CO885-(11-13) — Page 22

9284.

1

SIR,

No. 728.

(NEW SOUTH WALES.)

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Foreign Office, September 19, 1871. WITH reference to previous correspondence respecting the seizure and release of the British vessel "Daphne," sent for trial to Sydney on a charge of the breach of the laws relating to the slave trade, I am directed by Earl Granville to transmit to you, for the information of the Earl of Kimberley and for communication to the Governor of New South Wales, a copy of the reply that has been addressed to Mr. Smith, in accordance with the advice of the Law Officers of the Crown, respecting the disposal of the natives released from the vessel, and the claim preferred by the owners on this

account.

The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office.

SIR,

I am, &c.

(Signed)

The FOREIGN OPPICE to MR. SMITH.

E. HAMMOND.

Foreign Office, September 13, 1871.

I AM directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th of May, upon the subject of the natives imported into Fiji by the "Daphne" and released by Her Majesty's Consul there, in which you request that the natives may be either transferred to the custody of the persons properly entitled to their services, or that the persons in whose custody the natives have been placed may be called upon to defray the expenses of their passage, and to guarantee their wages and return passages home at the expiration of their periods of service, or in default of this that Her Majesty's Government will compensate the owners for the losses they have suffered in respect of these immigrants.

wages

I am to state to you in reply, that as the return passages and payment of the of these immigrants have been undertaken by the parties to whose care they have been transferred by Her Majesty's Consul, you have no reason for uneasiness on that score. As regards your proposal for their transfer to the custody of the person properly entitled to them, by whom Lord Granville presumes that you must mean Mr. Ross Lewin, with whom the natives originally contracted, his Lordship is advised that that person has forfeited all title to their services by his violation of the terms of the license granted to him by the authorities of 'Queensland.

I am to add that Her Majesty's Government must decline to make any compensation to the owners of the " Daphne " in this case.

E. Smith, Esq., Ovalau.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

E. HAMMOND.

0 16978.-908. 25.-5/86.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O. 885

Reference :-

11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO