CO885-(13-15) — Page 577

20400.

SIR,

No. 188.

(BRITISH NEW Guinea.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice, September 8, 1898.

We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. Wingfield's letter of the 29th ultimo, stating that he was directed by you to submit for our consideration and report a question which had arisen in regard to a concession granted by the Governor of British New Guinea to a syndicate called the British New Guinea Syndicate.

That it would be seen from the correspondence on the subject which had been laid before Parliament, that application was made to the Secretary of State on behalf of the syndicate in May 1897 for a concession in British New Guinea for the purpose of developing general commercial and trading operations there.

That as the Government of British New Guinea, under the enclosed Instructions, C.-5564. was carried on by the Administrator or Lieutenant-Governor subject to the control of the Governor of Queensland in Council, the promoters of the syndicate were referred by you to the Prime Minister of Queensland, who was at that time in this country. That after personal communication and correspondence with him it was agreed that the agents of the syndicate should proceed to Queensland in company with him to iscuss the matter with the Lieutenant-Governor of the Possession with the view to arriving at a satisfactory arrangement. That the syndicate, therefore, despatched two of its members, Mr. John Lowles, M.P., and Sir Somers Vine, to Queensland where, in December last, they met Sir William Macgregor, the Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, and, after full discussion with him and the Government of Queensland a Memorandum of Agreement was signed.

That in accordance with the provisions of Article I. of that Agreement an Ordinance was passed by the Legislature of New Guinea to give effect to the Agreement.

That the draft of that Ordinance was received by you from the Governor of Queensland on the 9th of April and that, after considering it, a letter was written to the solicitors who were acting on behalf of the syndicate, on the 22nd of April, stating certain objections to the Ordinance.

C.-8935, p. 13.

C.—8935, p. 10.

C--8937,

P. 15.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

11 21

C.O.885

14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

That the syndicate replied on the 25th of April agreeing to the amendments required by you, and that by a letter dated 3rd of May you informed them that copies of the correspondence had been transmitted to the Governor of Queensland who had been told that if the Ordinance was passed by the Legislature of British New Guinea with the amendments which you required, you would at once submit it for Her Majesty's approval. That in the meantime Sir H. Nelson had resigned his position as Premier of Queensland, and was succeeded in that office by Mr. Byrnes, who had been Attorney-General in Sir II. Nelson's Government, but had been absent from the Colony while the negotiations with the syndicate were in progress.

That shortly after that telegrams were received from the Governments of New South Wales and Victoria protesting against the concession on the ground that they had not been consulted before it was agreed to, as required by Section 20 of the amended C.-5564, proposals for the administration of British New Guinea.

That the new Premier of Queensland also objected to the concession.

That on receipt of those protests you informed the Governor of Queensland, by telegraph, of the correspondence which had passed with the syndicate, and stated that you did not see that his Ministers could now oppose the allowance of the Ordinance without breach of faith, and requested him to communicate all the papers to the Governments of New South Wales and Victoria. That as, after receipt of that, the Colonial Government still persisted in their opposition you, in a telegram to Viscount Hampden, the Governor of New South Wales, on the 13th of June last, informed him that in your opinion the Government of Queensland could not now repudiate the Agreement with the syndicate without breach of faith, but that if, after full consideration of the amendments which you had required in the Ordinance and of all the circumstances, the three Governments agreed in urging strongly that further specific amendments not

579-23-9,98 Wt 21618 D & S 5

pp. 7 & 8.