380
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
mco 885/25
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-—NOT TO
238
6. The legal position of the estates belonging to the Trinidad Properties, Limited, is somewhat complicated. and I am to enclose a copy of the following correspondence which has passed on this subject :-
Confidential despatch from the Governor of Trinidad, 1st March.* Letter to the Official Supervisor of the Dresdner Bank, of the 27th April,t
with copies of the ordinances referred to therein.
Letter from the Dresdner Bank of the 4th May.‡ Telegram to the Governor, of 14th May.§
Telegram from the Governor, of 19th May.
7. I am further to inform you that the following firms and persons have made inquiries regarding these properties:-Messrs. McMeekin & Company, of 10 and 11, Lime Street, E.C.3, Messrs Frame & Company, of 21, Mincing Lane, E.C., and Mr. Leotaud, a planter of Trinidad, who made an offer for Messrs. Neubauer & Huttenheim's cocoa estates and also for certain other properties which will not be included in this sale. This offer he has since withdrawn. It is also believed that Messrs. Herbert Smith, Goss, King, and Gregory, solicitors, of 62, London Wall, E.C., have clients who might be interested in the sale.
8. It will be seen from Mr. Long's telegram of the 14th of May that the intention is to sell these estates by auction in London, and it is at present proposed that the reserve prices should be fired at about ten to fifteen per cent. below the values put upon the estates by the Liquidating Committee as given in the state- ment signed by Mr. Slyne. It will not, of course, be possible to make definite arrangements for the sale pending the receipt of full particulars and draft con- ditions of sale from the Colony, but, as it is of very great importance that the properties should be disposed of at as early a date as possible, Mr. Long would be glad if you would consider the desirability of issuing some kind of preliminary notice or advertisement. Should any satisfactory offer for these properties be received before the auction takes place Mr. Long would be prepared to consider its acceptance, but he would, as at present advised, only be willing to consider an offer of this kind if it extended either to the whole of the properties to be sold, or to the whole of the properties owned by the Trinidad Properties, Limited, or to the whole of those owned by Messrs. Neubauer & Huttenheim. A separate offer for the company's town properties might, however, be entertained.
9. I am to add that Mr. Long feels some doubt whether the valuations placed upon these properties by the Liquidating Committee are not unduly high, and in this connexion he understands that the Liquidator in Glasgow of Messrs. Wilson (Glasgow and Trinidad), Limited, has had certain other cocoa estates in Trinidad for sale since before the beginning of the War, but has not yet been able to obtain a satisfactory offer for them. On the other hand, the properties of Messrs. Reimer & Collignon, mentioned in Mr. Slyne's statement, have (as will be seen from the Governor's telegram of the 19th May) recently been sold in the Colony at figures very little below the valuations set upon them by the Liquidating Committee.
10. Should you think such a course desirable Mr. Long would approve of your employing Messrs. Jenkinson, Brinsley, and Jenkinson, of 15, New Bridge Street, Ludgate Circus, E.C., in any capacity in which you might consider you could usefully do so. Mr. Long understands that this firm acted forty years ago as official auctioneers to the West Indian Encumbered Estates Court, and has both before that time and since specialized in the sale of West Indian and Colonial estates.
11. Sir William Mercer will remember that Messrs. Jenkinson, the Colonial Bank. Messrs. C. M. & C. Woodhouse, of 30, Mincing Lane, E.C., and the West India Committee were represented at the conference of the 8th of March, and Mr. Long thinks that it will be desirable for you to communicate to all the bodies who were represented the decision regarding the intended disposal of these properties. He would also be glad to learn whether you desire any further instruc- tions to be sent to the Governor regarding the particulars to be furnished for In this connexion I am to refer especially to enabling the sale to be carried out. Mr. Long's telegram of the 14th May.
12. Copies of this letter are being communicated to the Board of Trade and to the Official Supervisor of the Dresdner Bank.
27697
239
No. 198.
TRINIDAD.
COLONIAL OFFICE to THE MANAGERS, DRESDNER BANK, (LONDON BRANCH).
[Copy to Board of Trade and Official Supervisor of the Dresdner Bank, 21st June, 1917. ~ L.F.]
GENTLEMEN,
Downing Street, 21st June, 1917.
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Long to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 25th May,* relative to the proposed sale of certain cocoa estates and other property in Trinidad in which the London branch of the Dresdner Bank is interested.
2. In reply, I am to state that the course of action which it is proposed to take has been adopted after consultation with the Official Supervisor of the Dresdner Bank, and the Secretary of State regrets that he is unable to modify his decision.
32379
SIR,
No. 199.
TRINIDAD.
I am, &c.,
G. GRINDLE.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 27th June, 1917.)
[Answered by No. 201.]
(Confidential.).
Government House, 2nd June, 1917.
REFERRING to my Confidential despatch of to-day's date, I have the honour to transmit herewith, for your consideration, a copy of a letter from five members of the Liquidating Committee representing the disadvantages attaching, in their opinion, to the sale of the estates of Messrs. Neubauer and Huttenheim and the Trinidad Properties, Limited, in one lot in London, and urging that they should be sold individually in the Colony.
I have, &c.,
J. R. CHANCELLOR,
Governor.
Enclosure in No. 199.
The Hon. Denis Slyne,
Chairman of the Liquidating Committee. DEAR SIR,
Trinidad, 31st May, 1917. We wish that you represent to His Excellency the Governor the advisability of urging upon the Secretary of State for the Colonies the disadvantages attaching in our opinion, to the sale of the Neubauer and allied interest estates en bloc in London.
1. A sale en bloc restricts, in our belief, the field of likely buyers to a few capitalists, and does it so effectively in Trinidad as to place the possibility of purchase
with the exception of one only person--outside the Colony entirely.
2. The estates are so scattered over the island, situated at almost every point
of the compass, that a sale en bloc would diminish and not enhance their value in the eyes of any buying public; the more especially since a number of them are not large enough to afford reliable supervision, and could not be carried on profitably by any person other than a peasant owner.
I am, &c.,
G. GRINDLE.
- No. 188.
† 16484.
+23430.
§ No. 192.
|| No. 184.
* No. 196.
+ 82878.