19863
R
t
No. 187.
(SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Liability of His Majesty's Government to Creditors of the Netherlands Railway
SIR,
Company.]
Royal Courts of Justice,
May 29, 1903.
WE were honoured with your commands signified to us by Mr. Bertram Cox in his letter of the 6th instant stating that, with reference to our Report of the 8th August, 1901, and subsequent Reports, he was directed by you to request our con- sideration of certain questions which had arisen with respect to the liability of His Majesty's Government to the creditors of the Netherlands Railway Company.
That the history of this Company was fully set out in the Report of the Con- cessions Commission, and that negotiations had been proceeding with a view to His Majesty's Government paying certain compensation to the shareholders on account of the seizure of the line. That His Majesty's Government had offered the German Government to pay the holders of the debentures of the Company the par value of their bonds and the arrears of interest from the date of annexation.
That the question upon which our report was requested concerned, not the liability of His Majesty's Government towards the shareholders of the Company, but the liability, if any, to persons and corporations who had contracts with, and who had claims against, the Company, and as to whether the present Transvaal Railway administration was liable to meet any, and if so what, liabilities of this nature in consequence of their taking over the railways in South Africa belonging to the Company.
That by an Order in Council dated 15th September, 1902, the Netherlands South African Railway, and all property in, and all rights in and over, the same, were, as from the 1st September, 1900, transferred to and vested in the Governor of the Transvaal on behalf of His Majesty to be worked as one system called the Central South African Railway with other lines under the authority of the High Com- missioner for South Africa.
That in January, 1903, a list of the creditors of the Railway Company was presented by the Netherlands Minister to the Foreign Office, and that he was to transmit to us a letter addressed by that office to your Department to which this list formed an enclosure.
That he was also to transmit to us various other papers connected with this question which would inform us of the nature of the claims which had been put forward by the creditors of the Company.
That, briefly enumerated, such, claims were:-
(1.) Claims on account of goods consigned by the Railway Company before
the war, which never reached their destination.
(2.) Claims by the Natal and Cape Government Railways for amounts due
to them from the Netherlands Government Railway on account of
the division of receipts between the two Administrations prior to the. outbreak of the war.
(3.) Claims for goods supplied before the outbreak of war or
(4.) During the war to the Netherlands Railway Company.
(5.) Claims for arrears of salary due to the employés of the Company, and for
salary due to them in lieu of notice.
(6.) A claim for the specific performance of a Contract for the use of land granted by the Company to Messrs. Fleming, of Johannesburg, prior to the outbreak of war.
That it would be seen that His Majesty's Government had so far declined to admit liability in respect of any claims of this nature, and had adhered to the view that all such claims should be made against the Company, which still existed, and had assets other than the Railway in its possession in other parts of South Africa
25 Wt 2815 5/03 D85 21444
* No. 98.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O. 885
Reference :-
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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