Prior to 1847, it was a common complaint in Canada that, owing to the provisions of the Imperial Copyright Act, a sufficient supply of English literature could not be obtained, whilst the reading public in the United States were well supplied with the best English books in cheap form. To remove this ground of complaint, the Imperial Parliament passed the Foreign Reprints Act (1847), under which Canada was permitted to import cheap pirated editions of British works produced in the United States, on an undertaking to collect a Customs duty thereon of 12-1/2 per cent., which was to be paid over to the British Government for the benefit of the authors interested. The results of this legislation were unsatisfactory to the British authors, few of whom received any benefit under the provisions of the Act. The sums collected were ridiculously small. In 1894, they amounted to $1,433.66, and in 1895, to $2,211.33. Whilst the arrangement was in existence, British copyright works were openly printed in the United States, and imported into Canada without payment of the duty, to the exclusion of British editions. So long as this arrangement remained in force, a British copyright owner could not prevent the importation into Canada of pirated editions of his work, unless he reprinted the work in Canada and copyrighted it under the Canadian copyright laws. The arrangement was terminated by the Canadian Parliament in 1895 at the instance of Sir John Thompson. Every lover of books will remember that during the continuance of the arrangement, a Canadian Publishing Trade hardly existed, and that the reading public who bought books were compelled in a great measure to satisfy themselves with American reprints, of so little value that specimens of them are now regarded almost as curiosities. Prior to 1887, a Canadian author was entitled to little protection under the Copyright Laws of European countries, and prior to 1891 was entitled to no protection whatever under the Copyright Laws of the United States. In 1886 the Imperial Parliament passed an Act which provides in effect, that the British Copyright Acts shall apply to a book first produced in Canada or any other British possession, in like manner as they apply to a work first produced in the United Kingdom. If the book is copyrighted at Ottawa, a certificate of registration signed by the Minister of Agriculture is proof in all Courts throughout the Empire of the existence of such copyright. No registration in England is required.