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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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MINUTES.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIXTH MEETING of the Committee was held at the Colonial Office, on Monday, the 28th of August, 1916, at 3.15 p.m.
1.
2.
Present:
MR. W. J. EVANS, Admiralty (in the Chair).
MR. G. L. BARSTOW, C.B., Treasury.
MR. H. W. MALKIN, Foreign Office.
MR. C. TENNYSON, C.M.G., Colonial Office.
MR. T. H. HOLT, Crown Agents.
MR. R. A. WISEMAN (Secretary).
The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed with two alterations. 5.8. Nicolaos."-The Secretary read a telegram from the High Commis- sioner for Egypt reporting that the sale of this ship to the Greek part owner had fallen through, and that the Court had ordered delivery to the Crown on an under- taking to sell the ship in the United Kingdom at the best price obtainable, and to pay forty per cent. of the proceeds to the part owner, a guarantee being also given that the forty per cent. of the proceeds should in any case be made up to £12,000 and that the Crown should pay five per cent. interest as from the date of the delivery of the ship. The High Commissioner had also forwarded an offer from Cox's Shipping Agency to manage the business of the ship at Alexandria for the voyage home. The Foreign Office had asked the High Commissioner to ascertain from Cox's Shipping Agency whether they could provide officers as well as the crew, but so far had not dealt with the general question raised by the Order of Court.
Messrs. C. W. Kellock and Company had reported that it was impossible to say that the ship would realize £30,000 if she was sold in this country, and the Committee were disposed to take exception to the proposal that a guarantee should After some be given to the part owner on the basis of this price being realized. discussion, however, it was decided to recommend to the Foreign Office that a reply should be sent to the effect that the ship would be brought home to this country and put up for sale with a reserve of £30,000, but that, if this sum was not realized, His Majesty's Government would approach the Court with a view to the revision of the terms of the Order. The Committee considered that the reply on this point and as to the suggested employment of Cox's Shipping Agency should wait until the High Commissioner had stated whether this firm could obtain officers at Alexandria. If such officers could not be obtained Mr. Holt was asked to make other arrangements for dealing with the ship.
3. Sale of Hemp and Sisal ex 8.8. "Emir." Mr. Sim and Mr. Randall of Messrs. Churchill and Sim, and Mr. Firminger of Messrs. Bastone and Firminger, attended the Committee to discuss a letter from Mr. Hindley to the Financial Secretary to the Admiralty which had been referred to the Committee for considera- tion. Mr. Evans explained that the report of the meeting at the Admiralty had been referred to the Committee by the Admiralty, and that the Committee wished to clear up one or two points, in regard to which their information was still incom- plete, before replying to the Admiralty.
Mr. Firminger, in reply to questions, reported to the Committee the relations He which had existed between himself and Messra. Hindley on other occasions. went on to say that German East African hemp was used for ropemaking in England, and to a larger extent in the United States and Germany, that it was of a better quality than British East African, but that both kinds of hemp were used for the same purposes. It was quite usual for German hemp on the Hamburg market to be sold direct to the United States by Hamburg merchants. He thought it impossible that Mr. Landauer would have had any previous knowledge which would have enabled him to know of the shipment in the Emir before the particulars had been disclosed to him. As regards the list of the marks, he pointed out that there actually proved to be different marks to a considerable quantity on board the ship to those given on the list with which he had been supplied by Messrs. Elder Dempster and Company, though they were of much the same quality as those given on the list, which was of quite ordinary quality. The list was not in his hands, so far as he remembered, till after he had first approached Mr. Landauer.
MINUTES.
Mr.
He also stated that before the sale to Mr. Landauer was completed he consulted Messrs. Ide and Christie, who had told him that a price of £34-£34 10s. on landed terms was a reasonable one at the time for German East African hemp. Landauer told him that he had first approached the International Harvesting Com- pany of New York and then the Belfast Ropery Company, who were the largest company in the United Kingdom, and both these firms refused to treat with him, on the ground that the price, which allowed only for a moderate profit to Messrs. Landauer, was too high. He thought it fair to say that there was at the outside a difference of £2 per ton in the price of British and German East African hemp sold in London owing to the difference in quality; the difference of £2 in price was considered a fair difference between the two qualities, but before the War the importer buying in the Hamburg market at this difference of price would have had to pay the cost of bringing the commodity from Hamburg to the United Kingdom out of this additional price. This cost was only nominal. A parcel of German East African hemp had been sold within three weeks or so after the sale of the hemp and tow on the s.s. "Emir" by public auction, and he promised to furnish the Committee with particulars of the price obtained and also of the price obtained at any immediately preceding sale of the same commodity which could be traced. He believed that a sale of only a few odd bales of no importance had taken place in addition to the private sale of some considerable quantity (shortly after the "Emir' hemp sale), full particulars of which had already been furnished. In reply to a question by Mr. Tennyson he stated that, previously to disclosing particulars, he made his offer to the various firms on the market in identically the same terms as those in which he offered the commodity to Mr. Landauer. Asked whether hemp would deteriorate through being on board he said that it would depend upon the state of the ship.
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4. Insurance of Cargoes.-The Committee considered a despatch from the High Commissioner at Cairo raising the question whether the cargoes in the ware- houses belonging to the Egyptian Bonded Warehouse Company should be insured between the dates of condemnation and sale. The Committee were inclined to think that the general cover should not operate between these dates. The Secre- tary was asked to discuss the matter with Messrs. Glanvill, Enthoven, and Company. A question as to the scope of the cover in connexion with the cargoes ex the steamships "Paros" and "Achaia was also reported to the Committee.
5. Dyestuffs ex " Barenfels."-The Committee considered a despatch from the High Commissioner for Egypt raising the question whether the Government of India should be asked to remit the trebled rate of Customs duty charged by them on dyestuffs whose sale in India had been held up at the request of that Government. The Committee decided to recommend to the Foreign Office that the Government of India should be asked to assess the duties payable on the dyestuffs at the rates which were in force at the time of their entry into India, and to suggest that, as the sale had been delayed at the request of the Government of India, that Govern- ment should be asked to bear the interim charges which had accrued owing to the delay in the disposal of the dyes.
6. Schedule of Goods ex s.s. "Professor Woermann "taken over by the War Department. The Committee recommended that the War Office should be asked to arrange with the Admiralty what form any credit given to the Prize Fund for these goods should take.
7. Proceeds of disposal of Cargo ex Gutenfels" and "Barenfels," taken over by certain Banks.-The Committee considered that, in view of the fact that the banks were required to pay interest on the proceeds of this cargo, it was unnecessary to ask them to make an interim payment of the proceeds of disposal before the accounts for the ships had been finally settled.
8. s.v. "Yawry."--Mr. Holt reported that this ship had arrived at Falmouth. It was decided that she should be sold by auction by Messrs. Lachlan and Company. The Board of Trade should, however, first be asked to state whether they had any observations to make with regard to the conditions of sale in force for sailing ships.
The Committee agreed to pay £21 to the Foreign Office in respect of the cost of the extra clerical assistance engaged by the Consul-General at Dakar during the stay of this ship at that port.
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