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reciprocal arrangement could not be advantageously arrived at, whereby the Consuls of either nation in the ports where these privileged vessels were usually stationed should be instructed, on the application of local police and functionaries of the Courts, to give every facility for the execution of legal process on board of those vessels which could be granted without sacrificing any necessary privilege, or occasioning any delay in the departure of the vessel; and also as a general rule to hand over to the local jurisdiction all cases of offences committed on board those vessels in harbour which the Tribunals on the spot could conveniently and properly deal with, should no special reason exist to render a departure from this course expedient.
The French Minister for Foreign Affairs appeared to consider that the conduct pursued by the French Consul at Hong Kong had been correct, but he promised to look into the matter, and to consider the proposal made by Her Majesty's Government, but nothing further was done. Lord Lyons, No. 1030;
December 13, 1876.
In September 1877 the Acting Vice-Consul of France at Aden protested against the quarantine imposed on the French mail-steamer "Irrawaddy," belonging to the Messageries Maritimes Company, on her entrance into the Port of Aden, in virtue of the Indian Native Passengers Act, No. 8, of 1876, and under which the Aden authorities claimed the right to visit any steamer, even mail-steamers, carrying more than 60 passengers, natives of Asia and Africa. The French Vice-Consul based his protest on the Postal Convention of 24th September, 1856, but how the matter was ultimately decided does not clearly appear from the papers supplied to this Office by the India Office. In India Office Letter; November 13, 1878. Quarantine. French mail-steamer "Irrawaddy" at Aden.
November 13, 1878.
The question now asked by the India Office is, whether any special privileges have been conferred, by Treaty, upon the Rubattino Line of steamers, or the vessels of the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's Steam Navigation Company, when lying in British ports; or whether, upon any other grounds, they can claim exemption from British jurisdiction in British ports.
These questions arise out of the following incident:- Jew Goldstein on board Rubattino steamer "Australia" at Aden. Bradshaw, p. 709. Question of privileges of Rubattino and Austrian Lloyd's steamers in British ports. See Appendix. Austrian Lloyd's steamers in Ionian Islands.
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In March last (1878), a "Continental Jew" named Goldstein, alias Grurnstein, having stolen various articles of jewellery and money in Bombay, embarked on board the Rubattino steamer "Australia," then bound for Aden,
On hearing of the robbery and the departure of Goldstein, the Commissioner of Police at Bombay telegraphed to the Resident at Aden to go on board the "Australia" on its arrival at that port, and effect his arrest.
The Aden police accordingly proceeded on board, but the master refused to give up the accused without an order from the Austrian Consul, and as that functionary resided five miles distant, and it was impossible to communicate with him before the vessel's departure, the arrest was not made.
On the facts being brought to the knowledge of the Austrian Consul, he supported the action of the commander of the "Australia," but on being appealed to by the Resident at Aden, he authorized the accused to be given up, but not until it was too late; and the question then arose as to the necessity for the police obtaining the sanction of a foreign Consul in order to visit and search a foreign vessel lying in Aden Harbour, on board of which a person might have taken refuge who had committed an offence against British law on shore.
The Rubattino Line of steamers belong to R. Rubattino and Co., of Genoa, and they carry the Italian mails.
The Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's steamers belong to an Austrian Company, and they carry the Austrian mails; but there is no clause in any of our Treaties with Italy or Austria which gives any special privileges whatever to vessels of those Companies when lying in British ports; and I am not aware of the existence of any other grounds upon which they could claim exemption from British jurisdiction in British ports, beyond the law of nations with regard to the treatment of mail-packets; and for facility of reference, extracts are given in the Appendix to this Paper from writers on the law of nations bearing on that subject.
With regard to the Austrian Lloyd's, it may be mentioned that, at the time of the cession of the Ionian Islands to Greece, it was recorded in a Protocol dated the 25th January, 1864, that the Hertslet's Treaties, vol. xii, p. 526.
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