PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
-885
16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
2
presumably have within Hong Kong, and subject to the jurisdiction of its Courts, some servants and property on which penalties could be imposed by such Courts.
That Mr. Antrobus was to request us to take the papers into our consideration and to report—
(1) Whether Ordinance 16, of 1907, was ultra vires of the Hong Kong Legislature?
(2) If the answer to the last question was in the affirmative, by what other means the object of that Ordinance could be secured?
We have taken the papers into our consideration, and, in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to
Report-
That in our opinion the Ordinance 16, of 1907, is not ultra pires of the Hong Kong Legislature."
The Right Honourable
The Earl of Crewe,
&c.,
&c.
&c..
We have, &c.,
W. S. ROBSON.
S. T. EVANS.
27678/S.
No. 99.
(SOUTH AFRICA: RHODESIA.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Extent of control of His Majesty's Government over the operations of the British South Africa Company.]
MY LORD,
Royal Courts of Justice,
28th July, 1908. WE were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Mr. Just's letter of the 16th instant, stating that he was directed to request the favour of our report upon certain questions which it was conceived might arise with regard to the extent of the control possessed by His Majesty's Government over the operations of the British South Africa Company under their Charter or otherwise.
That it would be seen from the enclosed statement which had been submitted to your Lordship by representatives of the British South Africa Company that the latter had proposed to request His Majesty's Government to assist by their guarantee an arrangement for converting all the debentures of the two railway companies # lower rate of operating in the Company's territories into debentures bearing interest-3 per cent.-and had suggested that the maximum amount to be guaranteed by his Majesty's Government should be 10 millions.
That should His Majesty's Government feel themselves unable to entertain this to other measures to proposal, it was possible that the Company might resort retrieve their financial position which might be inimical to British interests, and that it was, therefore, necessary to consider whether the powers possessed by His Majesty's Government under the Charter and other instruments governing the administration and development of the Company's territory provide adequate means of controlling their action."
That Mr. Just was to direct our attention to the provisions of the Charter, and in particular to the terms of the preamble, of Sections 6, 8, and 35, and also to the supplemental Charter (Section 6).
That His Majesty's Government had been directly interested in that part only of the Company's railway system, which was covered by the Contract of August 3rd, 1894, entered into by the Government of the Bechuanaland Protectorate in connec- tion with the construction and making of a railway from Vryburg to Palapye, which formed a portion of the lines worked by the Rhodesia Railways, Limited.
That the territory constituting the sphere of the Company's operations com- prised Southern Rhodesia, North-Eastern Rhodesia, and North-Western Rhodesia (Barotzeland).
That Mr. Just was to enclose copies of the Orders in Council relating to the first and second of these territories.
That from Section 7 of each of those instruments it would be observed that the general administration of affairs within the limits of the Order was to be in accordance with the terms of the Charter.
That in the case of North-Western Rhodesia (Barotzeland) the Company did not exercise directly the administration of affairs as in the other two cases, and that it held its powers under a concession from Lewanika, the endorsement upon which of his approval by the Secretary of State stated that none of the privileges (other than mineral rights) which it purported to confer should be alienated by the Company without the consent of His Majesty's Governinent.
That Mr. Just was to enclose copies of the North-Western Rhodesia (Barotzeland) Order in Council, of Lewanika's concession, and of the terms of the endorsement of his approval upon it by the Secretary of State. That he was to request us to take these various documents into our early consideration, and to report :—
(1) Whether the powers conferred under the Charter enable His Majesty's Government to prevent the British South Africa Company from alienating part of their territory to a foreign Power or corporation or person, or from alienating any part of their assets in such a way as to prejudice British interests; and
(2) Whether the powers conferred under the Charter enable His Majesty's Government to prevent the railways in question from being alienated or mortgaged
(21098-2.) Wt. 16-45. 28. 1/15. D&B. Q.1.