Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Gresham.
Sir: In my note of the 18th ultimo I had the honor to communicate the substance of a telegram which I had received from the Earl of Rosebery with respect to the inconvenience caused by the prolonged absence of the U. S. land commissioner from Samoa. I have now received a dispatch from his lordship which explains his solicitude on the subject. I am instructed to inform you that Mr. Cusack-Smith, Her Majesty’s consul at Apia, reports that owing to no successor to Mr. Ormsbee having yet arrived since that gentleman left Samoa on, March 1 last, it will now be impossible to conclude the labors of the commission by March 31 next.
Mr. Haggard, the British commissioner, also complains to his lordship that although he and his imperial German colleague have been able to make a preliminary investigation of claims to decide upon those which must fall through and to report upon those that are undisputed, they have now arrived at a point where they are obliged, owing to the absence of the U. S. commissioner, to suspend their labors. They are very anxious to bring the work of the commission, as speedily as possible, to a conclusion, but as there are a series of cases, which are contested [Page 604] on good grounds and therefore dependent upon the opinion of the three commissioners, they are obliged to pass them by reluctantly in order to await the arrival of their U. S. colleague for the purpose of making an adjudication upon them.
I trust, therefore, that Mr. William Lea Chambers, Mr. Ormsbee’s successor, will be able to take his departure for Samoa as proposed on the 20th instant.
I have, etc.,