PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
6
ITT
C.O.885
14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
(3.) That it can hardly be supposed that the concession can be said to have been. in good faith intended to benefit the State generally. It appears to have been granted simply to favour the concessionaires, and possibly other parties interested.
(4.) That in our opinion Her Majesty's Government can properly maintain that this monopoly is in contravention of Articles XIII. and XIV. of the London Convention, It, in effect, prohibits the importation into the Republic of dynamite coming from Her Majesty's Dominions, while dynamite coming from Germany is admitted; and it interferes with the right of Her Majesty's subjects to trade in dynamite, subject only to such restrictions as are necessary for the public safety and protection.
The Right Hon. J. Chamberlain M.P.
• &c.
&c.
&c.
We have, &c.
RICHARD E. WEBSTER. ROBERT B. FINLAY.
8542.
No. 136a.
(BRITISH GUIANA.)
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
MY LORD,
Royal Courts of Justice, We were
honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Sir T.
April 13, 1897. Sanderson's letter of the 26th ultimo, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the enclosed papers relative to a proposal made by the Venezuelan Minister at Washington that notes should be exchanged between the British and Venezuelan Governments providing that, pending the award of the Arbitrators on the boundary question, no further occupation of territory would be permitted on either side, but that the status quo should be maintained by the authorities of Venezuela and British Guiana respectively.
That Mr. Chamberlain's views on the proposal were stated in the letter from the Colonial Office of March 20th last.
That he suggested that a definite line of demarcation should be provisionally adopted, and that each Government should issue instructions to their officials in the terms indicated in Sir J. Pauncefote's Despatch of February 19; and that the area within which no grant or concession should be made should likewise be defined.
That Sir T. Sanderson was to request us to favour your Lordship with our opinion as to whether Sir J. Pauncefote might properly receive instructions in accordance with the arrangement set forth in the letter from the Colonial Office, or whether those proposed instructions could, in our opinion, advantageously be altered or modified. and if so, in what respects, and to what extent.
We were further honoured with a note from Sir T. Sanderson dated the 1st instant, enclosing a letter from the Colonial Office respecting the alleged encroachments on the right bank of the Amakura River, as showing the kind of incident against which it was desirable to guard during the progress of the arbitration.
We have taken the papere into our consideration, and, in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to
Report-
That there are, in our opinion, some objections and probable disadvantages in proposing, or agreeing on, any provisional line of demarcation; and, having regard to the nature of the questions which will arise in the arbitration, we do not recommend that the proposal made in the letter from the Colonial Office of the 20th March should be adopted.
We think that before any attempt is made to agree on a provisional line of demarcation, the Venezuelan Minister, from whom the proposal emanated, should be asked to show upon a map the line of demarcation which he would suggest.
His present proposal is altogether inadmissible.
The Marquess of Salisbury, K.G.,
&c.
&c.
&c.
We have, &c.
RICHARD E. WEBSTER. ROBERT B. FINLAY.
o 95886.-17.
25.- 5/97.