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 BRITISH EMPIRE 397

does not forfeit copyright, and imperial provisions generally hold good.

The Transvaal, under local legislation of 1887, pro- Transvaal vided protection for fifty years from registration, re- ceipt or for life, on condition of printing within the colony, and the deposit of three copies thus printed, within two months of publication, accompanied by the affidavit of the printer, without which formalities copyright was forfeited. A resolution of 1895 author- ized waiver of the printing requirement in the case of countries having reciprocal relations. Reservation by printed notice was required to protect playright and right of translation; playright in a printed play was limited to ten years, but for an unpublished play was for life and thirty years. All these colonies, whether formerly British or Dutch, are probably now under Imperial copyright law, which would nullify local pro- visions incompatible with that law, pending the enact- ment of a South African general code.

Sierra Leone and the neighboring British colonies West coast on the west coast, as Gambia and the Gold Coast, are coloi^es under imperial copyright law, and passed local ordi- nances under the provisions of the British act of 1886, Sierra Leone having provided by Ordinance of 1887 for copyright for the usual British term with deposit of three copies in an office to be designated in the Sierra Leone Royal Gazette, and the other colonies having similiar provisions.

The Mediterranean islands of Malta and Cyprus, Mediterra- in addition to imperial copyright, have local ordi- nean islands nances providing respectively for registration in an office notified in the government gazette, and deposit of three copies, within one month from publication, Gibraltar seems to be only under Imperial copyright.