2
articles which are referred to are those which might modify the amount of the duties, and it seems to be contemplated that these articles were to apply to all Colonies and Possessions to which the Protocol applied after the Treaty came into force.
We therefore think upon the whole that the expression "the Dominions and Possessions of Her Britannic Majesty "in the Protocol, were to be the same to which the Treaty applied when it began to operate.
30432.
The Marquess of Salisbury, K.G., &c.,
&c.,
&c.
We have, &c.,
RICHARD E. WEBSTER. ROBERT B. FINLAY.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PILTIC.O.885
سائي
14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
SIR,
No. 257.
(STRAITS NAtive States.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL-OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice,
November 3, 1899.
We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. Lucas's letter of the U. S. of S. 19th ultimo stating that he was directed by you to transmit to us a despatch (with to Sec. enclosures) from the High Commissioner of the Federated Malay States, dated 3rd March, Straits D. 1899 with reference to the proposed cancellation of a concession to work timber granted Co., 29th in 1887 by the Sultan of Pahang to one Tan Hay Seng, and now held by the Straits 1899.
April, Development Company. That Mr. Lucas was also to enclose copies of correspondence Sec. of Co. which had subsequently taken place between the Colonial Office and the Company on the to U. S. of subject of the concession.
to U. S. of
State to
8., 4th That the history of this concession (a translation of which formed part of Enclosure 1 U. S. of S.
May, 1899. in the High Commissioner's despatch) was fully set out in the accompanying papers. to Co., 20th That it was granted to Tan Hay Seng on the 4th June, 1887, subsequent to the issue on May, 1899. the 6th February, 1885, of the Government notification No. 98 which stated (inter alia) or that the Government reserved to itself complete liberty of action as to recognising any S., 6th concessions that might have been granted by the Native Rulers of any State where there Sept., 1899. was no British official. That this notification was republished on 3rd February, 1888 in U. Sec. of Government Notification, No. 86, after a special agent of the Governor had been temporarily sec. of Co., placed in Pahang, and that it was then stated that such agent was not a British official 22nd Sept., within the meaning of Government Notification, No. 98. That on the 8th October of the 1899. same year a Protectorate was established over Pabang by Her Majesty's Government. Sec. of Co. That on the 12th April, 1887. the Resident of Pahang addressed to Tan Hay Seng 6, 29th the letter an extract of which formed part of Enclosure 1 in the High Commissioner's Sept., 1899. despatch, and forwarded a copy of it to Messrs. Bristow, Wilson, and Carpmael, the solicitors of the Pahang Exploration and Development Company, which had acquired Tan Hay Seng's rights. That Mr. Lucas was to draw our attention specially to the "Time Clause" (section 4) of the concession, to which this letter referred.
That further correspondence ensued with the Pahang Exploration and Development Company, as related in the despatch, which proved that the Company was doing little, it any, work on the concession, and that finally the Company went into voluntary liquidation and handed over all its properties and assets on the 16th February, 1894, to the Straits Development Company, which had never done anything with the concession beyond cutting
a certain amount of timber in 1897.
That the concession and its transfers had never been registered, but it was submitted that there was no doubt that its existence had been recognised by Her Majesty's Government. That the question immediately at issue was, whether, having regard to what had taken place, the concession could properly be sanctioned by the Sultan with the sanction of the Secretary of State, and upon this point it would be seen that the Resident of Pahang, the Legal Adviser, and the Resident-General of the Federated Malay States, the Acting High Commissioner, and the High Commissioner held very divergent views, the Acting High Commissioner apparently going so far as to suggest that there may be an inherent right in a Malay Sovereign, even when under British protection, to repudiate all his engagements other than those embodied in a treaty,
That it was generally agreed, however, that from the point of view of public policy the locking up of this valuable tract of country for an indefinite period during which the Goverment not only derived no benefit from the concession but was prevented from taking measures to preserve its property from destruction was, as the High Commissioner had said, "
an evil from which every justifiable means of remedy should be adopted." That it was plain from the admissions reluctantly made by the Company that they could do nothing themselves with the concession for some time to come, if ever, and that would be glad, if possible to bring this unsatisfactory state of things to an end.
you
That Mr. Lucas was to add that the Company was an old offender in this respect, and that two other concessions held by them had already been cancelled with the sanction of the Secretary of State. That these, however, were concessions of mining rights to he
4082-25—11,99 W 439 1 & S 6
to U. S. of