At The Hague Conference of 1907, when the Belgian delegates proposed that this Declaration, which had expired by efflux of time, should be renewed, some curious changes of opinion were found to have occurred. Twenty-nine Powers, of which Great Britain was one, voted for renewal, but eight Powers, including Germany, Spain, France, and Russia, were opposed to it, while seven Powers, one of which was Japan, abstained from voting. The Japanese delegation had previously intimated that, "in view of the absence of unanimity on the part of the great military Powers, there seemed to be no great use in binding their country as against certain Powers, while, as against the rest, it would still be necessary to study and bring to perfection this mode of making war." Although the Declaration, as renewed, was allowed to figure in the "Acte final" of the Conference of 1907, the dissent from it of several Powers of the first importance must render its ratification by the others highly improbable; nor would it seem worth while to renew, for some time to come, a proposal which, only two years ago, was so ill received. I may perhaps add, with reference to what was said by one of yesterday's speakers, that any provision on the topic under discussion would be quite out of place in the Geneva Convention, which deals, not with permissible means of inflicting injury, but exclusively with the treatment of those who are suffering from injuries inflicted. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, August 3 (1909). THE AERIAL NAVIGATION ACT PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES Sir,--The haste with which Colonel Seely's Bill, authorising resort to extreme measures for the prevention of aerial trespass under suspicious circumstances, has been passed through all its stages, was amply justified by the urgent need for such legislation, which Russia seems to have been the first to recognise. The task of those responsible for framing regulations for the working of the new Act will be no easy one. They will be brought face to face with practical difficulties, such as led to the adjournment of the Paris Conference of 1910.