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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

885/25

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

173

No. 157.

NIGERIA.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL. (No. 851.)

172

All the firms are German, with the exception of J. W. Jackel and Company,. which is Austrian.

2.

The stock-in-trade of all the firms was sold by auctioneers, partly by private treaty and partly by public auction, whichever was most advantageous.

At the desire of the owners of 3. The firms own or lease the premises held. the property, expired leases have not been renewed. possible, the premises have been let.

4.

assets.

In other cases, wherever

There is no case of a balance of liabilities, all the firms having surplus The balance of assets of each firm on 10th instant was as follows:-

Deutsche Kamarun Gesellschaft, Freetown

Deutsche Kamarun Gesellschaft, Bonthe

West African Trading Company, Freetown

E. Nehse

Woermann Linie

J. W. Jackel & Company

A. Woermann

£ 8. d. 14,838 9 4 18,352 14 4 1,910 15 10

423 14

4

906 13 8

6,369 10

0 764 13 10

364 10 0

£43,931 1 4

22337

SIR,

J. W. West

Of the foregoing balance of assets an amount of £33,000 has been invested in British The amount is made up War Loan Stock by the Honourable Colonial Treasurer. of £14,000 from Deutsche Kamarun Gesellschaft, Freetown account, £17,00 from Deutsche Kamarun Gesellschaft, Bonthe account, and £2,000 from J. W. Jackel & Company account.

5. The balances shown in the preceding paragraph do not include the value of real estate not yet realized, details of which are:-

(a) Deutsche Kamarun Gesellschaft, Freetown, £8,364 (as per firm's books). (b) Deutsche Kamarun Gesellschaft, Bonthe, £7,959 (as per firm's books). (c) Woermann Linie, £375 (purchase price).

(d) J. W. West and A. Woermann. Own small properties, value at present

not known, but not large.

(e) Other firms, nil.

The values of (a) and (b) I consider to be very inflated, as there appears to have been nothing written off for depreciation, whilst the cost of repairs and addi- more or less tions has been added. Several of the properties were found in a dilapidated condition.

6. The total receipts and payments to 10th May are as under :--

Deutsche Kamarun Gesellschaft, Freetown

Deutsche Kamarun Gesellschaft, Bonthe

West African Trading Company

E. Nehse

Woermann Linie

J. W. Jackel & Company

A. Woermann

J. W. West

7.

1,853 8 7 5

117 4

63 17 4

Receipts.

Payments.

2,028 0

£ 16,813 7 2 20,206 2 11 3

S.

d.

£ s. d.

1,974 17 10

487 11

8

1,360 15 7

7,484 6 10

1,114 16 10

1,960 18 74

1,196 4 91

429 10 94

65 0 91

£50,770 13 10

£6,839 12

6

454 1 11

The only cost to the Government is the value of time spent by myself in con- trolling, and the time spent by the District Commissioners at Pujehun and Bonthe when acting as my agents.

The time in the last two instances is not great.

The Honourable

The Colonial Secretary,

*

Freetown.

I have, &c.,

A. E. MUNN,

Controller.

Downing Street, 27th June, 1916.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 305, of the 18th of April, transmitting a copy of the Receiver's report on the liquidation of enemy firms in Nigeria, and containing recommendations with regard to the remuneration of Government officers employed as Assistant Receivers and to the disposal of the balance of the amount deducted from the liquidated assets as a commission for working expenses.

2. After full consideration of the proposals contained in your despatch, 1 think that it is desirable to arrive, if possible, at some uniform basis both for the remuneration of Government officials and for the payments to the Governments themselves in the West African Colonies for work undertaken in connexion with the liquidation of enemy firms.

་

3. As regards compensation for the assistance afforded by the respective Governments in winding up enemy firms, I have come to the conclusion that, although, no doubt, a fairly good case could be made out for charging a small percentage for the services of the Colonial Government, it is preferable on various grounds that the Governments, as distinct from their officers, should not receive any remuneration for their services. Neither in the Gold Coast nor in Sierra Leone has any sugges tion been made that the Colonial Government should make a profit out of the liquidated firms. I consider, however, that the respective Governments are fully entitled to reimburse themselves and to regard as a charge pro rata on the liquidated assets of the enemy firms all expenses incurred by those Governments, inclusive of the following:

(I.) Expenditure in respect of stationery, postage, etc.

(II.) The salaries and wages of any additional officers and clerks specially

engaged for this work. (III) The salaries of Government officials while specially seconded for liquidation work and any special remuneration granted them for the work. The term salaries" should be deemed to include duty allowances and the estimated value of free quarters and a proportionate amount for pensions, leave salary, and passages, where applicable. (IV.) Where officers have been employed in the duties of their substantive posts and have been granted an additional payment for performing liquidation work in addition to their ordinary duties then any pay- ment so made, together with a share of their salaries (as defined above) roughly proportionate to the amount of their official time spent on liquidation work. (V.) The travelling and transport allowances paid to officers, and train and steamer fares incurred in connexion with the liquidations. (VI) A fair payment for office accommodation and clerical assistance. 4. As regards the personal remuneration of Government officials engaged in liquidation work, I consider that:—

(I.) They should receive the ordinary travelling and transport allowances applicable to their official positions. If, owing to their having special expenses of this kind to meet, the ordinary allowances of their grade are not sufficient to cover their legitimate out-of-pocket expenditure, the rate should be raised so as to do so.

(11.) A reasonable payment in addition to their salaries and duty pay (if any) should be made to them for the additional work and responsi- bility imposed upon them by the liquidations. This allowance should be fixed with due regard to these considerations and to their ordinary emoluments. For instance, where two officers of the same Department, but of different grades, have been employed on the same work in connexion with the liquidation, the officer with the higher official emoluments should receive a lower rate of special remuneration.

* 22837.