CO885-(25-26) — Page 379

204

Cocoa Exports.

1913.

1914.

cwts.

cwts.

24,227

31,442

6,386

11,740

2,728

4,083

9,000

19,275

1,886

4,654

725

482

39

268

372

8

98

71

115

108

41

United Kingdom

United States of America

Canada

France

Germany Austria Holland

Australia

Barbados

British Columbia

Panaina

28007

New Zealand

No. 174. TRINIDAD.

THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

205

363

They are referred to in the enclosure to your despatch No. 125, of the 17th of April, 1915.* If complete liquidation is resorted to in other cases I cannot see any reason for an exception being made as to these, and in this the Executive Council concurs, but I shall be glad to receive your instructions in the matter.

5.

I have also the honour, with reference to the fifth paragraph of your despatch under reply, to enclose a copy of a report by the Collector of Customs, from which it is apparent that the operations in the Colony of the firm of Neubauer & Company were, prior to the War, gradually diverting the control of the cocos produced in this Colony from London to Hamburg.

6. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch of the 9th of March, referring, for my observations, certain intercepted correspondence relating to the Neubauer properties. The only comments that appear to be necessary on this correspondence are that the letter of Mr. Carl de Verteuil, dated the 9th of December, 1915, was written with the knowledge of the Govern- ment, and that it would be quite possible for any agent of Messrs. Neubauer & Company who might visit the Colony from the United States to obtain all the information the firm might desire with regard to their properties here. In such a small community as this such matters are known to everyone.

I have, &c.,

S. W. KNAGGS,

Acting Governor.

(Confidential.)

(Received 13th June, 1916.)

[Answered by No. 176.]

Government House, 19th May, 1916.

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch of the 18th February, enclosing the Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Liquidation of Enemy Firms, and, in reply, to state that this Government is entirely in accord with the proposal to adopt the complete system of liquidation advocated by the Committee.

2. This, indeed, has been the method pursued here by the Liquidating Com mittee in dealing with most of the enemy businesses that have been placed under their control. In compliance with the instructions in the second paragraph of your despatch I enclose a copy of a report by the Receiver-General, the Chairman of the Committee, relating to the following firms, etc. :-Schjolseth & Holler; German Kali Works; Hugo Hoffmann; S. E. Jacobson; C. E. Belling; Mrs. J. A. A. Scherer; A. S. Laing & Company; Wessels Brothers & von Gontard; Max Reimer. Of these the firms of A. S. Laing & Company and C. E. Belling have been com- pletely liquidated, but in the other cases there are mortgages and book debts still for collection; while certain shares held by Mr. Hugo Hoffmann, some house property in Port of Spain owned by Mrs. J. A. A. Scherer, and a cocoa estate I cannot see any reason why an belonging to Mr. Reimer have not been realized. exception should be made with regard to these, and am of opinion that the Com- mittee should be instructed to take steps to dispose of them, and my advisers concur. 3. There are also certain mortgages, amounting to $8,000, in favour of Mr. August Holler, a partner in the firm of Schjolseth & Holler, which the Receiver- General has dealt with in a separate report, a copy of which I enclose. should also, I consider, be dealt with by the Liquidating Committee.

These

4. The only other enemy properties that I am aware of are the cocoa estates and mortgages of Messrs. Neubauer & Company and the house and two coco8 estates of Mr. F. W. Meyer, the former proprietor of the liquidated business of A. S. Laing & Company. The Neubauer estates are being carried on by the Honourable C. de Verteuil under a licence issued to him by the authority, given in your despatch No. 301, of the 24th of August, 1914, † but no steps have been taken with regard to the mortgages, the interest on which is not being paid, and I shall be glad to receive your instructions with regard to these and to be informed as to the procedure adopted in the United Kingdom in dealing with such mortgages. The cocoa estates of the Meyer family have been left in the hands of the wife and children, who are natives of Trinidad, and are capable of managing them properly.

+ 31759/14.

* No. 171.

Enclosure 1 in No. 174.

REPORT BY THE RECEIVER-GENERAL, 10TH APRIL, 1916.

HONOURABLE ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY,

WITH reference to the Secretary of State's Confidential despatch of the 18th February, 1916, I have the honour to report that the complete system of liquidation recommended, which is to consist of the sale of the goodwill, trade- marks, land, and buildings (whether freehold or leasehold), and other permanent assets of enemy firms, has been followed by the Liquidating Committee in realizing the assets (except as regards the sale of land and buildings) of the enemy businesses in this Colony.

2. The existing legislation (Ordinances 37, 1914, and 6, 1915) gives the necessary powers, and there seems to be no reason why the new policy should not be adopted in its entirety. In fact, if it be not adopted, the liquidations will probably go on for an indefinite time.

3 With regard to the nature of the businesses specifically mentioned in the Secretary of State's despatch, I beg to give the following information taken from the statement of affairs prepared, at the commencement of the liquidations, by Messrs. Fitzpatrick, Graham, & Company, chartered accountants. In my general report of the 8th May, 1915, I furnished a statement of the gross estimated value of the assets taken over by the Liquidating Committee.

(a) Schjolseth & Holler.-This business was carried on by Mr. August Holler as sole proprietor. Its assets consisted of certain real property, merchandise, i.e., foodstuffs and liquors, cedar logs, mortgages, and unsecured debts relating to goods sold on credit. Mr. Holler did business mostly with the country shopkeepers. Nothing was realized for the goodwill of this firm, because the business was not sold as a going concern, and the building, a dilapidated structure, in which it was carried on, did not belong to Mr. Holler, but to a British subject residing in London.

(b) The German Kali Works.-Ostensibly the work of this institution was of an educational nature. It served as a distributing centre for German chemical manures and seeds, in respect of which literature was propagated among planters with the professed object of promoting scientific agriculture. Nothing, so far as I have been able to gather, appears to have been offered locally for sale, and there are no assets remaining here of the German Kali Works, whose funds in the bank were applied altogether towards the settlement of liabilities existing before the office closed down. The staff here consisted of a manager, who was an American citizen, and three others, who were West Indian British subjects.

(c) Hugo Hoffman.The stock-in-trade was made up of a small quantity of spirits and wines. There were sundry unsecured debts, promissory

* 16908/15.

+ 9895.

PUBLIC

RECORD OFFICE

""

Reference :-

885/25

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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