CO885-24 — Page 170

MINUTES.

16

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

19

Reference :-

TILL CO. 885

24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

14

51

MINUTES.

THE TENTH MEETING of the Committee was held at the Colonial Office on Thursday, 17th December, 1914, at 3.15 p.m.

The following members were present:-

1.

VICE-ADMIRAL SIR E. J. W. SLADE, K.C.I.E., K.C.V.O. (Chairman).

MR. W. J. EVANS, Admiralty.

MR. G. L. BARSTOW, C.B., Treasury.

MR. G. ROPER, Board of Trade.

MR. H. W. MALKIN, Foreign Office.

MR. L. D. WAKELY, India Office.

MR. C. B. TENNYSON, Colonial Office.

MR. T. H. HOLT, Crown Agents.

MR. R. A. WISEMAN (Secretary).

Minutes of the previous meeting. As regards the statement under (2) that it would be an advantage if the Court in the United Kingdom were willing to adjudicate on the detained ships in Nigeria, it was decided that a letter should be sent to the Registrar of the Prize Court in London, asking whether the Court was prepared to act in the matter.

As regards the case of the "Australia" it was decided that, instead of pro- oeeding as proposed in paragraph (4), certain steamship companies in this country should be asked whether they were prepared to tender for the purchase of the ship.

2. Steamship "Annaberg.”—Mr. F. H. Walters, of the firm of Frederick Huth & Company, appeared before the Committee to give evidence as to the interest of his firm in this ship. A report of the proceedings will be found in the volume of Minutes of Evidence (Miscellaneous No. 313).

3. Report of the Committee to His Majesty's Government. The revised report was considered in detail by the Committee. As regards the portion of the report relating to detained ships, the Chairman explained that he had been informed that a suggestion was being put forward by the Admiralty Marshal to the effect that all detained ships should be sold in the same way as prizes. After considerable discussion the Committee decided to leave the substance of their report unaltered, but to make some minor alterations, and to add to the end of the section relating to detained ships a reference to this alternative method of disposing of them.

Mr. Malkin stated that before the form of the report was finally settled he would be glad to have an opportunity of looking up the correspondence with the German Government, since the outbreak of the war, with regard to the policy to be pursued by His Majesty's Government under the Hague Convention No. VI., of 1907.

The Chairman stated that, when the print had been revised in accordance with the Committee's recommendations, he proposed that it should be submitted to the Treasury without waiting for a further meeting of the Committee.

4. A letter from Grahams & Company was also disposed of at this meeting of the Committee.

72

THE ELEVENTH Meeting of the Committee was held at the Colonial Office on Monday, the 28th December, 1914, at 3.15 p.m.

The following were present:

VICE-ADMIRAL SIR E. J. W. SLADE, K.C.I.E., K.C.V.O. (Chairman).

MR. W. J. EVANS, Admiralty.

MR. G. ROPER, Board of Trade.

MB. L. D. WAKELY, India Office.

MR. C. B. TENNYSON, Colonial Office.

MR. T. H. HOLT, Crown Agents.

MR. R. A. WISEMAN (Secretary),

1. Mr. Allen Hughes and Mr. William Richards appeared before the Com- mittee to discuss the terms of the offer of the Federal Steam Navigation Company to take on to Australia the ships held up with their cargo at Cape Town. A tran- script of the proceedings will be found in the volume of Minutes of Evidence.*

* The report as finally settled is given as No. 1 in Appendix A.

+ Miscellaneous No. 818.

It

may be noted that Mr. Hughes stated that he proposed to send an agent to South Africa on Saturday, the 2nd January, to make preliminary arrangements with regard to the steamship "Birkenfels.”

During Mr. Hughes's interview the question of the sale of the steamship Australia," for which the Federal Steam Navigation Company had been invited to bid, was also discussed.

LL

2. Mr. H. G. Kellock, of the firm of Kellock & Company, appeared before the Committee on behalf of the Admiralty Marshal, and a report of the proceedings while he was present will also be found in the volume of Minutes of Evidence.*

3. A letter from Messrs. Lawther, Latta and Company, offering their ser- vices as agents, was laid before the Committee. This firm was referred to by Mr. Kellock in his evidence.

4. Conditions of Sale.-The Committee recommended that no action should be taken for the present to communicate to the Colonies the conditions recently issued by the Admiralty Marshal.

5. Steamship Thor."A letter from Messrs. Botterell and Roche, asking whether they would be allowed to bid for the steamer if she was sold, was considered by the Committee, but the Secretary was instructed to inform the firm that the former owners would not be allowed to re-purchase this vessel.

The Committee were of the opinion that instructions might be sent to the Governor of the Windward Islands, "authorizing him to dispose of the cargo of this steamer. The question of the sale of the ship could be left over for the present.

6. Steamship Lorenzo." It was recommended that similar instructions should be sent to the Governor of the Windward Islands in regard to this ship as in the case of the "Thor."

L

7. A letter to Mr. Holt, from Elder Dempster and Company, relative to the steamship "Emir," at Gibraltar, was considered by the Committee. It was thought that the Company should be asked to state how much they would require to be paid for the expenses of bringing this ship home to England, and what would be the cost of insuring her. It was also recommended that the Governor should be asked for particulars of the cargo and to report what proceedings had been taken in the Prize Court in regard to the various consignments.

8. Steamship “Istria.”—A letter from Messrs. G. Samuel and Company was considered by the Committee. The Committee decided that Messrs. Samuel should be informed that if their clients, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corpora- tion, were prepared to give an undertaking to bear their proportion of the cost of bringing this ship home to England, no doubt arrangements could be made accord- ingly. It was recommended that Messrs. Samuel should be informed in detail of the undertakings which their clients would have to give to the Government in this event.

9.

With a view to facilitating matters if the Committee were eventually empowered to deal with detained ships in the United Kingdom, it was recom- mended that the Admiralty Marshal should be asked to furnish particulars with regard to these ships similar to those which had been obtained in the case of ships detained at oversea ports.

10. Steamship "Australia."-It was recommended that the Governor of Ceylon should be asked by telegram to state the basis of the valuation which he had reported to the Colonial Office.

11. Letters from Mr. C. H. Ross, relative to the steamship "Frisia," and from Messrs. Kekewich, Smith, and Kaye, with regard to the interests of their clients in the steamship "Henry Furst," detained at Newcastle, were also disposed of at this meeting.

* Miscellaneous No. 818.