Second. That in consequence of the said telegram, the Most Excellent the Colonial Minister presented to the Ministry, the Director and Secretary of the company, in order that they should ratify the proposal to which the said telegram referred, which being done, they presented under date of the 23d, their proposal directed to the attainment of the concession for a period of 15 years, and a subsidy in each year of £2,000 sterling, the Government only having to pay for official despatches one-half of the rate which may be charged to the public.

Third. That in various conferences held between the Most Excellent the Colonial Minister and the representatives of the company, the fitting schedule of conditions was formulated and accepted by both parties, under date of the 27th; and in the fulfillment of the 9th clause, Señor Alarcón placed in the General Treasury of Deposit what was necessary to answer for the performance of the concession, consisting of 70,000 pesetas in cash;

And having rendered account of everything to Her Majesty the Queen Regent (whom God preserve) in the Name of her August Son the King, Don Alfonso XIII, she approved what was done, granting to Don Joaquin Alarcón as representative of the Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company, Limited, the concession in question in virtue of the Royal Decree, dated the 29th of September, instant. In order to draw up this instrument we proceed to copy in their order:

First. The telegram of the Most Excellent the Governor General of the Island of Cuba.

Second. The proposal signed by the Director and Secretary of the company.

Third. The approved schedule of conditions.

Fourth. The voucher for the deposit.

Fifth. The Royal Decree approving the concession.

Which documents literally read as follows:
Telegram.-Habana, 15th of September, 1895, at

of -, 1895, at 6 o'clock, 22 minutes:

Madrid

TO THE MINISTER: English Company Cuba Submarine, of London, calculate approximately 286 nautical miles of cable between Cienfuegos and Manzanillo, with stations in these points: Santa Cruz, Jucaro, Las Tunas, and Casilda, the total cost whereof, including opening said stations, with instruments and land connections, will be £48,000 sterling, charging the same as the Henley Company, £160 per nautical mile, and £2,240 for the opening of the six stations in place of £12,000 which the Henley Company asks, making a saving of £9,760, and would accept any reasonable condition for the payment which might suit the Government, being laid in January if the construction thereof be immediately ordered. It also proposes

to lay and work the cable for its own account for an annual allowance of £2,000 during 15 years. I beg Your Excellency to formulate there a contract with the company's representative, which proposals having been studied, you may consider most suitable.

SANTA CLARA.

Proposal.-Most Excellent the Colonial Minister:

CAMPOS.

VERY RESPECTED SIR: Those who have the high honor of addressing Your Excellency, the Director and Secretary of the Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company, have just arrived from London, with the single object of confirming to Your Excellency, as they now do, the telegram which the first-mentioned gentlemen had to communicate to the representative of the company in Habana, with reference to the laying of cables on the southern coast of the Island of Cuba.

The company, in whose name they speak, binds itself then to the laying of cables between Cienfuegos, Casilda, Las Tunas, Jucaro, Santa Cruz, and Manzanillo, for £160 sterling for each nautical mile.

But should the Government prefer, instead, that the company lay it for its own account, it also undertakes to do so under the following conditions:

First. Payment by the Government for the term of 15 years of a subsidy of £2,000 sterling each year.

Second. Operation under the care of the company, it receiving whatever proceeds there may be.

Third. Exemption from fiscal duties of every kind for the materials and utensils which the service of the new cables may require, such as is done to-day.

Fourth. Selection and appointment of employees according to the right which it is now exercising.

Fifth. The Government shall pay for official despatches one-half the rate which is charged to the public.

Sixth. The despatches which are exchanged from abroad shall be delivered at the nearest stations. In those of a local character the company shall enjoy exemption from the Cuban tax, as is the case now with the telegrams which cross by the present cable between Habana and Santiago de Cuba.

Seventh. The cables about which we are now negotiating shall be laid on the 1st of January next or before, if possible, but provided that in a very few days the concession be granted, since time presses.

These, Most Excellent Sir, are, in fine, the conditions which the Cuba Submarine has much honor in submitting to the enlightened decision of Your Excellency, it having to be observed that whatever has reference to the matter, Your Excellency will deign to come to an understanding with the representative of the company in Madrid,

Señor D. Joaquin Alarcón, because peremptory matters oblige the undersigned to return very soon to England.

We are, with the most marked consideration, the faithful and attentive servants of Your Excellency, who kiss your hands.

III. NOTE FROM THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE, OCTOBER 10, 1898.

SIR: With reference to my note to Mr. Secretary Day of the 21st August last relative to the arrangements said to be in contemplation for a new cable route between Cuba and Porto Rico, and to Mr. Day's reply No. 1154 of 25th of that month, I have the honour by instruction of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to transmit to you herewith copy of the Concession granted to the Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company by the Spanish Government together with a memorandum as to the objects of the Concession, and the circumstances under which it was granted.

The Marquis of Salisbury desires me to communicate these documents to your Government with a view to placing on record the rights claimed by the Company.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,

(Enclosure.)

JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE.

Memorandum as to concessions from the Spanish Government held by the Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company Limited, for Submarine Cables on the Coast of the Island of Cuba.

The Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company, Limited, is a British Company incorporated in the year 1870 under the Statutes of the United Kingdom, for the purpose of laying and working submarine and other lines on the South Coast of the Island of Cuba under a concession from the Spanish Government and has its registered office in the City of London, where the Board of Directors sits.

The concession from the Spanish Government which is dated the 31st December, 1869, was granted to Major General William F. Smith, a citizen of the United States, and a Director of the International Ocean Telegraph Company who subsequently transferred it to the Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company. It grants the right to establish and work for a period of 40 years a submarine cable to unite Santiago de Cuba with Havana, with a mooring station at an

intermediate place; and the Government undertook not to grant to any other person or private undertaking the right to establish any other Land line or submarine cable to join Santiago de Cuba with Havana.

In pursuance of this concession the Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company in the year 1870 laid the cables as above indicated, and agreements were entered into between the International Ocean Company, whose lines connect Havana with Florida, and the West India Company whose lines connect Cuba with the West Indian Islands and the Coast of South America, under which agreements an International Route via Cuba has ever since been maintained between the United States, the West Indies, Panama and the Coasts of South America. The Cuba Company in order to secure the efficiency of this route have from time to time renewed their cables and they have now two cables between Batabano and Cienfuegos, and two cables from that point to Santiago.

On the 30th September, 1895, the Spanish Government granted to the Cuba Company a further concession for connecting Cienfuegos and Manzanillo with intermediate stations at Casilda, Las Tunas, Jucaro, and Santa Cruz on the Southern coast of the Island of Cuba, with an annual subvention of 10,500 pesos of gold payable by the Havana Treasury during the term of the concession that is to say, until the 27th August, 1910. In pursuance of this concession the Company in the same year laid a cable connecting all the abovementioned places putting them in direct submarine telegraphic communication with the United States and Europe, the West Indian Islands and the Coasts of South America.

Printed copies of the above-mentioned documents are enclosed herewith. JAS. SCOTT, Secretary.

20TH SEPTEMBER, 1898.

AMERICAN AND BRITISH CLAIMS

ARBITRATION TRIBUNAL.

AWARD

CASE OF THE CUBA SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH

COMPANY LIMITED.

CLAIM No. 27.

Arbitrators:

HENRI FROMAGEOT,

EDWARD A. MITCHELL INNES,
ROBERT E. OLDS.

The facts are as follows:

Under concessions granted by the Spanish Government and respectively dated December 31, 1869, and 1803-5 [10872]