Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Gresham.
Sir: I duly communicated to the Earl of Rosebery the substance of your note of the 17th ultimo, together with copies of its inclosures, respecting the expense of the maintenance of Mataafa and other Samoa chiefs during their preliminary detention at Fakaofo.
I have now the honor to inform you, in accordance with instructions received from his lordship, that a dispatch has been addressed to the British consul at Samoa by the foreign office inclosing copy of my above-mentioned communication to my Government, and informing him that in case he should hereafter apply for authority to proceed to the Union islands, Lord Rosebery would have no objection to the proposal, alluded to in Baron Saurma’s note to you of the 31st January last namely, that he should hand over the amount due to the persons who are entitled to payment.
Mr. Cusack-Smith has also been informed that he may, if necessary, draw a bill upon Her Majesty’s Government for the sum rquired as the share which falls to its charge, but that it would be preferable, as a matter of account, that the money should be provided in the first instance by the German Government, who will eventually claim one-third of the total expenditure from each of the other governments concerned.
I have, etc.,