CO129-515-1 Piracy- legal proceedings arising from sinking of S.S. 'IRENE' 18-1-1929 - 6-9-1929 — Page 49

Anad (15)

13.

In any further communication on this subject, please quote

No. F 3381/72/10

and address-

not to any person by name,

but to-

The Under-Secretary of State,"

Foreign Office,

London, S.W.1.

RECEIVED

1 8 JUL 1929

46

COL. OFFICE

FOREIGN OFFICE,

S.W.1.

17th July, 1929.

12/2

Sir,

I am directed by Mr. Secretary Henderson to

refer to your letter No. 62771/29 of the 8th instant,

relative to the terms of a despatch which it is proposed

to address to His Majesty's Minister at Peking on the

subject of the sinking of the s.s. "Irene" off Bias Bay

on the 20th October, 1927.

2. I am to say that the Secretary of State was

fully alive to the point raised in the second paragraph

of your letter, but considered it desirable to insert

paragraph 16 of the draft note forwarded in Foreign

Office letter of the 28th ultimo in order to keep the

argument alive in case the matter should ever go to

arbitration, especially as the defence that the sinking

of the vessel was an Act of State was not the only one

raised in the legal proceedings in question. In the

circumstances, however, Mr. Henderson now proposes to omit

the words "which in itself is sufficient to dispose of

"the claim now put forward by Your Excellency but" at the

beginning of paragraph 16 of the draft note.

3. Copies of your letter No. 62771/29 and of this

reply are being sent to the Admiralty.

The Under Secretary of State,

Colonial Office.

I am,

Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

George Mounsey.