341
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O
Reference :--
885/25
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
80
3. These Conditions and Forms will, of course, need to be considerably modi- fied for use in connexion with sales of assets of liquidated firms. In particular I do not propose that non-enemy foreign buyers should be excluded from the sales. I have, however, thought it best to send out a partial model for the consideration your legal advisers, and to leave it to you to make the necessary modifications of on their advice, rather than to lay down the actual form which the documents to be used in the sales of assets of enemy firms are to take.
41165
SIR,
No. 63.
I have, &c.,
A. BONAR LAW.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 30th August, 1916.)
Foreign Office, 28th August, 1916. WITH reference to your letter of the 28th ultimo, No. 33705/1916,* relative to the sale by auction of the store buildings at Penang which are partly owned by Mr. R. Sturzenegger, I am directed by Viscount Grey of Fallodon to transmit to you herewith a copy of a note which has been addressed to the Swiss Minister informing him that Mr. Sturzenegger will be able to bid for the buildings at the auction if he desires to do so.
With regard to the general question as to the conditions to be imposed in the sale of real estate or other permanent assets of enemy firms in liquidation, Lord Grey is of opinion that this question is almost entirely one of general policy and should be considered as such. He has accordingly referred the matter to the Recon- struction Committee in a letter a copy of which is enclosed herewith.
In the meantime, however, he sees no objection to the sale being proceeded with, and he will agree to any conditions which may be considered necessary to prevent Mr. Sturzenegger preserving the interests of his enemy partners, provided that such conditions do not involve an infraction of commercial treaties.
In this connexion I am to point out that it may be difficult to exclude friendly aliens, as proposed, from the sale of property situated in a Colony (which is hardly in the same position as that of prize ships), and that, in any case, such exclusion would be inconsistent with allowing Mr. Sturzenegger to bid for the property.
A copy of the correspondence on this subject is being sent to the Board of Trade.
I am, &c.,
MAURICE DE BUNSEN.
The Under-Secretary of State,
Colonial Office.
Enclosure 1 in No. 63.
Foreign Office, 15th August, 1916.
SIR,
In continuation of the note which I had the honour to address to you on 13th June last, relative to the interests owned by Mr. R. Sturzenegger in certain store buildings in Penang, I have the honour to inform you that Mr. Sturzenegger will be able to bid for the buildings at the auction if he desires to do so.
Monsieur Carlin,
etc., etc., etc.
SIR,
Enclosure 2 in No. 63.
I have, &c.,
M. DE BUNSEN.
Foreign Office, 28th August, 1916.
I AM directed by Viscount Grey of Fallodon to inform you that the Govern- ment of the Straits Settlements recently issued orders for the liquidation, under the local Ordinance applicable to such cases, of the enemy firm of Messrs. Schmidt and Kustermann of Penang.
* No. 81.
81
This firm was owned by three partners, two of whom were Germans, and one, Mr. Sturzenegger, Swiss. Mr. Sturzenegger owned forty per cent. of the shares and the other two partners the remaining sixty per cent. Of the two German partners. one is in Germany and the other is interned in Australia. Mr. Sturzenegger was allowed by the Government of the Colony to set up in business independently of Messrs. Schmidt and Kustermann, whose business he has presumably taken over to
some extent.
In connexion with the liquidation of the firm of Schmidt and Kustermann it was decided to sell certain store buildings rented by that firm from Mr. Sturzenegger and the two German partners. Mr. Sturzenegger who, as stated above, had set up in business on his own account, was anxious to purchase the buildings, and it was decided that there would be no objection to their sale to him provided the Govern- ment of the Colony could be satisfied that his object in purchasing them was not to preserve the interests of his enemy partners with a view to enabling them to recom- mence trading in the Colony after the War,
I enclose herewith a copy of a letter from the Colonial Office containing, in paragraph 2, proposals for giving effect to that condition, and proposing that similar conditions, based on those now applied in the case of the sale of prize ships, should be included in the conditions of sale for all real estate and other permanent assets
firms in liquidation. enemy
of
·
Apart from any special precautions which may be desirable in this case, Lord Grey is doubtful as to the policy of imposing conditions of this nature (which are obviously necessary in the case of prize ships) in the case of sales by the liquidators of immovable property belonging to enemy firms and situate within the British Empire. Such property must always be subject to the local legislation of the Colony where it is. If it is desired to prevent such property coming into the possession of enemy subjects this can be done more conveniently by local legislation than by attaching conditions to the sales. If it is ultimately decided to enact legislation throughout the Empire which would prevent enemy subjects from holding such property, the proposed conditions would be unnecessary; if it is not decided to adopt this policy, but to allow such persons to hold such property on the same condi- tions as before the War, there would appear to be no object in excluding from this permission property sold in the course of liquidating enemy firms. Such action would have the somewhat anomalous result that, after the War, the only property of this nature which an enemy could not hold would be that property which was held by enemies before the War.
In Lord Grey's opinion it would be better to deal with this point as part of the general policy to be adopted after the War as regards the holding of such property by subjects of enemy states, rather than to adopt a special policy as regards a small part of the problem before a decision has been reached on the general question.
Lord Grey would, therefore, be glad to learn the views of the Reconstruction Committee as to the policy to be adopted towards the holding of such property by enemy subjects after the War.
The Secretary,
Reconstruction Committee.
36771
SIR,
No. 64.
I am, &c.,
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNORS, &c.* (Circular (2).)
Downing Street, 31st August, 1916.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have been in communication with the Board of Trade respecting the question of dealing with trade-marks registered in a Colony which are the property of enemy firms having no establishments in that Colony.
2 A suggestion that the registration of these marks should be cancelled has been deprecated by the Board of Trade on the ground that such a proceeding would probably lead to retaliation of some kind.
* Sent to all non-responsible Colonies and Protectorates.
H