135
12443
No. 74A.
GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON to MR. LYTTELTON.
(Confidential.)
SIR,
(Received April 15, 1905.)
[Copy to Admiralty, April 25, 1905. L.F.]
[Answered by No. 183.]
Government House, Singapore, March 21, 1905. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your confidential despatch of the 15th of February ultimo,* forwarding a copy of correspondence with the Admiralty on the subject of additional storage accommodation at Tanjong Pagar Docks for fuel for the use of the Navy, and to inform you that I will communicate with the Commander-in-Chief on the China Station on the matter.
I understand that the difficulty arose from the impossibility of the Dock Company providing the large amount of extra storage room suddenly required by the Admiralty.
12800
No. 76.
COLONIAL OFFICE to MESSRS. SUTTON, OMMANNEY, AND RENDALL. [Copy to Governor, April 19, 1905. Confidential. L.F.] GENTLEMEN,
Downing Street, April 18, 1905. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to acknowledge the receipt of letter of the 17th instant,* and to state that he approves of your agreeing to Mr. Balfour Browne's fee of 4,000 guineas and expenses in the Tanjong Pagar Arbitration, on the conditions suggested by you.
I am, &c.,
13096
No. 77.
your
C. P. LUCAS.
12800
No. 75.
I have, &c.,
JOHN ANDERSON.
MESSRS. SUTTON, OMMANNEY, AND RENDALL to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received April 18, 1905.)
SIR,
[Copy to Governor, April 19, 1905. Confidential. L.F.]
[Answered by No. 76.]
3 and 4, Great Winchester Street, London, E.C., April 17, 1905.
Straits Settlements.
Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, Limited.
We find that the statement made to us by Mr. Balfour Browne's clerk as to the fee which that gentleman would be prepared to accept for acting as Counsel for the Government of the Straits Settlements in the anticipated arbitration in con- nection with the acquisition by the Government of the undertaking of this Company, is not to be relied on, Mr. Balfour Browne having declined to accept the fee his clerk suggested.
Mr. Ommanney, therefore, thought it advisable to see Mr. Balfour Browne personally, who states that he received 4,000 guineas and expenses for his services in connection with the Rand Waterworks arbitration, including his journey to South Africa, and that he was only absent from England on that business from 5th November, 1904, to the 7th January, 1905. As the result of the negotiations which have taken place, Mr. Balfour Browne has asked for a fee of 4,000 guineas and expenses, a fee of 3,000 guineas and expenses having been declined.
We should be obliged if you would inform us whether we are to agree this fee on the understanding that the same includes advising on all points which may arise in connection with the acquisition of the undertaking by the Government and the arbitration between the date of the agreement for the fee and the delivery of the Arbitrator's award, whether advice is sought in England or in the Colony, and that Mr. Balfour Browne gives his services until the conclusion of the arbitration proceedings, this latter stipulation being, in our opinion, necessary, as in the case of the Rand Waterworks arbitration we understand that Mr. Balfour Browne left South Africa before the arbitration proceedings were concluded.
We should perhaps add that Mr. Balfour Browne has intimated that it would be of assistance to him if a Junior Counsel were retained to act with him in this country in the preliminary steps of the arbitration proceedings, Mr. Balfour Browne having been given to understand that Counsel will be retained in the Colony to act with him there on the hearing of the arbitration.
We have, &c.,
SUTTON, OMMANNEY, AND RENDALL.
• No. 50.
GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON to MR. LYTTELTON. (Received 8.40 a.m., April 20, 1905.)
(Paraphrase.)
TELEGRAM.
[Answered by No. 91.]
With reference to my confidential despatch of February 13th,† selection of accountant urgent.
Do you approve June 1st as date of taking over Tanjong Pagar Company's undertaking?
13414
No. 78.
GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON to MR. LYTTELTON.
(Confidential.)
SIR,
(Received April 22, 1905.)
[Answered by L.F. transmitting copy of No. 137.]
Government House, Singapore, March 23, 1905.
I ANTICIPATE that the Committee stage of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Bill will
be concluded on the 24th instant, and in that case the third reading will be taken at the usual weekly meeting on the 31st.
2. As the Company is naturally averse in the circumstances to spending money except for absolutely indispensable works of maintenance and repair, and its opera- tions are more or less generally paralysed, I propose to constitute the new Board at once, and to take over the undertaking on the 1st of June.
3. The question of the constitution of the new Board is one of some difficulty. The present Board consists nominally of nine members, but the vacancy caused by the retirement of the late Chairman has never been filled, so that there are actually only eight.
They are: Mr. J. R. Nicholson, who is Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. J. E. Romenij, of Messrs. W. Mansfield and Company, Limited, the Agents of the Holts Steamship Line; Mr. Paul Haffler, of Messrs. Rautenberg, Schmidt, and Company, an old German firm of Commission Merchants and Agents for the Austrian Lloyd Steamship Company; Mr. D. K. Somerville, a Director of the Straits Steam- ship Company; the Honourable W. P. Waddell, a partner in Messrs. Boustead and Company, the Agents of the British India and several other steamship lines; Baron A. von Rössing, a partner in Messrs. Behn, Meyer, and Company, who are also Agents of the North-German Lloyd Steamship Company and the Hamburg-America Steamship Company; the Honourable W. H. Shelford, a partner in Messrs. Paterson, Simons, and Company, who are Agents for the " Ben Mogul " and several other lines; and Mr. C. Sugden, Manager of the Borneo Company, Limited.
4. I should have wished to see the numbers of the Board reduced to six, which I consider is ample for business purposes, but there are certain circumstances at present which have forced me to the conclusion that the number should, at all events for a time, be continued at nine.
5. The Peninsular and Oriental Company have an available frontage of some 1,500 feet, and contemplate building a wharf wall along some 800 feet of it, and
20505
• No. 75.
† No. 61.
81
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE Reference :-
سلسلسيلينا
C.O. 882
|ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
8PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON