CO129-582-6 Salvage operations on the wreck of the Japanese S.S. JIN KAI MARU 22-5-1939 - 27-10-1939 — Page 32

In any

further communication

on this subject, please quote

No. F 5616/5616/23.

and address--

not to any person by name

but to-

"The Under-Secretary of State,”

Foreign Office,

London, S.W.1.

Confidential.

(2)

Sir,

RECEIVED

16 JUN 1939

C. O. REGI

FOREIGN OFFICE.

S.W.1.

15th June, 1939.

With reference to Colonial Office confidential

letter No. 54001/39 of the 10th June, I am directed by

Viscount Halifax to state that he concurs in the view

that it would be undesirable to allow a Japanese company

to conduct salvage operations on the wreck of the vessel

While he is in some doubt as to whether

"Jinkai Maru".

the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1911

actually cover salvage, he considers that it would be

advisable in order to avoid any dispute on the point of

most-favoured-nation treatment, that the prohibition on

salvaging the vessel should be extended to all foreign

companies and that only a British company should be

permitted to undertake the work.

3

2. I am to add that, if the Japanese should raise

the question of the permission given to salvage the

"Asama Maru" in 1937, it could be pointed out that this was

done as an act of grace in special circumstances which no

longer apply, and that, if any further explanation is

The Under-Secretary of State,

Colonial Office.

regarded/