File No. 832.73/127
These concessions are without monopoly and that relating to the cable
between Belem and Barbados must not infringe the rights granted the
French Cable Co. by decree No. 216 of the 22d of February 1890.
The Western Telegraph Co., Ltd., already has a submarine cable between
Buenos Aires and Ascension Island. The new cable which it proposes to
lay between Rio de Janeiro and that island will have the effect of
relieving the traffic from Buenos Aires to Europe and of facilitating
the transmission of messages between Brazil and Europe which at present
pass over the cables of the Western Company which enter the sea at
Pernambuco.
The Western Telegraph Co., Ltd., intends to continue the cable from Para
to Barbados, to Bermuda and Nova Scotia. It may be prevented from doing
so, however, if the French Cable Co. substantiates its protest, a
translation of which forms the second enclosure to this despatch,1 in which objection is
taken to the Para-Barbados line on the ground that it infringes the
privileges secured under the third clause of decree No. 216 of 1890 for
submarine communication between Brazil and North America. Should the
Western Union Telegraph Co. decide to apply for a concession to lay
cables between Brazil and one of the Antilles the Western Telegraph Co.
and itself would have a similar interest in defeating this protest.
[Enclosure—Translation]
Decree granting a concession to the Western
Telegraph Co., Ltd., for a submarine cable from Rio de Janeiro
to the island of Ascension, and another cable from Para to the
island of Barbados
Decree No. 12,688 of the 24th of October, 1917: Granting to the
Western Telegraph Co., Ltd., permission to lay, land on the coast of
Brazil, maintain and operate a submarine telegraph cable, connecting
the city of Rio de Janeiro to Ascension Island, in Africa, and also
a telegraph cable connecting the city of Belem in Para to the island
of Barbados.
The President of the Republic of the United States of Brazil, in
attention to the request made by the Western Telegraph Co., Ltd.,
decrees:
Sole article: Permission is hereby granted to the Western Telegraph
Co., Ltd., to lay, land on the coast of Brazil, maintain and operate
a telegraph cable connecting the city of Rio de Janeiro to Ascension
Island, in Africa, and also—with due reserve of such rights as may
be vested in other companies under previous concessions—a telegraph
cable connecting the city of Belem in Para to the island of
Barbados, without any kind of privilege or monopoly or Government
subvention, and subject to the clauses hereunto attached under the
signature of the Minister of State for the Affairs of Roads and
Public Works.
Rio de Janeiro, October
24, 1917, 96th of the Independence and 29th of the
Republic.
Wensceslau Braz P. Gomes
Augusto Tavares de Lyra
Clauses Referred to in Decree No. 12,688
of this Date
I
Permission is hereby granted to the Western Telegraph Co., Ltd., to
lay, land on the coast of Brazil, maintain and operate a telegraph
cable connecting the city of Rio de Janeiro to Ascension Island, in
Africa, and also a telegraph cable connecting the city of Belem in
Para to the island of Barbados, where they shall link themselves to
the international telegraph systems landing on those islands;
provided always the permission hereby granted shall not constitute a
privilege or a monopoly of any sort in favor of the contracting
company, and that the Government of the United States of Brazil
shall retain complete freedom of action to grant, as it may deem
fit, a similar permission to any enterprise entering an application
therefor.
II
The landing point of the Ascension line shall be at Copacabana Beach
in the city of Rio de Janeiro, whence it shall be extended to the
company’s station in the business part of the city by means of
submarine cables laid out in the Bay of Guanabara or by means of
underground conductors and the company shall have the power, when
found convenient or necessary, to adopt the two systems or their
combination.
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III
The Barbados cable shall be landed in the city of Belem in Para or in
the neighborhood thereof, with due reserve in respect of such rights
as may be vested in other companies under previous concessions, and
the contracting party shall, as in the case of the Ascension line,
have the power to connect the landing point to their station by
means of underground or underwater conductors or a combination of
the two.
IV
The lines referred to in the preceding clauses must be in regular
operation within the delay of five years as from the date of signing
the contract, cases of force majeure always
excepted, provided they are satisfactorily explained; and the plans
of the landing points and the routes of the lines proposed to link
up such points with the stations of the company at Rio de Janeiro
and Para (Belem) shall be submitted to the Government for approval
not less than 60 days previous to the date of laying such linking
lines.
Sole paragraph: The delay stipulated in the present clause may be
extended one or more times at the discretion of the Government.
V
The company shall have the power to install their stations in private
buildings, owned by the company or by others, but such stations
shall at all events be connected to the Government stations by means
of pneumatic tube system (or any other more approved system) in
order to permit the greatest possible expediency in the exchange of
correspondence.
VI
The tariffs shall be organized by the company and submitted to the
Government for approval, and the rates (which shall be made payable
in paper currency) shall not be higher than the rates charged by
similar companies operating in the country at the present time.
Sole paragraph: The approved rates if eventually reduced shall not be
increased again without the authorization of the Government.
VII
Terminal and transit rates to be carried to the debit of the company
in respect of international combined traffic service shall be the
same as those in force for combined service with the remaining cable
companies operating in the country.
VIII
The company undertakes to pay to the Government a contribution of ten
centimes of a franc per word of international messages carried by
the cables referred to in clause 1.
Sole paragraph: This contribution shall be reduced to five centimes
of a franc per word in respect of service messages of the Brazilian
Government, press messages and deferred messages.
IX
The company is held under the obligation to establish combined
service with the Government lines in respect of the service received
from or addressed to the stations of the Union excepting such
service as may be relative to the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Belem
in Para and the route indicated by the expediter shall in every
instance be observed.
Sole paragraph: The rates to be established in the combined service
agreement between the Government and the company shall be equal to
those existing in contracts in force made with the companies of like
nature operating in the country at the present time.
X
The company shall have the power to receive from the public such
telegrams as shall be tendered for transmission and to collect the
rates thereon, and also to deliver at their respective addresses
such messages as shall be received during the period within which
the said company hold the right so to do under their concessions
prior to the date of the decree granting the present one.
[Page 60]
XI
The company undertakes to maintain their cables in a condition
capable of assuring proper service to the traffic and must notify
the Government within a period of not more than 48 hours of all and
any occurrence occasioning or which may eventually occasion an
interruption of the service.
XII
The company shall not have the power to amalgamate or to enter into
any combination or convention with any other company of the same
nature operating in Brazil unless they shall have previously
obtained the consent of the Government.
Sole paragraph: Such telegrams as by virtue of indication of route
shall have to be exchanged with other companies operating in the
country shall be exchanged through the stations of the Department
General of Telegraphs in Rio de Janeiro and in Belem in Para and the
adjustment of accounts relative to such service shall be conducted
through those stations and in this case the concessionaire shall pay
them one franc per telegram as an indemnity for the expense in
office work.
XIII
Accounts shall be adjusted with the Department General of Telegraphs
quarterly and the amount owing shall be settled within the quarter
next following that to which the adjustment refers.
XIV
The company is held under the obligation to adhere to the telegraphic
convention of St. Petersburg in accordance with the international
regulations issued in conformity with the same and shall enjoy the
benefits resulting from the convention.
XV
The Government shall supervise as it may deem convenient all the
service of the company in Brazil.
XVI
The telegrams of the Government of Brazil shall be transmitted
preferentially and shall benefit of a reduction of 50 per cent of
the company’s own rates.
XVII
The following shall be transmitted free of charge:
- (1)
- Telegrams (of not more than 20 words each) sent by the
Government of Brazil or by the agents thereof from South or
North America notifying the appearance of some epidemic
disease in the country whence they are sent or in the
neighboring countries, or such other facts as may constitute
a notorious public calamity;
- (2)
- Two telegrams daily (one in each direction) between the
observatory at Rio de Janeiro and one observatory in North
America, and the Government shall pay for the words in
excess of the number of twenty in each telegram at the rates
for official telegrams.
XVIII
The company shall contribute towards the expenses with the
supervision a sum of twelve contos of reis (rs. 12:000$000) in paper
currency, per annum, payable by half-yearly instalments in advance
into the National Treasury.
XIX
The company undertake to maintain in Rio de Janeiro a representative
vested with full powers to treat and decide in a definite manner all
questions that may arise in the country in respect of the company or
their staff, and the said representative shall be empowered to
receive initial summons and such other summons in respect of which
the law requires special powers.
[Page 61]
XX
In case of temporary cessation of the service in the cases provided
for in Article 8 of the telegraph convention of St. Petersburg, no
indemnity whatever shall be paid to the company, however long it may
last.
XXI
The present concession is considered to be independent from the other
concessions exploited by the company.
XXII
The company shall enjoy the favors granted to other companies and
enterprises of like nature operating in the country, excepting such
as may relate to material to be imported for the installation of
their service, on which a tax of 5 per cent shall be payable, and
such favors as relate to the cable ships, which shall enjoy the
privileges of national ships.
However, upon their stations being installed, the company shall be
liable for payment of customhouse duties on such material as they
shall import for the maintenance and operation of the service under
their charge.
XXIII
In the event of non-compliance with any one or more of the present
clauses, the Government shall have the power to impose upon the
company fines ranging between the sums of two hundred milreis and
two contos of reis (paper currency), and double the amount in case
of recurrence of the offense.
The amount of the fine imposed by the Government shall be paid into
the National Treasury not later than thirty days after the date on
which it shall have been imposed as published in the Diario Official.
XXIV
The laws of Brazil shall alone be applicable for the purpose of
deciding all and any question relative to the present contract,
whenever the same shall not be settled by arbitration.
Sole paragraph: In effecting the arbitration, each one of the parties
shall nominate one arbitrator and if the latter shall not agree, the
matter shall be referred to an umpire whose name shall be drawn by
lots among two names submitted by the two parties respectively.
No appeal shall be taken from the decision of the umpire.
XXV
As a security of the fulfilment of the provisions of clause 4, the
company shall deposit with the National Treasury prior to the
signature of the respective contract the sum of forty contos of reis
(rs. 40:000$000) in paper currency without any right to interest, or
in Federal Government bonds.
Sole paragraph: Out of this sum of forty contos of reis one half
shall be returned to the company six months after the definite
inauguration of the traffic of the line between Rio de Janeiro and
Ascension, and the remaining half six months after the definite
inauguration of the traffic of the line between Belem in Para and
Barbados.
Should the delay stipulated in clause 4 be exceeded and fail to be
extended by the Government, then the deposit of forty contos of reis
shall be forfeited in favor of the Government in respect of twenty
contos of reis for the line between Rio de Janeiro [and Ascension]
and twenty contos of reis for the line from Belem in Para.
XXVI
The permission referred to in clause 1 may be declared null and void
independently of any action or judicial notification and the fact
shall not thereby be entitled to any sort of indemnity;
- (1)
- If, on the expiration of the delay fixed in clause 4, the
cables which the company undertake to lay shall not have
commenced to operate regularly, cases of force majeure so considered at the discretion of
the Government always excepted;
- (2)
- If telegraphic communications over the cables referred to
in clause 1 shall be interrupted during more than six months
consecutively, cases of force majeure
so considered at the discretion of the Government always
excepted;
- (3)
- If the company shall enter into any combination or
convention with an enterprise or company of like nature
operating in Brazil without the previous consent of the
Government;
- (4)
- If the company shall fail to pay into the National
Treasury in due time the instalments due for supervision in
accordance with clause 18.
XXVII
The permission referred to in clause 1 shall become null and void if
the company shall refuse to sign the respective contract within
thirty days as from the date of publication of the decree approving
the present clauses.
A. Tavabes de Lyra
Rio de Janeiro
, October 24, 1917.
