CO885-(15-16) — Page 682

42908

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

C.O.885

16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

No. 179.

(GENERAL.)

CASE SUBMITTED BY TREASURY TO LAW OFFICERS.

[Seizure as Naval Prize of Goods temporarily landed in this country fo. Transhipment Abroad.]

The question has arisen whether Collectors of Customs should seize goods which are temporarily landed in this country for the purpose of transhipment abroad.

The question has arisen in concrete cases at Southampton under the following circumstances:-The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company run a line of small vessels from Hamburg and Antwerp and other ports on the Continent to Southampton, and they bring to that port consignments of goods shipped by German owners for transhipment on to their big liners for carriage to the West Indies, South America, and elsewhere.

There are at present lying in the warehouses at Southampton a number of parcels of goods which have been collected in this way. In some cases instructions have been received from the German owners to stop the goods at Southampton; in other cases the shipping company have not forwarded the goods, pending instructions.

In the majority of cases the goods are shipped on through bills of lading from the Continental port to the port of destination under which the company have power to tranship, and the goods are merely being landed for the purpose of tran- shipment. In other cases the goods are consigned to the shipping company with instructions to tranship and issue bills of lading to the consignee abroad.

Further cases have arisen in Manchester, where enemy goods have been imported into this country to Manchester and Grimsby, with a view to transhipment to Canada, the Grimsby goods being sent overland from Grimsby to Manchester. The shipment to Canada was to have been by the s.s. "Manchester City" or other boat of the Manchester Liners, Limited. Having received the goods at the Continental port, the Manchester Liners arrange for shipment to Manchester by the Great Central Railway Company's service, and receive from the Great Central Railway Company a subsidiary bill of lading in favour of the Manchester Liners covering the goods to Manchester. The Great Central Railway Company deliver the goods in Manchester to the Manchester Liners' sheds at the docks. In the meantime, the Continental representative of the Manchester Liners has sent to them in Man- chester copies of the through bill of lading, in accordance with which the goods are then shipped by the Manchester Liners in one of their own boats to the ultimate destination.

Storey refers (at pages 28 and 29) in his "Note on the Principles and Practice of Prize Courts" to the jurisdiction in the cases of captures on land. According to him it would seem that this extends to captures made on land by naval forces and to captures in rivers, ports and harbours of the captor's own country. He, however, states that the Admiralty, merely by its own inherent powers, never exercises juris- diction as to captures or seizures as prize made on shore without the co-operation of naval forces, whether made in our own or in a foreign territory. Once the jurisdiction has attached, however, by capture, it remains, notwithstanding the goods are landed, and the Court will follow the goods or their proceeds.

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Counsel should be reminded of the case of the s.s. Elswick Hall," recently before them, upon which they advised that, where a cargo had been sold without having been seized and the proceeds paid into Court on account of whom it may concern, there was no capture which would bring the case within the jurisdiction of the Prize Court.

Mr. Bentwich has written a note on the right of the Crown to seize enemy cargo discharged and found on British territory, which is sent herewith. The total value is considerable, and counsel may think the matter should be decided in the Prize Court.

The Attorney and Solicitor-General and Mr. Ricketts are requested to advise whether in these cases the goods are liable to seizure as prize or not.

(3087-2.) Wt. 124-872. 25. 11/N. D&S. G 1.