74
clauses of the Convention
to which reference
has been made.
I beg leave to state that I
In reply
see no
objection to
my
letter of
the 19th
March being forwarded to the Company, whose
adhesion
to the Convention it would
be
desirable to obtain, but, inasmuch
as it would appear from the Colonial Office letter that the concession has already been given to the Company subject to the "usual
Government conditions" it seems doubtful whether,
as adherence to the International
Telegraph
Convention has not hitherto been stipulated for as one of those conditions, the Company can be forced to accept the stipulation in this
instance,
Seeing however that this country
is a party to the International Telegraph
Convention, Mr Fawcett thinks it would be
desirable that, in future, adherence to the International Convention should be required as
one of the usual Government conditions to the
grant of
a concession.
As regards the enquiry as to what are to be
regarded as the obligatory clauses of the
Convention and Service Regulations, I am to
state, after communicating with
the
International Telegraph Office
on the subject,
that these have never been precisely defined,
but that it is considered that the Convention as
a whole would be regarded as obligatory,
save in so far as the Convention itself allows any option or latitude.
1
is
J.