Mr. Gresham to Sir Julian Pauncefote.
Washington, May 13, 1893.
Sir: I have the honor to communicate for the information of your Government copies of a memorandum handed to me on the 10th instant by the German minister, and of the memorandum in reply thereto handed to Dr. von Holleben on the 11th, in regard to the arrangements recommended by the three consular representatives at Apia in January last and accepted by the governments of the three treaty powers, in regard to the apportionment of the customs revenues of Samoa with a view to meet certain requirements of the municipal service and to provide for the deficiency in the latter regard which has arisen from the difficulty of collecting the native taxes in these islands. Conformably with the announcement in my memorandum, I have dispatched instructions by telegraph to Auckland and thence by ship to Apia, notifying the chief justice that his opinion touching the allotment of the customs revenues is not accepted, and requesting him to concert with the consular representatives of the three treaty powers to carry into effect the understanding heretofore reached by them. The acting consul-general of the United States was at the same time instructed in a similar sense.
I have, etc.,