File No. 763.72112/2640

The Consul General at London ( Skinner ) to the Secretary of State

No. 1948

Sir: In reference to the seizure of parcels shipped by post by the British authorities and now held in this country under the terms of the order in council of March 11, 1915,1 I have the honor to report that where claims have been submitted to the prize court, the court has decided invariably, as far as I am advised, that American claimants might obtain their goods upon the payment into court of the value thereof. It is generally understood that deposits thus made will be reimbursed at the end of the war, but as there are no reliable assurances on this point I dealt with the matter in correspondence with the Procurator General who was not able to offer a binding opinion. He further transmitted the correspondence to the Foreign Office and the Foreign Office has replied in care of the Embassy in the following terms:

I have the honour to inform you that there has recently been brought to my notice a letter from the United States Consul General in London to His Majesty’s Procurator General relative to the seizure of property shipped from Germany to the United States in the parcels post, and “enquiring whether, in the event of American claimants’ being able to prove their ownership by purchase of the property in question, any assurance can be given that the goods will be released to them at the end of the war, or if sold, that the proceeds of the sale will be transmitted to them.”

I have the honour to inform your excellency that the detention of these goods is effected under Section 2 of the order in council of March 11 which provides that goods of enemy origin shipped after the date of the order in council shall be detained or sold under the direction of the prize court and that the proceeds of the sale paid into court and dealt with in such manner as the court may deem just.

The ultimate disposal of goods in each case is therefore a matter which falls to be decided by the court and I could not properly give a general official assurance on a point thus left for judicial decision, but His Majesty’s Government are unaware of any reason for anticipating that the court would not decree the release of the goods or their proceeds at the termination of the war.

I have [etc.]

Robert P. Skinner