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  4. Document 1041

Decision and final award of the Delagoa Bay court of arbitration.

decision.

In view of the prayers of the two plaintiffs of November 7, 1899, and February 26, 1900, asking that a supplementary appraisement be made, by experts, of the lands granted by the contract of concession of December 14, 1883; the second of these prayers petitioning, moreover, the court of arbitration to decide, without further delay, the fundamental question forming the main subject in litigation, and to postpone, until it shall be more fully informed, the fixing of the amount of the indemnity due for the lands;

In view, on the other hand, of the prayer of the Portuguese Government, bearing date of December 12, 1899, petitioning the court, if it (the court) shall decide to cause supplementary inquiries to be made, to permit it also to have such inquiries held on such points as it shall think proper again to elucidate,

The Delagoa Bay court of arbitration, after due deliberation in regular session, decides as follows:

1. The court denies all prayers for a supplementary inquiry; it declines, furthermore, to separate the award concerning the principal matter in litigation and that relative to the indemnity due for the lands.

It decides, furthermore, to render, at this present session, its final award on the fundamental question, and to communicate to each of the parties an authenticated copy of the text of said award, and the award in full, together with a statement of the reasons of fact and law, will soon be communicated to them.

The court, the three members present unanimously concurring, thereupon rendered its final award, the text of which follows:

final award.

The Delagoa Bay court of arbitration, created by the arbitration convention signed at Berne, June 13, 1891, by the representatives of Portugal, the United States of North America, and Great Britain, being charged by said convention with the duty of “fixing, as it shall deem most just, the amount of the compensation due from Portugal to the claimants of the two other countries in consequence of the cancellation of the concession of the Lourenco-Marques Railway and of [Page 904] the taking possession of said railway by the Portuguese Government,” said court being composed of the three arbitrators designated by the Swiss Federal Council, to wit: Joseph Blæsi, at that time vice-president, and now a member of the federal court at Lausanne, president; Andreas Heusler, LL. D., professor of law at the University of Basel; Charles Soldan, at that time president of the council of state of the canton of Vaud, and now a member of the federal court at Lausanne; after the preparation of the case, after an examination of the papers exchanged and of the documents produced in the course of the proceedings, and also of the reports of the technical experts appointed by the court; deciding concerning the fundamental question, after hearing the arguments of the parties, says and pronounces as follows:

1. The Government of Portugal, the defendant, is sentenced to pay to the Government of the United States of North America and that of Great Britain, the plaintiffs, in addition to the £28,000 paid on account in 1890, the sum of 15,314,000 francs in Swiss lawful money, with simple interest on said sum, at the rate of 5 per cent per annum, from the 25th day of June, 1899, to the day on which payment shall be made.

2. This sum, after the deduction of what shall be necessary to meet the costs of the arbitration, which are payable by the plaintiffs, and, besides, the balance remaining due of the amount on which £28,000 were paid on account in 1890, shall be applied to the payment of the holders of the debenture bonds of the Delagoa Bay Company, and to the payment of other creditors of said company, if any there be, according to the category of each.

The plaintiffs shall prepare, to this effect, a schedule of distribution.

The Government of Portugal shall pay to that of the United States the sum which, according to said schedule, Mrs. McMurdo, who is represented by the latter Government, shall be entitled to receive as a holder of first and second debenture bonds.

It shall pay the remainder to the Government of Great Britain for the account of all the other claimants.

3. The period of six months, fixed by the last paragraph of Article IV of the arbitration convention, shall begin to-day.

4. As to the expenses: The expenses incurred by each party shall be paid by it. The costs of the arbitration, according to the statement to be furnished in conformity with Article V of the convention, shall be equally borne by the three parties concerned; that is to say, one-third by each of them.

5. The petitions of the parties, so far as they differ from the above conclusion, are rejected.

6. An authentic copy of this award shall be transmitted, through the Swiss Federal Council, to each of the three parties concerned.

Thus decided at a session of the court of arbitration, and issued at Berne this 29th day of March, 1900.

  • Blæsi.
  • A. Heusler.
  • Charles Soldan.
  • Arbitrators.
  • Brustlein,
    Secretary.