The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-29
PARTITION OF COLONIES.
Report Of Secret Agreement Between Por.
tusaI, Britain and Germany Denied.
FRENCH APPEAR TO KNOW NOTHING OF IT
british Foreign officer VIII Not Dis
cuss the Question and the United
states Discrcdit the Report.

Paris, December 2s.--The publication
by the Lokai Anzeiger of Berlin OF the
secret treaty between Germany, Portugal
and Great Britain providing for the parti-
tion Of the Portuguese colonies meets
with no credence in official circles here.
A foreign Office official said to repre-
sentative of the Associated Press that their
advices from Portugal and Germany LETT
no doubt that the publication was largely
invention. They could not believe Portu-
gal would sign treaty stripping hersSlf
of her colonies and so far-reaching and
harmful to Portugal
Notwithstanding the denial of the
| French foreign office, 1t Is believed IN
other quarters that an agreement between
Great Britain and Germany may exist out
side OF the understanding arrived at ne
| tween them this year as an outcome OF
the negotiations to build a telegraph line
connecting Capetown with Cairo.
| Berlin, December 2S.A German official
agency issued statement last evening to
| the effect that the assertions OF the Lokal
| Anzeiger were arbitrary and erroneous
guess work" Official circles in Berlin de-
scribe the statement made as quite in
| accurate"
London. December $50 many alleged
disclosures Of secret Delagoa bay agree
ments have recently been submitted to the
British foreign office that the officials
have made il a rule neither TO deny nor
arffrm them, and when questioned today
regarding tho statements of the bokai
Apzeiger the officials adhered to this rule.
But a representative of the Associated
Press gathered that the alleged dis
closures were quite inaccurate.
A dispatch to the Times from Berlin
comments on the Lokal Anzeiger treaty
statements as follows; when 1t Is re-
membered that two OF Portugal's Asiaiic
'possessions--Gon and Damo-form en-
claves of the province of Bombay. the
statements OF the llokal Anzeiger border
on tho fantastic
Washington. December 2S.-Nothlng is
known here of the reported intention OF
Great Britain and Germany To partition
Portuguese East Africa between theni
Great Britain taking the country around
Delagoa and southwark and Germany the
northern half of the territory which adj
Joins the German East African posses
sions. The officials here attach no ere
dence to the story, because, as they point
out, movement of this kind, disturbing
the balance of power in Africa, would
lead most certainly to serious compk<a-
lions between the principals and the other
powers of Europe. Moreover, the old ru-
NOR Of a secret treaty between England
and Portugal whereby the former might,
for a proper consideration, possess itself
OF Deagoa bay whenever the place is
needed for military purposes, has always
been credited to some extent here, and II
such treaty really exists there would be
no need for Germany's participation as re-
ported
Berlin, December %. - Regarding the
statement by the Lokal Anzeiger that Sc
cret Anglo German Portugal treaty exists
for the division of the Portuguese colonies
in South Africa, the correspondent OF the
highest authority that the story Is pure
fiction and without foundation. The high
official who authorizes this denial made
the following declaration; There is no
objection to stating that the understand
ing had by Germany Great Britain and
Portugal refers only to Africa and leaves ,
Asia wholly out OF the question II Is |
quite certain, however, that Germany UNI
der no consideration would conclude such |
n bargain with Portugal as the LoSal An
2cigor sets forth, Any one with the slight |
est political sense ought to see that these
tiny enclaves in the midst of British In
dia are the last colonial possessions Ger |
many would dream of"