Consul, Senor Checa, lately accredited to this Colony.
2. The question has been raised whether the effects of a Chinese; who had died on board a Spanish vessel on the High Seas, and brought into this Colony, and there deposited by the Captain on the Spanish Consulate, are amenable to the Jurisdiction of the local Courts. The Spanish Consul claimed the right to administer the effects on the ground that the Chinese had died under the Spanish Flag, and that according to international usage, as he interprets it, he alone, and not the Supreme Court, had power to deal with the matter.
Vide Memo No.2.
Vide Memo No. Page 45.
3. A long correspondence ensued, of which I enclose a Précis for ready reference, and it was not until after a prolonged personal interview which I had with the Spanish Consul, held between the 12th and 18th Instants that he agreed to deliver the effects to the Official Administrator, when he placed on record a formal protest against the course which he was adopting.
4. The law on the subject was explained in the enclosed Memorandum, which I caused the Acting Attorney General to prepare.
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