The Portland daily press., 1896-02-01
PAINE FURNITURE co.
4e CANAL STREET, BOSTON.
AT WORK.
The Venezuelan Commission Begins Its
Exhaustive Labors.

Washington, January 31.-The Vene-
zuelan commission held its first regular
weekly meeting today in its permanent
quarters and took up the enormous
mass of official documents bearing on
the boundary controversy which had
accumulated on the files of the State
Department in years past and which
had been transmitted by Secretary Olney
in accordance with the commissioner
formal request adopted at it's last meet
ing.
These papers, together with the volun-
tary contributions of old books, maps
and other data which have been received
from various sources have enabled the
commission to make a general estimate
of the State of the case and take up the
consideration of the specific researches
which must be pursued to secure corro-
berative or contradictory evidence. Com
missioner Andrew d. White and Score
tary Malet Provost have been working
constantly on these general aspects of
the case during the past week, and as
result of their labors the commissioners
will individually pursue separate lines
OF inquiry as they have been doing since
the organization of the body, but with
the difference that hereafter their aims
will be more specif instead of mere
cropping about for evidence.
1t has been already practically deter
mined that Secretary Malet Provost will
shortly proceed to Madrid to ransaok
the Spanish archives for records that his
experience leads him to believe are in
existence, but have not up to this time
been connected with the case These
ancient records are accessible to exami-
nation, Notwithstanding the groundless
reports that the Spanish government out
OF friendship for Great Britain would be
indisposed to let the Uniued States au-
thorities try to bolster up the Venezue-
Ian claim to the discontinue of the Eng
lish. Satisfactory assurances have been
given that every facility will be afforded
him for his researches and no one has
any idea that the British government
will attempt to place any obstacle In the
way of the comm ission, the sincere i'm
partiality of that body and is determina-
tion to exhaustively study the merits of
the case in all its bearings being fully
recognized in England ana elsewhere.
One of the commissioners, or an expert
selected by them, will in all probability
be sent to The Hague to study the Dutch
archives at the same time that the Span
ish investigation is undertaken, and as
historical data Of the highest import
ance is known to be in the possession of
French national libraries, it is not beyond
the possibilities that sufficient lumber
of Bthe commissioners or their agents
will go to Europe in the next two months
to hold a meeting in some continental
rendezvous.
The Venezuelan commission at 4
o'clock adjourned until Friday. Mem
bers in the meantime are to pursue their
individual study of the evidence at hand,
as well as seaorh for useful Information
1t is understood that few of the specific
phases of the controversy have been as
signed to certain membe rs and they will
report upon them at the future sessions
1t is considered inxepedient to announce
what the particulars members are to do