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PUBLIC

RECORD OFFICE

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mm'inumimC.O.

885/25

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON |

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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5. In outlining the principles which I think should govern the remuneration of officials who assisted in these liquidations, I have not lost sight of the fact that the work done in Nigeria in connexion with the winding-up of enemy firms has been much greater in volume, and relatively of a more arduous nature, than that done in the Gold Coast or in Sierra Leone, but, before sanctioning the payments proposed in your despatch, I think it is desirable, for the sake of uniformity, that the Nigeria Government should reconsider the rates there proposed in the light of the above remarks. As they purport to be inclusive of travelling and transport expenses (which should, in my opinion, be kept separate from remuneration for work done), it is impossible for me to judge how far they are reasonable, but some of them appear to be rather unduly generous unless the travelling involved was both continuous and expensive.

6. When the total amount of the expenses of liquidation, including the pay- ments to Government and the payments to officers, has been settled, it should be calculated as a percentage on the assets of the firms, and application should then be made to the Supreme Court for formal authority for that percentage to be charged on the various estates in liquidation in place of the 10 per cent. on both receipts and payments originally allowed.

33846

No. 158.

I have, &c.,

A. BONAR LAW.

COLONIAL OFFICE to FOREIGN OFFICE.

Downing Street, 27th July, 1916.

SIR,

I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Bonar Law to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th of July* with regard to the threat of the German Govern- ment to subject the property in Germany of Sir Francis Oppenheimer, late His Majesty's Consul-General at Frankfort-on-Main, to a forced sale, as a measure of retaliation for the sale of the real property of German firms in Nigeria.

2. The instructions to the British West African Governments to sell the real property of German firms in liquidation in the West African Colonies and Protec- torates were given as a result of the recommendation to that effect contained in the Report of the Interdepartmental Committee dated 17th December, 1915, a print of which is enclosed for facility of reference. A copy of the report was sent to the Foreign Office on 1st January, and the concurrence of Sir E. Grey in its terms was conveyed to this Department in the letter of 14th January § from the Foreign Trade Department. A copy of the instructions sent to West Africa was sent to the Foreign Office on the 18th of February. A print of the despatch is enclosed.

3. The instructions to sell enemy real property in the Colonies have been confined to the property of enemy firms. This, of course, includes the property employed in the business of traders who are trading as individuals and not as companies or partnerships, but it does not include the private property of persons As Sir E. Grey will observe, the Committee not engaged in trade in our Colonies. specially stated that they did not recommend that the liquidations should extend to the private estates of individual partners of liquidated firms.

36771

SIR,

No. 159.

I am, &c.,

H. J. READ.

BOARD OF TRADE to COLONIAL OFFICE. Board of Trade (Commercial Department),

Gwydyr House, Whitehall, London, S. W., 3rd August, 1916. WITH reference to your letter 29171/1916, of the 29th June, transmitting copies of a despatch and its enclosures from the Governor-General of Nigeria relative to certain trade-marks registered in Nigeria belonging to enemies having no establishments in that Colony, I am directed by the Board of Trade to state, for

¶ Not printed. IL 56578.

* 33846.

+ No. 2.

$ 58199.

§ 2023.

175

the information of Mr. Bonar Law, that they are not disposed to recommend that the registration of these marks should be cancelled-a proceeding that would probably lead to retaliation of some kind.

Nor does it appear to the Board that the case could be satisfactorily met by taking power to avoid or suspend the marks in favour of British firms, as has been done in the case of marks registered in the United Kingdom by the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks (Temporary Rules) Acts. To license a trade-mark without the transfer of the whole goodwill of the business is, as Mr. Bonar Law is aware, contrary to trade-mark law. In the present case there is no goodwill to pass with the marks, and to transfer to British traders marks which had hitherto distinguished specific German goods would prima facie he deceptive. The powers of the Board under the Acts mentioned above are, as a rule, exercised in the case of trade-marks only in the following cases, namely:

(1) Where the trade-mark is the name of a patented article, and a licence

is granted under the patent protecting it.

(2) Where it is the only name or only practicable name of an article manu-

factured under an expired patent.

(3) Where it is the name or the only practicable name of an article manu- factured in accordance with a known process or a formula which has been published or is well known in the trade.

In all the circumstances the Board would suggest, for Mr. Bonar Law's con- sideration, that the best course to adopt would be to pass a general enactment vesting all enemy marks of this kind in the Crown or in some public official. This would prevent the appropriation of the marks by other persons in a way which might lead to deception or confusion, and it would enable the Crown to hold the marks until the conclusion of the War, when the whole question of German trade with the Colonies will have to be considered. The fact that the Crown held the marks would prevent the introduction of German goods bearing such marks, and, if it were so desired, the use of the marks might be subsequently allowed to proper persons. Any difficulty as regards the vesting of mere trade-marks without a business might be met by vesting equally in the Crown any goodwill which might be considered to remain connected with the business formerly carried on by the alien enemy.

I have, &c..

38429

No. 160.

SIERRA LEONE.

H. FOUNTAIN.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 14th August, 1916.)

¡Copy to Governor-General of Nigeria, 29th August, 1916. Confidential. L.F.} [Answered by No. 162.]

SIR,

(Confidential.)

Government House, Sierra Leone, 25th July, 1916. WITH reference to your despatch No. 46, of the 16th February,* and your Confidential despatch of the 19th May,t I have the honour to transmit herewith for your information a copy of a letter, with enclosure, which I have addressed to the Governor-General of Nigeria on the subject of the liquidation of enemy firms.

I have, &c.,

R. J. WILKINSON,

Governor.

* No. 154.

+ No. 42.