Daily Mail 26 September 1905 page 5
(From Our Special Correspondent.)
CHRISTIANIA, Monday, Sept. 25.
The agreement reached by the Karlstad Conference was published simultaneously in Sweden and Norway to-day at 5 p.m. It was received in this city with no elation, but with general satisfaction.
The agreement will unquestionably be ratified by the Storthing and by the Swedish Riksdag, which is to be convened on October 2. It is a long and detailed document, containing no fewer than thirty-five articles, the most important of which are as follows:
For a period of ten years all disputes between the two countries are to be settled by the Arbitration Court at the Hague.
A neutral zone, which shall be eternally inviolate, is established along the southern frontier of Norway. It will consist of a strip of land ten miles wide on each side of the frontier, giving a total width of twenty miles. Within this zone no fortifications are to be erected. It is to remain inviolate even in the event of war. Either State may arrange to have this zone guaranteed by any of the European Powers.
The Norwegian forts with this zone are to be demolished within eight months, but the historic fortress of Frederiksten will remain untouched. The historic fortress of Kongsvinger, outside the neutral zone, is not affected, but the works there may not be extended without Sweden’s leave.
The existing treaty guaranteeing the rights of the Swedish Laplanders in Northern Norway is prolonged till 1917.
The freedom of mutual transit traffic is secured for thirty years, and the present regulation affecting the rivers which flow through both countries are to be maintained for fifty years.
Oppdatert 24.08.04
Wigo H. Skråmm, Fetsund - Nils
Steinar Våge, Lillestrøm