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N° 23.
REC
12155
RER 6 MAF 17
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG. 20th. January, 1917.
96
gon
46937
Sir.
14 yo69 1.6 With reference to Mr. Boner Law's Despatch
No. 279 of the 26th. October, 1916, relating to certain cotton
goods in which Mesers, Dehn & Co. are interested, I have the honour
to inform you that I have now directed that for the present the
goods in question are to be forwarded to New Guinea only on payment
by the consignees. Four of the bales are said to contain "cotton
goods", and the 30 other bales are said to contain what is various-
-ly described as "gunnies", "Calcutta twills" and "drapery". You
will observe that my letter of the 16th. August, 1916, addressed
to the Governor-General of the Commonwealth, a copy of which formed
enclosure to my Despatch No. 327 of the 22nd. idem, intimated that
I would wait for his reply before forwording the goods, and they
are still here. I have taken this course because it appears that
all the 34 bales originally were, and possibly still are, the
property of Messrs. Dehn & Co. The latter claim a lien on the 34
bales as unpaid vendors, though it seems very doubtful whether
they have any such lien under the circumstances of the case. The
information at my disposal is not sufficient to enable me to judge
of this point, and I have therefore thought it unwise to allow the
goods to go forward.
2.
It should be explained that the goods are lying
here in the hands of the liquidators of Messrs. Melchers & Co., but
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
that
WALTER LONG, &c..
M.P
Lo..
&c...