CO885-(15-16) — Page 132

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PUBLIC

།། ། །

RECORD OFFICE

لستتي

Reference :-

C.O. 885

15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

2. It follows from the above that His Majesty's Government ought to recognise the "Lorna Doone" as a "public ship."

3. Does not arise.

4. We think this question could be only usefully answered upon a consideration of the circumstances of any particular case in which it may arise. As the foreign relations of Sarawak are under the control of His Majesty's Government, it will be for the Govern- ment to determine in any particular case how far such a claim should be asserted.

5 and 6. We do not think that such a ship can be regarded as entirely divested of its ex-territorial character, and, as already advised, we think that it ought to be treated as

'public ship" in British waters.

The Right Hon. J. Chamberlain, M.P.,

&c.,

&c.,

&c.

We have, &c.,

R. B. FINLAY. EDWARD CARSON.

26943.

SIR,

No. 97.

(SOUTH AFRICA.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice,

August 2, 1901. We were honoured with your commands signified to us in Mr. Lucas's letter, C.O. to dated 27th July, 1901, stating that he was directed to transmit to us the accompanying B.8.A. Co., correspondence which had passed between the British South Africa Company and the May, Colonial Office since the date of the Report which our predecessors in office made to B.S.A. Co., the Secretary of State on the 7th May, 1900, respecting the Concession granted to the 8 Feb., Company by Lewanika, Chief of the Barotse.

1900.

1901.

B.S.A. Co.,

1901.

That it would be seen that Lewanika had now signed two Concessions, one C.O. to marked "A" embodying the Agreements made between him and the Company's repre- 17 Jane, sentative, Captain Lawley, at the Victoria Falls in 1898, which formed the subject of the 1901. Colonial Office letter to the Company of 8th May, 1900, and another marked "B" which B.S.A. Co., was substantially the same document with the omission of the clause giving the Company 29 June, a monopoly of trade. That you adhered to the view that it would have been better to obtain Lewanika's signature to a Concession omitting the provisions to which exception was taken in the Colonial Office letter of the 8th May, 1900, but the Company having strongly deprecated any further negotiations with Lewanika in regard to a matter which that Chief was said to regard as settled, you had decided on the recommendation of Lord Milner, and in view of the pledges given in the letter of 8th May, 1900, to approve one of the two forms of Concession now before you subject to the conditions stated in the letter of the 8th May, 1900, and to the further condition specified in the letter to the Company of 17th June, 1901.

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That with our concurrence you proposed to approve the document marked " A as it embodied the Agreement in the form originally submitted to you, and appeared to be the one referred to in the Company's letter of 29th June last.

That in explanation of the further condition mentioned in the letter to the Company of 17th June, Mr. Lucas was to state that the question of the extent of the Barotse Kingdom which was assigned to the British sphere of influence by the Anglo-Portuguese Convention of 1891, had been in dispute between His Majesty's Government and the Government of Portugal for some years past, and in 1893 it was agreed that the two Governments should adopt a provisional boundary between their respective spheres of influence, and that neither should interfere with the sphere of influence thus provisionally assigned to the other pending the settlement of a definitive boundary. That it appeared from information which subsequently reached His Majesty's Government that the line provisionally adopted excluded from the British sphere territory which was claimed by Lewanika, and which there was good reason to believe was under his control.

That in several paragraphs of the Concession there were words which bear on this point. That in the first paragraph rights were granted to the Company "over the whole of the territory of the said (Barotse) nation or any future extension thereof, including all subject and dependent territory." And that in subsequent paragraphs :-

(a.) The British South Africa Company further agreed to reserve from prospecting, and devote to the exclusive use of the King and his people that portion of the Barotse Valley proper stretching from a point on the Zambesi River, known as Mboe Hill, about 40 miles from Lialui on the north to Sinonga on the south, and bounded on either side by the Mosito or Sand Belts.

(b.) The British South Africa Company further agreed to use its best endeavours to preserve all game in the district known as Diowa lying north-west of Lialui on the right (west) bank of the Zambesi River and south of the lower Lungwi Bungo River, also the Lechwee, Sitatunga, and lookoo Antelope on the lower reaches of the Luena River, also the Lechwee and Pookoo Antelope in the Barotse Valley proper and

(c.) The British South Africa Company further agreed to protect as far as possible from interference the natives living on either bank of the Luanginga and Nyengo Rivers within 40 miles of Lialui, and also the natives living in the country between the Majili and Luena Rivers, and between the Zambesi River and the wagon road.

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• No. 35B.

9693-25—8/1901 Wt 352

D & 8 5