CHAP. V] TREATY RELATIONS 1111
wealth and Japan is the differential tariff imposed by the
Japanese against places which have no treaty rights.
It may be argued, of course, that the position is somewhat
one-sided, inasmuch as Japanese in the Commonwealth, for
example, have no rights analogous to those of British subjects
in Japan, but consideration shows that any attempt to avoid
this result would lead to inextricable difficulties. In view
of the constant intercourse between Great Britain and
Australia it would be very difficult to define any basis on
which an Australian subject could be distinguished from an
ordinary British subject, and the Colony is penalized sufficiently
 for its lack of adherence by the tariff disabilities under
which it labours in consequence.
In political matters proper there has been no attempt to
obtain separate powers of adherence or withdrawal for the
Dominions, and it is clear that such an attempt would be
meaningless. It is impossible, as long as the Empire retains
any unity, for one part to be treated in political questions
differently from another part, and the separate adherence
to and withdrawal from treaties is only possible as in commercial
 treaties, where a differentiation of treatment could
be based upon a differentiation of locality. This remains
true even in the most recent treaties, and in this case also
the practice of consulting the Colonies has not yet been
introduced save within somewhat narrow limits. Nor, as
a matter of fact, have the Colonies put forward any formal
claim to be given an option as to adherence in the case
of general political treaties. Recent examples of political
treaties concluded without consultation with the Colonies
are the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the former of
which, in the Convention relating to the laws of war, imposed
certain obligations on the countries adhering: for example,
as to free postage and exemption from customs dues for
prisoners of war, to which effect could not be given without
Colonial legislation, and the latter of which also required
certain amendments in legal matters. Similarly in the case
of the political conventions with Japan ; the treaty with
France of 1904 for the settlement of outstanding questions ;