Mr. White to Mr.
Hay.
American Embassy,
London, March 10,
1900.
No. 278.]
Sir: With reference to Mr. Choate’s dispatch
No. 276, of the 8th instant, I have the honor to inclose the copy of a
note which I addressed to the Marquis of Salisbury upon the receipt of
your telegraphic instruction dated the 8th instant.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Mr. White to
the Marquis of Salisbury.
American Embassy,
London, March 9,
1900.
My Lord: I have the honor to acquaint you
that I have received a telegram from my Government instructing me to
inform your lordship that Messrs. Norton & Co., shippers of
cargo by the steamship Mashona, have
suggested that there is a considerable quantity of oil in the hold
of that vessel, and they fear, in view of its long confinement below
hatches, that there is danger of spontaneous combustion and fire in
the cargo, and of the consequent destruction of the latter as well
as of the vessel.
I have, ete.,
