In any
further communication
on this subject, please quote
No. F 5616/5616/23.
and address--
not to any person by name
but to-
"The Under-Secretary of State,”
Foreign Office,
London, S.W.1.
Confidential.
(2)
Sir,
RECEIVED
16 JUN 1939
C. O. REGI
FOREIGN OFFICE.
S.W.1.
15th June, 1939.
With reference to Colonial Office confidential
letter No. 54001/39 of the 10th June, I am directed by
Viscount Halifax to state that he concurs in the view
that it would be undesirable to allow a Japanese company
to conduct salvage operations on the wreck of the vessel
While he is in some doubt as to whether
"Jinkai Maru".
the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1911
actually cover salvage, he considers that it would be
advisable in order to avoid any dispute on the point of
most-favoured-nation treatment, that the prohibition on
salvaging the vessel should be extended to all foreign
companies and that only a British company should be
permitted to undertake the work.
3
2. I am to add that, if the Japanese should raise
the question of the permission given to salvage the
"Asama Maru" in 1937, it could be pointed out that this was
done as an act of grace in special circumstances which no
longer apply, and that, if any further explanation is
The Under-Secretary of State,
Colonial Office.
regarded/