16396.
SIR,
(General.)
102
No. 173.
HONG KONG.
MR. LYTTELTON TO GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN.
Downing Street,
May 23, 1905. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 8th instant, respecting the treatment of the steam-ships Florida " and "Tolosan,” and to state that I informed you by telegram on the 20th instant that it would appear to be sufficient if an undertaking in writing that the coal cargoes would be discharged at Saigon were required.
I transmit for your information a copy of a letter from the Foreign Office, on which that telegram was based.
17923.
(Paraphrase.)
No. 174.
HONG KONG.
I have, &c.
ALFRED LYTTELTON.
103
against their will. I added that the master of the vessel on entering here had first declared his destination as Batavia, subsequently as Saigon, and lastly as Tsing-Tau, and that in the circumstances I had given orders for coaling to be stopped; 100 tons only having been put on board. As there was, moreover, no doubt that the cargo consisted largely of naval stores, I asked for your instructions as to my further action. 2. On the 20th, I dispatched a further telegram to you stating that the remainder of the British subjects on board, forming a part of the crew, and three Americans had also come on shore claiming their discharge, and refusing to proceed on the voyage, although they had been offered by the master double wages to do so; that they had applied to the German Consul, who had refused to discharge them and who applied to me for police assistance to put the men, as deserters, back on board the vessel; that having consulted the Law Officers (Procureur-General) I had caused the Consul to be informed that the procedure laid down in the Merchant Shipping Act should be observed, and that in the meantime the men, being destitute, had been given shelter and food at the Sailors' Home. I concluded by stating that I was anxiously awaiting your instructions.
I
3. The above is for the purpose of recording my communications by telegraph, and propose, as soon as possible, to address you at greater length giving fuller particulars in the matter. I may mention, however, in reference to your telegramt in the above connection, which I had the honour of receiving on the morning of the 23rd current, that the terms of the Agreement with Germany of the 5th November, 1879, published in a Government notice here on the 22nd of June, 1880, had not escaped the notice of my advisers or of myself, and that the German Consul's attention had been called to them when the communication mentioned above had been made to him: and that subsequently on application for the arrest of the men being made to a magistrate, the latter had declared that he was not empowered to make any such order.
I have, &c.
CAVENDISH BOYLE.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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9PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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H
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN TO MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received 8-55 A.M., May 26, 1905.)
TELEGRAM.
YOUR confidential despatch of the 31st March. The statement made in my confidential despatch of the 19th May, to the effect that steam-ship "Syfang," with cargo, was under observation here was erroneous. The Syfang" has not been to Hong Kong, but she was recently reported by the master of the steam-ship "Laertes as loaded at Saigon on the 13th May.
18019.
SIR,
(Secret)
No. 175.
MAURITIUS.
GOVERNOR SIR C. BOYLE TO MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received May 27, 1905.)
[Copy to Foreign Office, June 1, 1905, L. F.]
Government House, Le Réduit,
.April 24, 1905.
ON the 19th current I had the honour of addressing you by telegraph, informing you that the steam-ship "Juliette," under the German flag, had arrived on the previous day from Antwerp, and ports in Madagascar, her last port of departure being Diego Suarez, that application had been made for 900 tons of coal: that she had been in Madagascar some time, and that her cargo was a general one, including considerable quantity of naval stores and frozen meat. The vessel's bunker capacity being about 1,000 tons and there being already 450 tons on board I gave permission for 600 tons to be delivered, but that subsequently several of her crew being British subjects came on shore and claimed protection as such. That the men stated that they had engaged only for Port Saïd, and that they were not allowed to land there or take their discharge; that they further asserted that the vessel was carrying contraband of war intended for the Russian fleet, but that the ship missed connection with that fleet at Djibuti and Diego Suarez and that they had been brought on from Port Saïd
† No. 170.
‡ No. 168.
• No. 162.
L. F. trausmitting copy of No. 135.
No. 185.
¶ No. 144.
19347.
(Secret.)
SIR,
No. 176.
HONG KONG.
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN TO MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received June 5, 1905.)
Government House, Hong Kong,
May 5, 1905.
IN continuation of my Secret despatches of the 4th and 20th April, 1905,‡ on the subject of colliers taking in coal at a British port for the use of ships of a belligerent fleet, I have the honour to inform you that the German steam-ship "Poschan" which had arrived at Batavia with coal from Hong Kong on the 19th April, left that port in a northerly direction on the 20th April. There is no later news of her, but it seems probable that, after calling at Batavia for orders, she proceeded, as other German vessels have done, to the Russian fleet off the coast of Annam. Should definite proof be obtained of this, it will be a matter for consideration whether Messrs. Jebsen and Co., the ship's agents here, should not be prosecuted for dispatching the Poschan," having reasonable cause to believe that she would be employed in the naval service of a foreign State at war with a friendly State. At present I am not disposed to take this action, no protest having been raised by the Japanese Consul, when informed of the sailing of the vessel on the 3rd instant, and the subsequent action taken by this Government having been successful in preventing the use of this port as a base for the coal supply of either belligerent fleet.
2. With regard to the steam-ship "Tolosan," which had the same agents, and concerning which I reported in my despatch of the 20th April, I annex, en clair, versions of your telegrain of the 22nd, and of my reply§ on the following day.
On that day a letter was received from the Russian Consul disclaiming any know- ledge of the destination of this ship, but calling attention to a vessel with coal which had cleared on the 20th for Nagasaki. In reply, M. de Bologowsky was informed that the vessel in question had only taken in bunker coal here, but, apart from this matter of fact, it was not the intention of this Government to interfere with the trade
* No. 145.
↑ No. 149.
Nos. 159 and 171.
§ Nos. 150 and 151.