CO885-(13-15) — Page 109

i

5971.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.885

Reference :-

13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

}

No. 141.

(WESTERN PACIFIC.)

LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.

(In F.O. Letter of March 22, 1889.)

MY LORD,

Royal Courts of Justice, WE were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Sir T. Villiers

February 23, 1889. Lister's letter of the 12th December last, stating that he had the honour to transmit t› us, by your Lordship's direction, and in connexion with our report to your Lordship of the 10th April last upon the same subject, a letter (and enclosures) which have been received from the Colonial Office with reference to the form of license granting to British subjects the right to work guano or other fertilising substances in certain uninhabited islands situated chiefly in the Western Pacific Ocean.

That it would be seen that Lord Knutsford had proposed certain alterations (which were shown in italics in enclosures 1, 2, and 3 respectively of the Colonial Office letter above referred to) in the original forms of letters patent and licenses which had been in use up to the present time, in order to meet the cases not only of islands of which possession had already been taken at the date of the license, but also cases in which possession, though then contemplated, had not actually taken place.

That other suggestions were also made with reference to the forms of the letters patent to be issued to the Governor of New South Wales, and to the High Commissioner of the Western Pacific, as well as of the warrant to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and that certain alterations which were proposed in those documents would also be found indicated in italics in enclosures 2 and 3 of the Colonial Office letter.

That having regard to the fact that the grant of such leases in the case of islands already forming part of Her Majesty's dominions was a matter which did not, strictly speaking, concern the Foreign Office at all, but fell exclusively within the province of the Colonial Office, it had been suggested as preferable that the instruments authorising such leases should be separate and distinct from those under which leases of islands not belonging at the moment of the grant, either to Great Britain or any other civilized Power, were proposed to be effected by Her Majesty's Government.

That it was with the latter class of leases alone that the Foreign Office was concerned, and that the more, convenient and simple course would therefore appear to be to issue letters patent under a separate form, which should be applicable to those cases only.

That a form of letters patent (marked A) had accordingly been prepared, authorising the Governor of New South Wales in all cases to grant leases of islands and places in the North and South Pacific Oceans not being within the jurisdiction of any civilized Power, and that the present form of license had also been amended (as to which we were referred to document B) to meet the requirements of the case.

That those forms had been submitted for the approval of the Colonial Office, and that subject to any alterations which our report on the various other questions raised in their letter of the 2nd August might render necessary had been accepted by that Department.

That at present the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific granted leases within certain geographical limits, and that the Governor of New South Wales acted in a similar capacity in regard to places in the Western Pacific beyond those geographical limits.

That it was not proposed to displace the authority of the Governor of New South Wales as at present established in that regard, but that it had been suggested that it might perhaps be preferablo to enlarge it, and to make him the sole issuer of licenses to the supersession of the High Commissioner, as the latter was not nearly 80 accessible, being resident in Fiji, to persons desiring licenses, as the Governor was in New South Wales.

That it appeared, moreover, worthy of consideration whether all recitals (with the exception of a general one, to the effect that the proposed license had beon applied for, and Her Majesty had been pleased to grant a license on the terms and conditions therein-after contained) should not, at all events in that particular class of cases, omitted in the forms of license issued.

bo

57014.-19. 25-3/89.

}

2