§ MR. BIRKMYRE (Ayr District)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether he has seen a telegram from the Times correspondent, at Ottawa, which was published on the 8th of this month, in which members of the Canadian Government declare that the Act constituting Canada a Dominion empowered the Dominion 552 Parliament to appropriate by legislation the Copyright of authors in all parts of the Empire outside of Canada, and to abrogate the protection afforded to these authors by Imperial legislation; whether the Secretary of State for the Colonies will refuse to advise the Crown to assent to such an Act; and, whether the Secretary of State will insist as a condition precedent for advising assent being given to any Copyright Act passed by the Dominion Parliament, that a clause be inserted to the effect that the consent of the author whose Copyright a Canadian publisher desires to appropriate shall first be given by him
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONThe late Sir J. Thompson was in personal communication with the Secretary of State, on the subject of Canadian Copyright, when his lamented death put an end for the time being to the communications, and I cannot at present make any statement on the subject.