16703.
No. 145.
(SOUTH AFRICA.)
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
2 3
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C.O. 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
SIR,
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
1
[Relations between the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway Company and the Netherlands Railway Company.]
Royal Courts of Justice, April 29, 1902.
WE were honoured with your commands, signified in Mr. F. Graham's letter of the 27th ultimo, stating that he was directed by you to lay before us a letter received from Sir E. Blake, one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, who had been appointed Crown Nominee in respect of the shares of the late Government of the South African Republic in the Pretoria-l'ietersburg Railway, and had also been appointed a Director of that Company, in which certain questions were raised with respect to the relations between the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway Company and the Netherlands Railway Company.
That it appeared from the documents which were enclosed, that the Netherlands Railway Company constructed a junction between the Pretoria-Pietersburg and the Netherlands Railway Lines in the Transvaal for which payment was to be made by the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway Company by the issue to the Netherlands Railway Company of four per cent. guaranteed debentures, and that in the year 1898, scrip to the nominal value of £25,000 of four per cent. guaranteed debentures of the Pretoria-Pietersburg Company were deposited with the Netherlands Railway Company, on the understanding that the scrip would be exchanged for definitive debentures when the cost became payable. That the cost of the junction works (£18,497 6s. 7d.) appeared to have become due on July 1st, 1899, and that interest on the scrip commenced from that date. That the work was, therefore, executed and the debentures became transferable before the outbreak of the war, and that it appeared that the Netherlands Railway Company now claimed fulfilment
of the contract.
That as the Netherlands Railway Company were, as you contended, liable to His Majesty's Government for extensive damage done to British property in South Africa during the war, you were anxious, if possible, to take any steps which might be legally permissible to prevent the Netherlands Railway Company obtaining any cash directly, or indirectly, from His Majesty's Government. That you presumed that should the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway Company decline to issue the debentures of which the Netherlands Railway Company claimed delivery, it would be necessary for the Netherlands Railway Company to bring an action for the delivery of the debentures, and that in that case there would seem to be authority for the view that, while hostilities lasted, that action could not be successfully maintained, the Netherlands Railway Company being in the position of an alien enemy (see the Netherlands Railway Company against Fisher, 27th November, 1901, 18 ** Times Law Reports, 116). That in that connection. however, it was important to observe that the claim for the delivery of the debentures apparently arose before the outbreak of the war, and that, even if the Company were held nable to maintain its action on the ground that it was an alien enemy, that disability would be only temporary, and that its claim, would be enforced so soon as the South
African war terminated.
"}
That you, however, thought it would be very desirable to take any means which might be legitimate to prevent or delay the issue of the debentures to the Netherlands Railway Company. That Mr. Graham was to refer us to the Report of the Transvaal Concessions Commission (Cd. 623, 1901, p. 17), from which it would be seen that although established in Holland this Company actively assisted the Boers during the war. and did damage not only in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, but also within His Majesty's dominions, for which it was submitted that the Company would be liable at law. That you, therefore, were anxious to take any proceedings which might be possible which would give to His Majesty's Government the right to give notice of, and to enforce, a claim upon the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway Company not to part with the debentures or the cash which they owed the Netherlands Railway Company until the claim of His Majesty's Government in respect of the damage done by the Netherlands Railway Company to British property had been satisfied.
That Mr. Graham was, therefore, to ask our consideration of the above matters with a view to advising you what steps would be legally possible to prevent the issue of the
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