CO882-(6-8) — Page 595

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

39970

272

No. 283.

COLONIAL OFFICE to ADMIRALTY.

[Capy to Governor, November 15, 1905. Confidential. L.F.]

SIR,

Downing Street, November 14, 1905. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th instant* and to request you to inform the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that a copy will be forwarded to the Governor of the Straits Settlements.

2. I am to add that, as stated in the letter from this Department of August 4th,† the property of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company has already been vested in the Colonial Government, the transfer having taken place on the 1st of July last.

I am, &c.,

41075

(No. 447.)

SIR,

No. 284.

C. P. LUCAS.

GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON to MR. LYTTELTON.

(Received November 18, 1905.)

[Answered by L.F.F. on Nos. 290 and 294.]

Government House, Singapore, October 26, 1905. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you copy, so far as available, of the transcript of the shorthand notes of the Tanjong Pagar Arbitration.

2. I regret that this transcript is not only incomplete, but so inaccurate as to be of comparatively little use. It is not paged and is, therefore, of little use for purposes of reference.

3. The staff provided by Mr. Bannerman appears to have been quite unequal to the task which they undertook, either in point of accuracy and intelligence of note taking or of reproducing from day to day as they undertook.

4. In consequence, a joint revision of the notes and their complete recopying or printing must be undertaken before they can be of any use in discussion between the Arbitrators or for the guidance of the Umpire in the event of their differing,

5. I regret that, owing to illness, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach has been able to attend very few sittings of the Tribunal, and Sir E. Boyle has also been unable to attend for the last two days.

Both sides have agreed to waive any objection to these absences, but the fact that they have occurred renders the absence of a satisfactory shorthand note all the more unfortunate.

41075

No. 285.

I have, &c.,

JOHN ANDERSON.

COLONIAL OFFICE to MESSRS. SUTTON, OMMANNEY, AND RENDALL. [Answered by Nos. 294 and 297.]

Downing Street, November 21, 1905.

GENTLEMEN,

In continuation of previous correspondence I am directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to forward to you a copy of a despatch from the Governor of the Straits Settlements enclosing a copy of the transcript of the shorthand notes of the Tanjong Pagar Arbitration, so far as they were available at the date of the despatch.

I am to invite your attention to paragraph 3 of this despatch.

41885

273

No. 286.

GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON to MR. LYTTELTON,

(No. 450.)

(Received November 25, 1905.)

[Answered by No. 316.]

SIR,

Government House, Singapore, October 31, 1905, WITH reference to my despatch, No. 441, of the 19th instant,* forwarding copy of the accounts of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company for the half-year ended the 30th of June last, and correspondence which has passed on the subject, I have the honour to acquaint you that the Chairman of the Company, the Honourable W. P. Waddell, accompanied by Mr. W. H. Shelford, a director, and the Honour- able Hugh Fort, their legal adviser, waited upon me to discuss the situation on the 28th instant.

2. Mr. Fort claimed that they were not required to hand over any working balance, and that they had made sufficient allowance for depreciation by maintaining their machinery and wharves in efficiency, but that they recognised that the ques tions I had raised could only be settled by a Court of Law or by the Arbitration Court. He said that there were many small shareholders more or less depending on their dividends from Tanjong Pagar, and asked me whether I would agree to pay them at once the amount claimed less the average amount paid to depreciation and to carry forward, leaving the question of the balance to be settled later.

3. I replied that they had based their claim on the fact that they had carried on their business in a certain way for five years, and had asked for its value as a going concern on that basis, and that they had not onlý omitted to leave us any working capital, which was as essential to a going concern as fixed capital, but that, in omitting the provision for depreciation and reserve which they had usually made, and which they had claimed was really provision for betterment, they had entirely altered the basis on which their claim was founded, and had deferred for at least a year the date when their alleged enhancement would become operative.

I added that I was prepared to pay the usual six per cent. for the half-year 4. Mr. Fort replied that even making the average provision for reserve the amount payable would be more than six per cent., and I replied that as it was the end of the five years, the provision under the three heads mentioned ought to he larger than the average, but I was not disposed to make difficulties, and would be prepared to pay over to them for distribution the amount of their claim after deducting the average amount set aside under the three heads during the five years upon which their claim was based. They accepted this, and we agreed that Mr. G. A. Derrick should take out the figures.

5. As to the settlement of the question I offered to refer it to arbitration here, or to the Arbitration Tribunal, or to leave it to the Law Courts.

6. They replied that they would prefer that it should be referred by consent to the Arbitration Court, the hearing to be in London, and to that I at once agreed. The matter, if it were left to the Courts here, would certainly have to be taken to the Privy Council, and I trust that you will approve my action and that you will endeavour to arrange for the matter to be disposed of by the Court in London.

41919

No. 287.

I have, &c.,

JOHN ANDERSON.

GOVERNOR SIR J. ANDERSON to MR. LYTTELTON.

(Received November 25, 1905.)

[Ansicered by L.F. on No. 306.]

Government House, Singapore, November 2, 1905.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your confidential despatch

I am, &c.,

(Confidential.)

C. P. LUCAS.

SIR,

• No. 280.

† No. 207.

‡ No. 281.

▾ No. 282.