20315.
board.
110
No. 180.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON TO MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received 10'13 A.M.,
June 14, 1905.)
TELEGRAM.
[Copy to Foreign Office, June 14, 1905, No. 20248; not printed.]
My telegram of yesterday* statement of crew, "St Kilda," say no contraband on After crew and mails transferred ship was torpedoed, and some twenty shots fired into her till she sank. Have asked Hong Kong obtain list of cargo from agents. Statements will be sent by mail.
20908.
111
No. 183.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON TO MR. LYTTELTON. (Received 9 A.M., June 17, 1905.)
TELEGRAM.
[Copy to Foreign Office, June 17, 1905, L. F.]
LATEST information of "Dnieper" 7:30 o'clock in the morning of 12th June forty miles to the west of Acheen Head going westerly direction. Have requested to you by Governor of Hong Kong send full particulars as to cargo of "St. Kilda telegraph.
>
21026.
No. 184.
20427
}
No. 181.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON TO MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received 8:47 A.M., June 15, 1905.)
TELEGRAM.
[Copy to Foreign Office, June 15, 1905, L. F.]
[Answered by No. 182.]
I HAVE received letter signed by Chief Engineer, "St. Kilda," stating that all officers have requested that they may be taken back by cruiser as near as may be possible to home.
HONG KONG.
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN TO MR. LYTTELTON. (Received 3-20 P.M., June 17, 1905.)
TELEGRAM.
[Copy to Foreign Office, June 19, 1905, L. F.]
FOLLOWING is summary of manifests of "St. Kilda": Rice 38,462 bags, sugar 1,641 bags, rape cake 9,179 bags, copra 132 bags, cotton 1,988 bales, rattans 402 bales, jute 249 bales, oils, medicines, woodware, wine, hay, old brass, old rope, Malay camphor, chain covers, sessaman seeds, vermilion, bristles, cuttlefish, old lead sheeting, fruits, hides, putty samples, and other sundry merchandise not specified, 689 packages; total 52,742 packages.
21136.
No. 185.
HONG KONG.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
6
C.O
Reference :-
885/
9
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
No. 182.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
MR. LYTTELTON TO GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON. (Sent 2:20 P.M., June 16, 1905.)
TELEGRAM.
[Answered by No. 183.]
In reply to your telegram of yesterday's datet report by telegram any particulars as to cargo of "St. Kilda" and movements of " Dnieper" you may receive.
• No. 179.
† No. 181.
(Secret.)
SIR,
+
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN TO MR. LYTTELTON. (Received June 19, 1905.)
Government House, Hong Kong, May 19, 1905.
IN continuation of my Secret despatches of the 4th and 20th April and 5th May, 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 I have no further information with regard to the German steam-ship "Poschan."
13
2. In my last despatch I informed you that I did not consider that the proper require- ments of this Government were met by the offer of Messrs. Jebsen and Co., Agents for the steam-ship "Florida," to place the discharge of that steamer (which had lately changed the Norwegian for the German flag) in the event of it being allowed to load with coal and sail from this port under the control of the British Consul at Saigon. and On the following day a similar offer from the owners of both the "Florida "Tolosan
was conveyed to me in your telegram, of which an en clair version, together with one of my reply of the 8th May † is attached. In accordance with this reply the
20562.
* No. 159, 171, and 176.
Nos. 161 and 162.
"1"
112
German Consul here, who has come forward with the suggestion that "a bond to the full value of each steamer and cargo should be given by the owner, Mr. M. Jebsen, himself, or by a bank on his behalf, as guarantee that the coal is actually landed in Saigon, and is not intended for either of the belligerent fleets in the vicinity of this Colony," was informed, with regard to the "Tolosan," that a permit to export coal could be issued under these conditions, provided, also, that an agent for the ship, resident in this Colony, formally accepted responsibility for her despatch, in view of the possible contingency of an offence being committed against the Foreign Enlistment Act. The "Florida was not dealt with in this manner as, on the date (11th May) on which the reply was sent to the German Consul, Messrs. Jebsen and Co. had applied for, and been given, permission to ship 400 tons of bunker coal, and to clear the vessel in hallast for Saigon, the permission being accompanied by a reminder of the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act, as to despatching a ship for employment contrary to the Act, and of the consequences of an infringement of the same. Apparently Messrs. Jebsen and Co. consider that, in view of possible contingencies, it will be safer for them to get clearance for the "Tolosan" in the same way rather than to despatch her with coal, under the conditions communicated to the German Consul, for I learn that she is Of course, no obstacle will be placed in the way of now discharging her coal cargo. her clearing in ballast, or with general cargo for Saigon, or elsewhere.
3. Messrs. Jebsen and Co. have had other colliers in this port since the date of my last despatch. The German steam-ship "Wik" arrived here on the 3rd instant from Sabang with 3,864 tons of coal, stated in the first instance to be for discharge. On the 10th, however, the Master applied for clearance for Saigon, the cargo being still on board. He had received no instructions from the Agents as to the necessity for a permit for his coal, and showed signs of intending to dispense with this formality. The Harbour Master communicated at my request with Messrs. Jebsen and Co., and that firm has thought it advisable to put up for sale the cargo of the "Wik," which still remains here.
"
4. The German steam-ships "Neumuehlen (formerly "Earl of Dempster") and "Forsteck," two vessels for which Messrs. Jebsen are agents, which, according to the statements of their Masters, had been in attendance on the belligerent fleet on the Annamite Coast, but which had not been despatched from this port, arrived here on the 8th and 9th instant respectively-in ballast-and still remain in the port under careful observation by the Harbour Master.
5. Other vessels under observation in this port are steam-ships "Mont Blanc " (Norwegian) and "Syfang" (German), with cargoes of flour, and the steam-ship "Socrabaya" (German), with cargo of coal.
6. I annex a revised copy of the table which accompanied my despatch of the 5th instant, showing, as far as I am able, the movements of the various vessels suspected of being in attendance on a belligerent fleet in the vicinity of this Colony.
7. This table does not include ships that have carried contraband to Siberian or Japanese ports. The views of this Government, with regard to such ships, were com- municated to you in my telegram of the 11th instant, in reply to yours of the 10th,† inquiring with regard to the steam-ship "Califa" (? Caffila). En clair versions of these telegrams are attached.
8. Vessels clearing for ports in Indo-China appeared to be too directly in attendance on a belligerent fleet to justify their being treated merely as vessels engaged in the risky but legal business of carrying contraband of war. In connection with this subject, I inclose a proof of an article by the editor of "The South China Morning Post," which was to have appeared in the issue of the paper on the 8th May. On the representation of the Vice-Admiral, and on consideration that it was undesirable that the information should be published at the time in this Colony, I obtained from Mr. Cunningham, the editor of the paper, who was himself the witness of the facts reported in the article, a postponement of its publication till the 18th instant, when it appeared with a less inflammatory heading.
I have, &c.
M. NATHAN,
Governor.
• No. 176.
† Nos. 165 and 164.