It prohibits all foreigners from engaging in any kind of business other than that which is inscribed upon the commercial card under the title "profession", or to engage in any trade other than in the line of business indicated upon the card.

The commercial card will not be granted, except in exceptional cases, to foreigners who have not received authorization to reside in France; a temporary pass for a reasonable length of time will be granted in cases where the foreigner has declared an intention to go to a locality other than that where he is presently engaged in a trade or profession. (Decree of February 2, 1939, Art. 4)

The commercial card will be revoked in the event it is found that the foreigner has given false information regarding his visit, or where he has been declared a bankrupt or convicted of a felony, a common law misdemeanor without prejudice, or an order of expulsion. (Decree of February 2, 1939, Art. 4)

All infractions of these regulations will be punished by a fine of from 100 to 2,000 francs and imprisonment from 1 to 6 months, either one or both. In the event of a second offense, the penalty will be doubled and, in addition, the Court shall ordain the closing of the establishment. (Decree of February 2, 1939, Art. 6.)

The commercial card established by the decree of November 12, 1938, must be shown by the commercial foreigner at the time of his matriculation with the register of commerce, whether an individual or a corporation. (Decree of November 12, 1938, Arts. 2 and 3, modifying. the law of March 18, 1919, Arts. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9.)

The terms of the decree-law dated April 21, 1939, provides that the card of the foreign merchant will accord full rights to foreigners who obtain permission to reside in the country in order to establish or conduct an industrial enterprise in the national interest, when these foreigners have stated, before entry in France, the type of such enterprise, or when a foreigner is to be employed as an engineer.

and

The Mining Law at present in force is dated May 16, 1884, superseded the law of 1855. Certain developments since 1884, however, caused the Swedish Government to propose a new mining law, which was enacted by the Riksdag on June 3 (Law No. 314) and will go into effect on January 1, 1940, according to the American Consulate, Stockholm.

State Ownership Rights Extended. Under the old mining law a person who found ore, after registering his claim, received one-half of the mine, while the other half belonged to the owner of the ground. According to the new law going into effect on January 1, 1940, a person who registers a mining claim will continue to receive onehalf of the mine, but the other half will be the property of the

Swedish Government.

Landowner's Rights. While the rights of landowners in respect of mines, therefore, have been greatly curtailed, an unconditional surrender of the land is not required. By way of compensation for the land, it is provided that the landowner shall receive the value of the land (not including the value of the mineral deposits) plus 50 percent. As in the majority of cases mineral deposits in Sweden are embedded in rock, which usually penetrates to the surface, the

value of the land will as a rule be very low. If the bare rock, for example, is valued at 100 kronor, the landowner will receive 150 kronor. The thought behind this is probably that before the rock was discovered to contain minable minerals it was a mere barren rock of no particular value to the owner and that whatever compensation he receives for it is an unexpected and unearned profit. Owing to representations made by the Farmers' Party, however, the landowner's compensation was increased so as to include also 1 percent of the value of the minerals mined each year during a period of 20 years: provided, that the amount thus received by the landowner may not for any 1 year exceed 5,000 kronor.

Furthermore, there is a concession fee of 10 kronor per year and hectare (24 acres) of the claim, one-half of which goes to the Government and one-half to the landowner. If one-half of the mine is owned by the Government, the above concession fee of the private partner is reduced to 5 kronor per year and hectare.

Mine-Operator's Rights. While the new law theoretically assures the person who registers a mining claim of one-half of the mine, the Swedish Government actually has the right to make any disposition it desires with regard to mines found. In some cases the Government may form a corporation in which the Government owns one-half or less of the stock and the private party the remainder. In some cases the Government may give the holder of the claim a concession to work the mine alone and require him to pay the Government a royalty. In other cases the Government may take complete possession of the mine by buying out the private owner. The law provides, however, that the Government must claim its share in the mine within a certain definite time (within 1 month after the regular operation of the mine for 6 months after the reporting of the activities to the Mining Master Bergmastare for the district, or within 2 years after the end of the year in which the official staking-out of the claim utmal was completed). This latter provisio enables the Government to postpone any action until it is seen whether the mine is worth operating.

Prospecting for Ore in Sweden. Sweden is divided into four mining districts, each in charge of a Mining Master (Bergmastare). The central government office for the supervision of mining is the Mining Bureau (Bergsbyran) of the Royal Board of Trade (Kungl. Kommerskollegium).

Every Swedish subject domiciled in Sweden has the right to apply for permission to prospect for ore. A prospecting permit (mutsedel) is obtained from the Mining Master for the district. Such a permit covers a circular area wi th a maximum radius of 200 meters, and entitles the holder to make a closer examination of the ground in order to ascertain whether it actually contains minable quantities of ore of any one of the following metals: gold, silver, platinum, mercury, copper, lead, zinc, iron, manganese, chromium, cobalt, nickel, titanium, vanadium, molybdenum, wolfram, tin, bismuth, antimony, and arsenic, but not lake or bog ore; or whether it contains iron pyrites, magnetic pyrites, graphite, apatite, or magnesite.

A novelty introduced by the new mining law is permission for private persons to prospect for ore on Government-owned land. Under a special law of 1902, private persons were forbidden to prospect for ore on so-called undisposed-of Crown land (odisponerad kronojord) in the Norrbotten, Basterbotten, and Jamtland counties, all in the

north of Sweden. The rights of a Crown-land prospector under the new law are similar to those of a prospector on privately owned property. Mining Concessions. If the experimental drilling on a mining claim shows that the claim contains minable quantities of say one of the ores or minerals listed, the holder of the prospecting permit may apply to the Mining Master for a mining concession (utmal). The form of application is indicated in article 21 of the law. If the application is granted, the Mining Master officially denotes the limits of the claim, which takes the form of a rectangle with a maximum surface of 16 hectares (roughly 40 acres). This is approximately four times the maximum size of a claim permitted under the old law. A prospector may apply for several concessions operate adjacent claims.

το

Aliens Barred from Mining in Sweden. Several decades ago, it seems, a considerable part of the Swedish mines were under foreign control, but since then steps have gradually been taken, both financial and legislative, to liquidate the foreign interests. According to a law enacted in 1916, aliens are forbidden to own mines in Sweden without special permission from the Swedish Government. As the law was not retroactive, however, a few relatively unimportant mines are still owned by alien interests. The measures to prevent alien ownership of Swedish mines were reinforced through the adoption of a law dated June 7, 1934, concerning the possession of shares in certain Swedish companies by dummies acting on behalf of foreign

1. Agreements for reinsurance by Board of Trade of certain risks in respect of ships and cargoes.

2. Insurance by Board of Trade of ships and cargoes.

3. Transitional provision for compensation in respect of goods in transit after discharge or before shipment.

4. Liabilities of reinsurer in the event of insurer's insolvency. 5. Exemption of certain bodies from s. 357 of Companies Act, 1929. 6. Interpretation of Part I.

Part IL. Insurance of Goods in the United Kingdom

7. Scheme of insurance to operate in the event of war.

8. Registration of insurances which would be required in the event of war.

9. Power to make insurance compulsory in time of war.

10. Restriction on carrying on certain insurance business in time of

war.

11. Goods insurable under Part II.

12. Legal proceedings.

13. Employment of agents by Board of Trade.

14. Orders of Board of Trade.

15. Interpretation and extent of Part II.

16. Establishment of funds for purposes of Act.

17. Provisions as to raising of money to make good deficiencies in funds.

18. Exemption of certain agreements from provisions of Stamp Act, and Marine Insurance Act, 1906.

19. Expenses of Board of Trade.

20. Exercise of powers and Board of Trade.

21. Application to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

22. Short title.

Schedule:

Fees payable on applications under section 8 of this Act.

CHAPTER 57

An Act to make provision for authorizing the Board of Trade, in the event of war and in other circumstances, to undertake the insurance of ships and other goods; for the payment by the Board of Trade, in time of war, of compensation in respect of goods lost or damaged in transit; for requiring persons to insure goods against certain risks in time of war; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. (4th August 1939.)

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Part I. Insurance of Ships and Cargoes

1. (1) The Board of Trade, if they are of opinion that it is expedient so to do for the purpose of securing that ships are not laid up and that commerce is not interrupted by reason of lack of insurance facilities, may, with the approval of the Treasury, enter into agreements with any persons

(a) for the reinsurance by the Board of any King's enemy risks against which a British ship is for the time being insured; and (b) for the reinsurance by the Board of any King's enemy risks against which the cargo carried in a ship or aircraft is for the time being insured.

In relation to any period during which His Majesty is at war, the preceding provisions of this subsection shall have effect as if for any reference therein to King's enemy risks there were substituted a reference to war risks.

(2) A copy of every agreement made in pursuance of this section shall, as soon as may be after the agreement is made, be laid before each House of Parliament; and if either House, within the period of fourteen days beginning with the day on which a copy of such an agreement is laid before it, resolves that the agreement be annulled, the agreement shall thereupon become void except in so far as it confers rights or imposes obligations in respect of things previously done or omitted to be done, without prejudice, however, to the making of a new agreement.

In reckoning for the purposes of this subsection any such period of fourteen days as aforesaid, no account shall be taken of any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued, or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than four days.

(3) Any reference in this section to a British ship shall be construed as including a reference to any machinery, tackle, or furniture of a British ship, and to any goods on board a British ship not being cargo carried therein; and in this section the expressions "King's enemy risks" and "war risks" mean, in relation to any agreement, King's enemy risks and war risks respectively as defined for the purposes of that agreement.

(4) This section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the twentieth day of February, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine.

2. (1) The Board of Trade may, with the approval of the Treasury, carry on business for all or any of the following purposes; that is to say:

(a) the insurance of British ships by the Board against war risks or King's enemy risks, at any time when it appears to the Board that reasonable and adequate facilities for the insurance of British ships against such risks are not available;

(b) the insurance by the Board, during the continuance of any war in which His Majesty may be engaged, of British ships and of foreign ships not being ships used in the service of a Power at war with His Majesty;

(c) the insurance by the Board of cargoes carried in ships or aircraft against war risks or King's enemy risks, at any time when it appears to the Board that reasonable and adequate facilities for the insurance of such cargoes against such risks are not available; (d) the insurance by the Board, during the continuance of any such war, of cargoes carried in ships or aircraft not being ships or aircraft used in the service of a Power at war with His Majesty; and (e) the insurance by the Board, during the continuance of any such

war,

(i) of goods consigned for carriage by sea or by air from a place outside any one of the countries to which this paragraph applies to a place in that country, while the goods are in transit between the ship or aircraft and their destination; and (ii) of goods consigned for carriage by sea or by air from a place in any one of the countries to which this paragraph applies to a place outside that country, while the goods are in transit between the premises from which they are consigned and the ship or aircraft.

The countries to which paragraph (e) of this subsection applies are the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and any of the Channel Islands. (2) Any reference in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of this section to British ships or foreign ships shall be construed as including a reference to any machinery, tackle or furniture of such ships, and to any goods on board such ships, not being cargo carried therein; and in paragraph (e) of that subsection the expression "the ship or aircraft", in relation to goods consigned for carriage by sea or by air to or from a country to which that paragraph applies, does not include any vessel into which the goods are discharged at any port or place in that country for the purpose of being landed at that port or place, or from which the goods are discharged for the purpose of being carried by sea or by air from that country, as the case may be.

3. (1) Where any person proves with respect to any goods:

(a) that the goods have been lost or damaged in consequence of King's enemy risks; and