counters of Canadian retail dealers, he as a rule found in the market the
cheap Colonial Edition imported to compete with and undersell his own,
even although he had contracted as effectually as he could with the
English author and publisher for the Canadian market.

In 1899, the third International Congress of Publishers was held in
London, at which there was a representative gathering of British and
foreign publishers. The question of Canadian copyright occupied one of the
sittings of the Congress. Professor Mavor, representing the Canadian
Authors' Society was present, and delivered an interesting address, from
the official report of which I quote:--

"Professor Mavor said there was a difference between the law officers
of the Crown and the Canadian law officers with respect to the rights
of Canada to legislate for copyright in Canada, and there was no doubt
that publishers on both sides held extreme views. When his Society
turned their attention to it, they considered whether some middle path
might not be arrived at which would satisfy reasonable people on both
sides of the water. They laid down four principles to guide them. They
thought it useless, considering the present population of Canada, to
propose a manufacture clause, and therefore set that aside. In the
second place, they thought the system of licensing was far too
complicated to be worked out satisfactorily. Thirdly, they thought it
would be a great pity for Canada to do anything to lead to the
withdrawal of the Berne Convention; and fourthly, they thought it
would be a great pity to disturb the existing relations as regarded
copyright between England and the United States. They went to some of
the publishers, and asked them to point out where the shoe pinched,
and it appeared that the publishers had a reasonable grievance. They
said that, when they bought what they supposed to be Canadian rights,