaties, or otherwise, with respect to the sovereignty over or the ownership, control, and management of said canal and the regulation of the conditions or charges of traffic through the same. Approved, 15th June, 1914.

No. 47. New Zealand, No. 320. My Lord,— Downing Street, 28th July, 1914. With reference to my despatch, No. 170, of the 24th April last, transmitting correspondence relating to the representation of the self-governing-dominions on the Committee of Imperial Defence and a proposed Naval Conference, I have the honour to request Your Excellency to invite the attention of your Ministers to the suggestion of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, communicated' in the Governor-General's telegram of the 23rd March last, that the question of naval defence should be discussed in 1915 at a conference at which all the self-governing dominions should be represented. 2. His Majesty's Government will be glad to learn the views of your Ministers with regard to this suggestion. 1 have, &c, L. HARCOURT. Governor His Excellency the Right Hon. the Earl of Liverpool, G.C.M.G., M.V.0., &c.

A.-l, 1913, No. 43.

No. 48. Downing Street, 31st July, 1914. The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies presents his compliments to the Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand, and is directed by the Secretary of State to transmit to him, for the information of his Ministers, the parliamentary papers noted in the annexed Schedule.

Subject of Paper. Number of Copies. t. s 7506 : Political Crisis in Tasmania 6