Mr. Lewis Baker to Mr. Sherman.

No. 790.]

Sir: The commission of engineers on the Nicaragua-Costa Rica boundary-line question will meet in San Juan del Norte to-day and begin their labors, which are expected to extend over a period of twenty months.

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The members of the commission representing Nicaragua are William Climie, an English subject, and Salvador Castrillo, a prominent lawyer of Managua. The Costa Rica members are Louis Matamoros and Leonidas Carranza. The fifth member of the commission, and arbitrator, is E. P. Alexander, who was recently appointed by President Cleveland.

The ministers of Fomento of the respective Governments, José Antonio Roman, of Nicaragua, and J. J. Ulloa, of Costa Rica, will be present during the preliminary meetings of the commission. Pedro Pérez Zeledón will act as interpreter for the Costa Rica commissioners. The alternates acting for Nicaragua are Andres Urtecho and Pablo J. Thur de Koós.

I have, etc.,

Lewis Baker.