CO885-(11-13) — Page 540

13,549.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

CO.

Reference :-

885

12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

MY LORD,

No. 262.

(LABUAN,)

LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.

We were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Sir Julian Pauncefote's letter of the 13th ultimo, stating that, with reference to our report of the

Temple, 14th July 1881. 17th September last on the application of Mr. Alfred Dent, of the firm of Dent, Brothers, and Company, of London, for the grant of a Royal charter of incorporation to an association in course of formation for the development of the northern part of the island of Borneo, under certain concessions of territory and grant of sovereign rights thereover from the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu, and that he (Sir Julian Pauncefote) was directed by your Lordship to state that in a letter from your Lordship's Department, dated the 16th December last, Mr. Dent was informed that, after a careful consideration of the printed statement presented by him to the Foreign Office in December 1878, Her Majesty's Government were disposed, under the special circumstances of the case, to recommend to the favourable consideration of the Queen his application for a Royal charter on the conditions set out in his statement, and subject to such other conditions as Her Majesty's Government might be advised to have inserted therein when the draft should be submitted for their approval.

That in a letter of the same day from your Lordship's Department to the Privy Council Office the Lord President was informed of the decision arrived at, and his Lordship was requested to give the necessary directions on the petition for a charter when presented by Mr. Dent, and to cause the draft of the charter to be submitted to your Lordship's Department with a view to the insertion therein of such clauses as your Lordship, after consultation with the Law Officers of the Crown, might deem expedient.

That Sir Julian Pauncefote had now the honour to lay before us, by the direction of your Lordship, a letter from the Privy Council Office, transmitting a copy of the draft of a charter which had been applied for by Mr. Dent, and Sir Julian Pauncefote was to request that we would take the same into consideration, and favour your Lordship with our opinion as to whether it might be approved by your Lordship in its present form, or whether it required any modification or addition.

That Sir Julian was at the same time to transmit to you (us?) a letter from the Colonial Office, containing observations on the draft, together with the reply which had been returned thereto by your Lordship's Department; and he was further to request that we would favour your Lordship with our opinion as to the questions raised by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

In obedience to your Lordship's commands we have the honour to

Report

That in our opinion the granting of the charter will not have the effect of vesting in Her Majesty the sovereignty over the territory in question, and the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu will be suzerains, notwithstanding the delegation of their authority to a private association incorporated under Her Majesty's charter.

The clauses empowering the Company to sue and be sued in the Courts of the Colonies and to hold land in the Colonies are, as is pointed out in the letter of the 13th January 1881 to the Colonial Office, usual provisions in charters similar to that now under consideration, and great inconvenience, if not injustice, would probably be occasioned if such clauses were omitted.

With reference to the terms of the proposed charter, and apart from the questions raised by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and above referred to, the charter may, in our opinion, be approved in its present form, except that we would suggest the insertion at the end of clause 5 of the words "if he is willing to undertake the

We have, &c.,

same.

The Right Hon. the Earl Granville, K.G.,

&c.

&c.

&c.

(Signed)

HENRY JAMES. FARRER HERSCHELL. J. PARKER DEANE.

▲ 12916-249. 25,-12/84.