File No. 832.73/151
The Department will observe that the concession does not provide for a
landing at or near the city of Santos and that by this omission half of
the business is made impossible which the Western Union Telegraph Co.
would naturally obtain. This omission, it is believed, can be corrected
when São Paulo in the person of Conselheiro Rodrigues Alves, takes
possession of the Federal Executive power next November. The São Paulo
State government has always gone on record as wishing to benefit from
the advantages which the concession affords for direct communication
with the United States. In view of the strong British influence which is
at present being exercised upon the Federal Government resulting from
the presence of the British mission, Mr. O’Shaughnessy has been obliged
to forego the immediate prospect of securing the Santos landing. The
Western Telegraph Co., Ltd., has mobilized all its influence to defeat
his purposes and it should be regarded as a matter of satisfaction that
in face of British pressure he should have obtained so satisfactory a
concession as the one to which this despatch refers.
[Enclosure—Translation]
Decree No. 12,920 of March 13, 1918
The President of the Republic of the United States of Brazil, in
attention to the request submitted by Nelson O’Shaughnessy,
representative of the Western Union Telegraph Co., decrees:
Sole Article: Permission is hereby granted
to Nelson O’Shaughnessy, representative of the Western Union
Telegraph Co., for himself or for such company as he may organize,
but without monopoly or privilege of any sort, to lay and operate
two submarine cables starting from the town of Nictheroy and
landing: one on the island of Itaparica at the town of Aracajú, on
the island of Fernando de Noronha, at the towns of Parahyba, Natal
and Belem, whence it shall run to the Greater Antilles; and the
other from Nictheroy to the town of Paranagua, whence it shall run
to the town of Maldonado, in the Republic of Uruguay, and eventually
extending itself to the Argentine Republic, in accordance with the
clauses accompanying the present decree under the signature of the
Minister of State for the Affairs of Roads and Public Works.
Rio de Janeiro, March
13, 1918, 97th [year] of the Independence of Brazil and 30th of the
Republic.
Wenceslau Braz P. Gomes
Augusto Tavares de Lyra
Clauses Referred to in Decree No. 12,920
of this Date
I
Permission is hereby granted to Nelson O’Shaughnessy, representative
of the Western Union Telegraph Co., for himself or for such company
as he may organize, but without monopoly or privilege of any sort,
to lay and operate two submarine cables starting from the town of
Nictheroy and landing: one on the island of Itaparica, at the town
of Aracajú, on the island of Fernando de Noronha, at the towns of
Parahyba, Natal and Belem, whence it shall run to the Greater
Antilles; and the other from Nictheroy to the town of Paranagua,
whence it shall run to the town of Maldonado, in the Republic of
Uruguay and eventually extending itself to the Argentine
Republic.
II
The Government shall lease to the company such available marine lands
as may be necessary at the points of the seacoast for the anchorage
of the telegraph cables, the company having the right to
expropriate, in accordance with the law, such lands, timber, and
further materials belonging to private parties, as may be
indispensable for the establishment of the underground cables
intended for the connection of the landing points with the company’s
stations.
[Page 67]
III
The landing points shall be determined by agreement with the
Government and shall be linked with the company’s stations by means
of overhead or underground conductors or a combination of the two
systems, as may be deemed most convenient at the discretion of the
Government.
IV
The laying and landing of the two cables shall be made within five
years as from the date of the execution of the contract, cases of
force majeure at the discretion of the
Government always excepted, and the plans of the landing points and
the routes of the lines proposed to link up such points with the
stations shall be submitted to the Government for approval not less
than sixty days previous to the date of the laying out of 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
Whenever there may be sufficient accommodation in the buildings of
the national telegraph at the landing points of the concessionaire’s
cables, the company may install its stations therein by paying such
rent as may be agreed upon, or the company may install its stations
in private buildings of its own property or otherwise, and these
stations shall, in any case, be connected to the Government stations
by means of pneumatic tubing (or any other more perfected system)
for the more expedient exchange of correspondence.
VI
The following provisions shall govern the telegraphic traffic,
namely:
- (a)
- The concessionaire may receive and collect charges upon
such local telegrams as may be presented for dispatch, as
also deliver direct to their destination all local telegrams
received, so long as similar services carried out by the
other companies operating in this country shall not have
been taken over exclusively by the national
telegraph.
- (b)
- Nevertheless, all telegrams sent to other stations of the
union telegraph system shall be routed through the stations
of the General Telegraph Department.
VII
The company is bound to establish mutual interchange of inland and
international traffic with the Government lines in regard to
messages received from and addressed to the union stations,
excepting messages relative to the points provided with stations of
the company and the route indicated by the sender shall be always
respected.
- 1.
- The rates to be established in the contract for international
mutual traffic between the Government and the company shall be
equal to those existing in contracts in force with similar
companies.
- 2.
- In case of interruption of the overland international lines to
the Plate Republics, the company’s cables shall constitute
“loaned routes” on the conditions set forth in Clause
VIII.
- 3.
- In respect of such inland service as shall by reason of the
indication of route made by the sender be deviated from the
Government land lines to the coastal cables of the company, the
latter shall pay to the Government the whole amount of the rates
which it would have collected if the service had passed over its
lines from the origin to the destination.
VIII
In case of interruption of the Brazilian, Argentine, and Uruguayan
land lines, the international service addressed to the Argentine
Republic, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile shall be transmitted
by the company’s cables in their quality of “loaned routes,” the
amount charged by Brazil for the traffic over the land lines to be
divided in equal shares between the Government and the company.
Sole paragraph: Telegrams transmitted by “loaned route” shall not be
liable for the contribution referred to in Clause XI.
[Page 68]
IX
The company undertakes to maintain its cables in good working
condition capable of assuring proper service to the traffic and must
notify the Government within a period of not more than forty eight
hours of all and any occurrence occasioning or which may eventually
occasion an interruption of the service.
X
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.
XI
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 I.
Sole paragraph: This contribution shall be reduced to rive centimes
of a franc per word in respect of service messages of the Brazilian
Government, press messages and deferred messages.
XII
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.
XIII
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 it 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 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.
XIV
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.
XV
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 same convention.
XVI
The Government shall supervise as it may deem convenient all the
service of the company in Brazil.
The company shall contribute towards the expenses with the
supervision a sum of eighteen contos of reis (rs. 18:000$000) in
paper currency per annum, payable by quarterly instalments in
advance into the National Treasury.
XVII
The telegrams of the Government of Brazil shall be transmitted
preferentially and shall benefit of a reduction of 50 per centum of
the company’s own rates.
XVIII
The company shall, admit over its cables the international deferred
message service at a reduction of 50 per centum of its usual
rates.
[Page 69]
XIX
The following shall be transmitted free of charge:
- (I)
- 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;
- (II)
- Two telegrams daily (one in each direction) between the
observatory at Rio de Janeiro and one observatory in North,
Central or South 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.
XX
The company undertakes 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
its staff, and the said representative shall be empowered to receive
initial summons and such other summons in respect of which the laws
require special powers.
XXI
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.
XXII
The company shall enjoy all favors granted to similar companies and
enterprises operating in this country and allowed by law, and its
cable ships shall enjoy the privileges of national ships. The
company shall be subject to payment of customhouse duties on such
material as it may import for the installation, maintenance and
operation of the services entrusted to it.
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 the double the amount in
case of recurrence of the offense.
The amount of any 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 chosen by
lots among two names submitted by the parties respectively. No
appeal shall be taken from the decision of the umpires.
XXV
As a security of the fulfilment of the provisions of Clause IV, 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 Nictheroy and Belem,
and the remaining half six months after the definite inauguration of
the traffic of the line between Nictheroy and Maldonado. Should the
delay stipulated in Clause IV be exceeded and fail to be extended by
the Government, 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 Nictheroy and Belem and twenty contos of
reis for the line Nictberoy-Maldonado.
[Page 70]
XXVI
The permission referred to in Clause I may be declared null and void
independently of any action or judicial notification and the company
shall not thereby be entitled to any sort of indemnity:
- (I)
- If, on expiry of the delay fixed in Clause IV, the cables
which the company undertakes to lay shall not have commenced
to operate regularly, cases of force
majeure so considered at the discretion of the
Government always excepted;
- (II)
- If the telegraphic communications over the cables referred
to in Clause I shall be interrupted during more than six
months consecutively, cases of force
majeure so considered at the discretion of the
Government always excepted;
- (III)
- 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;
- (IV)
- If the company shall fail to pay into the National
Treasury in due time the instalments due for supervision in
accordance with Clause XVI.
XXVII
If for any reason whatever the company shall fail to avail itself of
the permission to land at one or more of the points mentioned in
Clause I, it shall forfeit the right in connection with such points
and shall pay to the Government a fine of ten contos of reis (rs.
10:000$000), but this shall not affect its right to carry on the
service over the remaining lines constructed and in operation.
XXVIII
The permission referred to in Clause I 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.
Rio de Janeiro,
13th of March
1918.
A. Tavares de Lyra
