25, which prohibits "the bombardment of towns, villages, habitations, or buildings, which are not defended," was strengthened, when the _Reglement_ was reissued in 1907 as an annexe to the, as yet not generally ratified, Hague Convention No.iv.of that year, by the insertion, after the word "bombardment," of the words "by any means whatever," with the expressed intention of including in the prohibition the throwing of projectiles from balloons.
The Hague Convention No.ix.of 1907, also not yet generally ratified, purports to close a long controversy, in accordance with the view which you allowed me to advocate, with reference to the naval manoeuvres of 1888, by prohibiting the "naval bombardment of ports, towns, villages, habitations, or buildings, which are not defended." The words "by any means whatever" have not been here inserted, one would incline to think by inadvertence, having regard to what passed in Committee, and to the recital of the Convention, which sets out the propriety of extending to naval bombardments the principles of the _Reglement_ (cited, perhaps again by inadvertence, as that of 1899) as to the Laws and Customs of War on Land.
But the topic was first squarely dealt with by the first of the three Hague Declarations of 1899, by which the Powers agreed to prohibit, for five years, "the throwing of projectiles and explosives from balloons, or by other analogous new methods." The Declaration was signed and ratified by almost all the Powers concerned; not, however, by Great Britain.
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.
In the meantime, it may interest your readers to have some clue to what has taken place, with reference to the more theoretical aspects of the questions involved, in so competent and representative a body as the Institut de Droit International.

The Institut has had the topic under consideration ever since 1900, more especially at its sessions for the years 1902, 1906, 1910, and 1911.

In the volumes of its "Annuaire" for those years will be found not only the text of the resolutions adopted on each occasion, together with a summary account of the debates which preceded their adoption, but also, fully set out, the material which had been previously circulated for the information of members, in the shape of reports and counter-reports from inter-sessional committees, draft resolutions, and such critical observations upon these documents as had been received by the secretary.