PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
6
TIT
Reference :-
C.O. 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
210
1162
APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.
ANNEXURE C To No. 4.
TREASURY to OVERSEA PRIZE DISPOSAL COMMITTEE.
SIR,
Treasury Chambers, 24th July, 1915. I AM directed by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury to transmit to you herewith, for your information, copy of a Treasury minute, dated the 21st instant, upon the Fourth Report of the Oversea Prize Disposal Committee.
I am, &c.,
JOHN BRADBURY.
Enclosure.
TREASURY MINUTE, DATED THE 21ST JULY, 1915.
THE Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury have had before them the Fourth Report of the Oversea Prize Disposal Committee. They have also been in communication with the various Public Departments represented upon the Committee in regard to its recommendations.
Their lordships are pleased to approve of the recommendations of the Com- mittee, which are in general approved by each of the departments concerned.
The effect, in brief, will be:--
1. Detained ships will be placed at the disposal of the Admiralty for transport work, as soon as they are free from their existing commitments, with a view to the release of British merchant vessels already requisitioned by the Admiralty for transport or other Government work.
This arrangement will not, however, apply to the detained ships interned in this country, which will continue as at present to be used in the coasting trade (nor) to the steamships under the control or management of the Government of India or of the Commonwealth of Australia, to steamships engaged in the carriage of wheat from India, or to sailing vessels.
2. Condemned ships will, as a general rule, be sold by auction as soon as available under the conditions recently agreed, by which French citizens participate in the sales. Such ships will, however, first be offered to the Admiralty on the understanding that only if urgently required on naval or military service will the sale be deferred.
822
No. 5.
FIFTH INTERIM REPORT OF THE OVERSEA PRIZE DISPOSAL COMMITTEE.
May it please Your LordSHIPS,
to
THE Committee appointed by Treasury minute of 11th November, 1914, report in what classes of case it is expedient that prize ships captured or detained at ports outside the United Kingdom should be moved for sale or disposal to other ports, or should be chartered for purposes of trade, and to make the neces- sary arrangements in such cases as are remitted to them by the departments concerned in the administration of the territories where the prize ships are detained," and "to take the necessary steps empowered by Treasury minute of 5th January, 1915, for chartering for use in British commerce such enemy ships detained in this country as may be required for the purpose," beg to submit the following report upon their reference :-
The Committee have had under their consideration the position of the enemy cargo which has been sentenced, in oversea Prize Courts, to detention during the period of the war in accordance with Article 4 of the Hague Convention No. 6
of 1907.
The Committee are of opinion that this is an appropriate moment to consider this question, because the period of six months which, under Order XV., Rule 7, of the Prize Court Rules, must elapse before unclaimed cargo not obviously belonging to the enemy can be dealt with has now in most cases expired. It may, therefore, be expected that a considerable amount of such cargo which has hitherto been awaiting adjudication has now been sentenced to detention, and the question of its disposal becomes of importance. Moreover, the arrangements which are now prac tically completed for putting all the detained ships into active employment must
APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.
211
result in the discharge of a quantity of cargo for which warehouse room will have to be found and warehouse charges incurred, whereas if the ships had not been taken up and put into use the goods might have lain in them throughout the war without incurring any charge for warehouse room.
Article 4 of the Hague Convention No. 6 of 1907 only provides that certain cargo is liable to be detained and restored after the war without compensation; it is silent as to the treatment to be accorded to such cargo during the war and as to the These parties upon whom the expenses incidental to such detention shall fall. expenses will consist in the most part of insurance premiums (such cargoes being at present insured in accordance with the decision contained in the Treasury letter to the Admiralty of the 18th January), and, where the cargoes have been dis- charged from the ships, also of warehouse charges. These expenses will, of course, increase daily, and, in the event of the war being considerably prolonged, it is likely that in many cases they will amount to a sum exceeding the value of the goods. It is at present proposed that an attempt should be made to recover such expenses from the owner of the cargo as a condition of its restitution, but it is apparent that, if the state of affairs referred to in the last sentence is reached or even approached, very serious difficulties will arise in carrying out this intention. It appears to your Committee, therefore, that the continued detention of these goods will involve an entirely indefensible waste of money. Goods so detained serve no useful purpose; they must, in many cases, deteriorate; and they occupy storage space which is, in most cases, already urgently needed for other cargo, and the demand for which is likely soon to become even more urgent in consequence of the new policy of blockade.
Your Committee have, therefore, come to the conclusion that it is highly desirable that, as a general rule, all cargo sentenced to be detained should be sold at once. This should, wherever possible, be done by securing an order for sale by the Court under Order XI., Rule 1, of the Prize Court Rules as amended by the Order in Council of 29th April, and the Court should in all cases be asked to direct payment into Court of the net proceeds after deduction of any expenses of detention already incurred. If in any case an order for sale could not be secured the only alternative would be for the Crown to requisition the goods, giving an undertaking to pay their appraised value into Court when called upon to do so. This course, however, might involve the Crown in loss in the event of the goods failing to realize their appraised value. Moreover, it is possible that the Court, if it refused an order for sale, would also refuse to allow the Crown to deduct from the appraised value all the expenses of detention. The claim of the Crown to recover these expenses from the enemy owner would thus be prejudiced, whereas the sanction of the Court to their deduc- tion from the proceeds of sale would be of material assistance to the Crown in this respect.
Whichever method of sale be adopted, however, the fact of sale will be a sub- stantial benefit to the Crown. The expenses referred to will at once be brought to an end, and the proceeds of the goods, less such expenditure as may already have been incurred, will become available to meet the claims of the enemy owners at the end of the war. It appears to us that this procedure will be in the interests of all parties; the Crown will be relieved of the iminediate expense connected with keeping these goods, and of an indefinite future liability in the event of its proving impossible to recover these expenses from the enemy owner at the end of the war; a considerable amount of valuable warehouse space will be set free for other pur- poses, and a quantity of merchandise allowed to pass into use, while the enemy owner will eventually receive the proceeds of his goods without the heavy charges which it would otherwise be necessary to attempt to impose upon him. It may possibly be objected that the course which we recommend was not contemplated by the Convention, which provides that the goods shall be detained during the continuance of the war, but, in view of the considerations set out above and of the fact that the Convention makes no provision for dealing with the difficulties which are found to arise in practice, we do not consider that the objection is a serious one.
In the course of the foregoing observations we have assumed that the provisions of the Convention will be carried out and the goods returned to their owners at the end of the war. Should it be eventually decided for any reason not to restore the goods, it is obvious that their immediate sale would be to the advantage of His Majesty's Government.
P 2
Page 270Page 271
1
212
APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.
We therefore recommend :-
That in all cases, except where special circumstances make such procedure inad- visable, steps should be taken to dispose of detained cargoes at once. This should be done preferably by an order from the Court, under which the cargo would be sold and the net proceeds paid into Court. In cases where this procedure cannot be carried out the goods should be requisitioned by the Crown and sold, the Crown giving an undertaking to the Court to pay into Court the appraised value, less any approved deductions, when called upon to do so.
EDMOND J. W. SLADE. G. L. BARSTOW.
W. J. EVANS.
C. HIPWOOD.
T. H. HOLT.
H. W. MALKIN.
C. TENNYSON.
L. D. WAKELY.
APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.
213
The executive duties were entrusted to Messrs. Everett and Newbigin, who opened an office in Newcastle for the purpose.*
10
12
Thirty-three steamers have passed through our hands. Of these C.T. No. 28 was requisitioned by the Transport Department and taken over on the 12th April,
Runic C.T. No. 19 was sunk after collision with the 8.8.
on the 1st May, and C.T. 23 was sunk by a submarine on the 9th June.
At the end of the year, therefore, our fleet consisted of thirty steamers, of which C.T. Nos. 6 and 32 became available in April and C.T. No. 2 in September.
These steamers between them have made 873 voyages and carried :-
1,654,792 tons of coal to London.
out ports.
148,432 25,806
35
"
23 "1
sundries. *
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
ساسية
C.O. 885
24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
R. A. WISEMAN, Secretary.
22nd May, 1915.
1017
SIR,
ANNEXURE TO No. 5.
TREASURY to OVERSEA PRIZE DISPOSAL Committee.
Treasury Chambers, 19th June, 1915.
I AM directed by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury to transmit herewith copy of Treasury minute, dated the 16th instant, respecting the sale of enemy cargo detained under orders by Oversea Prize Courts.
Enclosure.
I am, &c.,
T. L. HEATH.
TREASURY MInute, dated 18TH JUNE, 1915.
THE Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury have had before them the report dated the 22nd ultimo from the Oversea Prize Disposal Committee, rela- tive to enemy cargo which has been sentenced in Oversea Prize Courts to detention during the period of the war, in accordance with Article 4 of the Hague Convention No. 6 of 1907.
The Committee recommend that in all cases, except where special circumstances make such procedure inadvisable, steps should be taken to dispose of detained cargoes
at once.
My lords, after consultation with the principal Departments concerned, approve of this proposal, which should be carried into effect in the manner proposed by the Committee, preferably under an Order of Court, or, failing that, by requisitioning the cargo by the Crown.
Care should be taken to secure that sales of enemy cargo should be so arranged as to avoid any unreasonable fall in price which might result from forced sales of large quantities of goods.
1789
No. 6.
REPORT ON THE WORK OF THE ADMIRALTY COASTING TRADE OFFICE DURING 1915.
Admiralty Coasting Trade Office, 9, Old Queen Street,
Westminster, S.W., 14th January, 1916.
THIS office was opened on the 20th January, 1915, for administrative purposes in connexion with the working of certain interned enemy steamers requisitioned by Government for employment in coastwise trade, and, primarily, for the conveyance coal to London.
of
1,829,930 tons grand total.
During the period the sum of £330,000 has been paid in to the Accountant- General of the Navy as profits, but the exact net results of the operations cannot at present be stated. They may, however, be taken as probably approximating closely to the sum so paid in.
Apart from the total losses above recorded, we have had a good many accidents owing to collision and weather, perhaps the most expensive being the result of a collision with wreckage by C.T. No. 31, which, but for prompt action and favourable weather, must have resulted in the total loss of that vessel.
There are naturally a large number of outstandings still to be dealt with, and it seems probable that the provision made under the Insurance Scheme may fall some- what short of the actual charges which it will have to bear. What the shortage may be, however, cannot at present be ascertained, nor can a reliable and complete estimate be formed at the moment.
In addition to the steamers, this office has obtained interned sailing vessels, which are small schooners carrying from 90 to 300 tons approximately (one only being of 600 tons dead weight), and number twenty-six in all. They have been apportioned out amongst six firms of managers,† and up to the 31st December had made, or were in course of making, a total of 153 voyages.
Bad weather has been the principal cause of several casualties amongst them, but I am glad to say there has been no total loss so far.
I do not anticipate that any substantial benefit will acrue to the State from the employment of these vessels, but I think there will be a small profit, and there can be little doubt but that they have, to the limit of their capacity, afforded some relief to the freight market.
In addition to the administrative work, involving considerable correspondence in connexion with the fleet, this office has also undertaken the whole of the executive work in dealing with the coal statistics of the public utility companies of London and greater London.
Some 106 returns of stocks, sea-borne receipts, railway receipts and consumption, have been obtained from the parties weekly, and the figures so secured have been embodied in a weekly report.
It will be of interest to record that whilst their total stocks had fallen to the low figure of 363,000 tons on the 9th April, there was thereafter a progressive and unbroken rise until the 22nd October, when they reached, probably, their record total of 1,287,630 tons.
Since that date there has been a constant fall, produced principally by increased consumption and partly by reduced receipts, the total stocks at the end of the year being 1,020,784 tons.
It is to be hoped that anything like the pinch for supplies experienced in the early months of last year will be avoided this year; but the position at the moment, though not one, speaking generally, to cause anxiety, nevertheless requires careful watching. Several of the companies have very poor storage accommodation, and any stoppage in the regular flow of supplies to them would quickly produce a
breakdown.
*Bee 780: not printed.
† Sea 987: not printed.