L
nt 'ses add vała inngo
- „daft „Jecsul Las 3871 ..ds?
COPY.
J. No. 1540.
.2000A 1780
..da aven I
„Jenengeuf „C 10 (18)
.Juano nepar ieinauni
The Honourable
sir.
نة
C.O.
257
13573 263
Reco
*13 APR 2
Hongkong, 24th. June, 1898.
Re Ahrens.
With reference to previous correspondence in the
above matter I have the honour to inform you that, according to
instructions which I have received from Berlin, my Government is
not in the position to undertake the repatriation of the above
named individual.
The Foreign Office in Berlin, in declining to do
so, only adopts, as I have been informed, the same considerations
upon which the British Government, requested by the Prussian
Authorities to repatriate a lunatic British subject, recently
refused to comply.
The arguments of your Government in this instance
as well as in previous cases were that it could not, as a matter
of principles, grant the repatriation of a British subject be-
cause the English Law did not provide the legal possibility of
ridding the country of a Foreign Destitute, subject and there- fore excluded reciprocity, and moreover because the maxin, fre- quently adopted in previous cases, had to remain in force that
every state had to take care for destitute foreigners resident
in its territory.
Under the circumstances I regret being unable to
do anything further in the matter.
The Acting Colonial Secretary.
I have etc.,
(Sd.) Dr. F. C. Rieloff,
Imperial German Consul.
Page 270Page 271