341.115L89/11: Telegram
The Consul General at London (Skinner) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:11 p.m.]
Department’s February 2, 6 p.m. Procurator General replying to my request that he obtain instructions from the President of the Prize Court applicable to all American claimants states “directions of Prize Court can only be obtained upon formal application to Court as Procurator General has no access to the President other than that available to ordinary litigants. Steps are being taken in conjunction with solicitors acting in most appropriate cases to bring test case before the President at an early date.” I shall endeavor to obtain views of the President himself without waiting for solicitors to act formally. Referring to Department’s instruction number 3606 January 9th42 directing me to ascertain meaning of Procurator General in observing that “British Government has rights under the treaty of peace which cannot be disregarded”. The rights referred to arise under article 297 and annex of peace treaty and similar purport in Austrian treaty article 249. Mr. Woods further states “practical difficulty is to decide whether property has passed and this is accentuated by fact that in hardly any case are documents produced which are necessary to enable this question to be decided.”
- Not printed.↩