the Council.

I therefore take this means of presenting the true position of literary
copyright in Canada, a subject which is but little understood, and upon
which the Executive and the Council apparently did not desire
enlightenment.

Under the British Copyright Laws, which extend to Canada, a British or
Canadian author of a literary work has the undisputed right to his
manuscript; he may withhold, or he may communicate it, and in
communicating it he may limit the number of persons to whom it is
imparted, and impose such restrictions as he pleases upon the use and
printing of the work. Foreign reprints of such a work cannot be imported
into Canada. Canadian publishers are just as free to deal with authors
under the British Copyright Laws as publishers in the United Kingdom, and
are, therefore, on the same footing as the British publishers.

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