§ MR. STUART-WORTLEY (Sheffield, Hallam)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, assuming that the Belgian Government were entitled to fix the day of the new Conference of the International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property and the repression of False Trade Descriptions, they were bound to do so within two years from the 15th of April, 1891, when, by affixing of the Plenipotentiaries' signatures to the Madrid projects the conference of Madrid was closed; and whether the Madrid Conference recorded its opinion that new projects to be laid before any future Conference should be given notice of six months before the assembling of such Conference?
§ SIR E. GREYAt the Madrid Conference in 1890 it was arranged that the next meeting should take place at Brussels, but no date was fixed. It was, however, understood that the date would be fixed by the Belgian Government in concert with the International Office, and that notice of the date fixed should be given within two years from the close of the Madrid Conference. While it is true that the actual Conference of Delegates at Madrid closed in April 1890, the meeting at Madrid for the Deposit of Ratifications of the various Protocols did not take place till June 1892. In the view of Her Majesty Government no special reason appears to exist for urging the meeting of the Conference, and to summon it before preparations are complete would lead to no result. It is the case that six months' notice of new proposals must be given.