The policing of the trains and stations shall be carried out exclusively by the agents of the commission in agreement with the railway company.

Subject to the provisions of article 3, no distinction between the different nationalities shall be made in recruiting the personnel of the commission and of the railway.

ARTICLE 13.

The rights and duties of the Compagnie des Chemins de fer Orientaux which that company possessed on the 1st August, 1914, shall be maintained. Within a period of one year from the coming into force of the present convention, the company shall have the right to ask that their contract be adjusted to the changed economic conditions. In the event of no direct agreement being reached between the company and the Greek Government on this point, the conditions of such readjustment shall be determined by arbitration under the following conditions.

One arbitrator shall be nominated by the concessionary company and a second arbitrator shall be nominated by the Greek Government. The third arbitrator shall, in the event of no agreement being reached as to the choice of such an arbitrator between the two interested Powers, be nominated by the Council of the League of Nations.

ARTICLE 14.

Persons, goods, postal services, ships, vessels, carriages, wagons and other means of transport coming from or going to the territory referred to in article 1 and crossing Greek territory shall be deemed to be in transit across Greece if they are going to or coming from any other State whatsoever.

Greece undertakes in so far as this transit is concerned to apply the provisions of the convention and statute regarding freedom of transit signed at Barcelona on the 20th April, 1921.

ARTICLE 15.

All differences which might arise regarding the interpretation or the application of the articles of the present convention shall be settled in the manner provided by the covenant of the League of Nations.

ARTICLE 16.

Pending the construction by the Bulgarian Government in the territory referred to in article 1 of a harbour answering the requirements of commerce and the junction of this harbour with the existing railways, the Greek Government undertake to accord to the Bulgarian Government in the Harbour of Dedeagatch, all the facilities provided for in the annex to the present convention.

SUB-ANNEX.

Reproduction of Articles 4 to 16 of the Treaty regarding Thrace signed at Sèvres on August 1, 1920.

PART II.

Meetings of the Second Commission.

No. 29.

COMMISSION ON THE RÉGIME OF FOREIGNERS.

Minutes of the First Meeting, December 2, 1922, at 4 P.M., under the presidency of Marquis Garroni.

M. Massigli, Secretary-General of the Conference.

MARQUIS GARRONI read the following speech:

"Before proceeding to the work entrusted to our commission. I feel that I should recall the fact that the Capitulations were originally granted to foreigners by a spontaneous act on the part of the Turkish Government, which desired to attract them to the Ottoman Empire for the purpose of developing the commerce and resources of the country by giving them guarantees and the means to live there according to their habits and customs.

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'Further, the capitulatory privileges were so appropriate to the needs of the times and to the interests of both the foreigners and the concessionary State that the Capitulations were repeatedly confirmed later on by various treaties.

"It must, however, be recognised that according to presentday ideas of law the capitulatory régime is regarded as liable to diminish the sovereign powers of an independent State; and it is intelligible that Turkey should demand the abolition of this régime, which has had its day.

"We are disposed in principle to meet this legitimate desire of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey; but it must be recognised, on the other hand, that foreigners have established themselves in Turkey and built up important enterprises there in reliance on the guarantees offered to them by the treaties. They have therefore acquired certain rights which must be taken into account and safeguarded.

"As regards the future, Turkey, who now claims her independence and sovereign rights, is equally interested in attracting foreign initiative and activity; she needs foreign co-operation for the profitable development of the numerous resources of the country, which are still in great part unexploited. It will, there fore, no doubt be agreeable to the Turkish Government, which wants the capitulatory régime to disappear, to substitute for it such guarantees as regards legislation and the administration of justice as will inspire confidence in all those who will be obliged to have recourse thereto.

"Our commission was also to deal with the question of minorities; but our task is already very heavy, and this question has partly been taken in hand by the First Commission under the able presidency of his Excellency Lord Curzon, who directs its work with so much authority and understanding. It therefore seems desirable, if you have no objection, to hand over to the First Commission the completion of the work relating to this question.

"I am well aware of the difficulties which our commission will have to overcome, but I am convinced that by working with a firm will to achieve the desired object it will succeed in finding such a solution as will reconcile all the interests concerned.

"With this wish I propose to open the work of our commission by a general discussion on the questions laid before it. I shall be happy to listen to such observations as may be made in this respect, that is to say, remarks of a general character, questions of detail being referred to the three sub-commissions, whose formation I have the honour to propose, viz. :

"First Sub-Commission: The legal position of foreign persons in Turkey, physical, juridical and moral, as regards the right to establish themselves in the country, and as regards the judiciary régime.

"Second Sub-Commission: The legal position of foreigners from the economic point of view.

"Third Sub-Commission: Questions of nationality and of archæological research."

ISMET PASHA understood from Marquis Garroni's statement that the latter recognised the incompatibility of the Capitulations with a nation's independence and with its concern for its existence and sovereign rights. He took note that this principle was established. Both in juridical matters and in the region of fact Turkey had for many years past repeatedly shown that it was possible in practice to dispense with the Capitulations. The subcommissions would therefore only have to settle Turkey's future relations with the interested States in conformity with the principles governing relations between States where no capitulatory régime existed.

He wished to make it clear that his Government could not possibly agree to negotiations with a view to the Capitulations. being suppressed in form and in name, but maintained in substance. Such a régime would be a fresh source of complications and would make relations even more difficult than in the past. This was the basis on which the Turkish delegates would participate in the work of the sub-commissions. The position of foreigners in Turkey was guaranteed by general legislation similar to that existing in all civilised nations which were independent and masters of their own fate. He warned the conference that the Turkish delegates could only work in the subcommissions in this spirit.

M. BARRÈRE wished to confine himself to a statement of principle. The fact that people spoke of suppressing the Capitulations implied that they still existed. The task of the conference was to devise a system more suited to modern requirements in place of the capitulatory system, which was in consonance with archaic ideas. It would, however, be necessary that the new régime should contain provisions which gave foreigners adequate satisfaction and guarantees from the juridical point of view. Having made this statement of principle, he reserved the right to define in the course of subsequent discussion the point of view whith the French delegation would have to defend.

LORD CURZON said that he would like to add a few words to the observations that had fallen from the president and M. Barrère, and desired to associate himself with the very conciliatory and courteous language which they had adopted.

The president had indicated to the meeting that what the conference had to do was to discover some substitute for the Capitulations. The Capitulations depended upon treaty rights and arrangements made by mutual consent, which extended over a period of centuries; and the fact that the Capitulations could not be destroyed by either of the contracting parties without the consent of the other, and without the substitution of some new system in their place, had been laid down on more than one occasion. For instance, there was a treaty in 1871 between the Powers and Turkey in which he found the words "they recognise