Office of the Historian

Mr. Herbert to Mr. Foster.

British Legation,
Washington, September 27, 1892.

Sir: According to instructions which I have received from my Government, I have the honor to inclose for your information copies of correspondence which has passed between the foreign office and the German embassy in London in regard to the “real-property ordinance, 1891,” issued by the chief justice of Samoa.

You will Observe from correspondence that the action of the chief justice was, in the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, ultra vires, and that the British consul in Samoa has been instructed in that sense.

I have, etc.,

Michael H. Herbert.