A.—7.

1908. NEW ZEALAND.

THE NEW HEBRIDES (ORDER IN COUNCIL TO PROVIDE FOR HIS MAJESTY'S JURISDICTION WITHIN).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies to His Excellency the Governor. (New Zealand.—No. 106.) My Lord, — Downing Street, 15th November, 1907. I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Ministers, five copies of an Order in Council passed on the 2nd instant to provide for the exercise of His Majesty's jurisdiction within the New Hebrides in accordance with the terms of the Anglo-French Convention of the 20th October, 1906, as amended by the notes exchanged between His Majesty's Government and the French Government on the 29th August, 1907. I have, &c, Elgin. Governor the Right Hon. Lord Plunket, K.C.M.G., X.C.V.0., &c.

AT THE COUET AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE, The 2nd day of November, 1907. Present, The King's Most Excellent Majesty Loed President Earl Carrington Lord Steward Lord Sandhurst |$ Master of the Horse Lord Farquhar. Whereas by treaty, grant, usage, sufferance, and other lawful means His Majesty has jurisdiction within the Islands of the Pacific Ocean known as the New Hebrides, including the Banks Islands and Torres Islands : And whereas under and by virtue of the Pacific Order in Council, 1893, provision was made for the exercise of His Majesty's jurisdiction within the said Islands : I' ' ; And whereas by the Pacific Order in Council, 1907, the said Order was amended in certain respects : i JiAnd whereas by a Convention made at London on the 20th day of October, 1906, by the Government of His Majesty the King and the Government of the French Republic, it was amongst other things provided that the Islands known as the New Hebrides, including the Banks and Torres Islands, should form a region of joint influence in which the subjects and citizens of Great Britain and France respectively should enjoy equal rights of residence, personal protection, and trade, each of the two said Powers retaining jurisdiction over its subjects and citizens, and neither exercising a separate control over the Group, and that the subjects or citizens of other Powers should enjoy the same rights, and should be subject to the same obligations as British subjects or French citizens ;

I—A. 7.