The sun., 1899-02-19
TEE DELAeo1 BAY RAILWAY ARBI-
TRATION.
Expected Termination OF = Remarkable
Case OF International Litigation.

Expected Termination of = Remarkable
Case OF International Litigation.
The Importance attaching to the approaching
settlement Of the Delagoa Bay Railway arbi-
tratlon makes recital OF the details OF the
case OF interest at this moment In June, 1850.
when the Portuguese Government seized the
railway then under construction. the control-
Ing interest in the share capital was held py
the widow OF Col McMurdo. the owner OF the
concession. who had died n few weeks before.
Prompt action was taken at once by Mr. Blaine'
then Secretary OF State at Washington, on be-
half OF Mrs McMurdo. and by Lord Salisbury
for the British debenture and share holders,
The result OF their Intervention was that In the
autumn OF 1890 IL was arranged that the ques-
ton OF the compensation to be paid the claim
ants should be fixed by three Swiss jurlsts to
be named by the Swiss President
The British and American claims which were
formulated before the Court OF Arbitration were
based on the actual and prospective value OF
the shares and debentures. while an extra
value was claimed on the American shares on
the ground that they constituted the control
OF the company. and therefore had special
value. In justification OF this claim document
nry evidence was given that n German flnan-
cial syndicate had offered Col McMurdo
SO. 100000 for 25.100 shares of tho nomi-
nal vauo of S1,255.00O. which offer he
refused. II was also alleged that President
Kruger OF the Transvaal Republic had been ad-
vised by the then Minister of his Government
at The Hague. acting In conjunction with Its
financial agents. TO purchase the same number
OF shares for S5.50O.OOO. 1t was further con-
tended on behalf of the claimants that ire
spective OF any market price OF the shares. the
intrinsic value OF the concession was such
that they were worth more than the sum
claimed for them. in proof OF which reports
of engineers were presented attributing a
value OF SO 900. 600 and over to the concession
The reply OF the Portuguese Government was
that it had legal justification for its action in
sei2ing the railway and that tho claimants
would be sufficiently compensated by the reim-
bursement of the money actually expended in
the construction and other matters connected
with the railway.
The plcadings before the court we're finally
closed during the summer of 1896. and it was
decided that a technical commission shoul be
sent out to report to the Court of Arbitration
on the value OF the railway line, and OF he con-
cession after taking into account the theories
Put forward by the contendlng parties; Inree
Ssr Sw7s o gh IN were e scec
ed. and the comm! !ssion was appointed with
the concurrence of all parties. The report
was not until the month of March. 1898, that it
was finally presented and was found to be
suit. briefly summarized, was as, follows:
In reply to the contention of the Portuguese
entitled to to the REIN bursement Of money
expended. the rejoinder was that the
value se,Sro Of the wos " the reEarS sS
to the value OF the concession at tho time of
seizure. having in view the uncertainty as, to
the future of the road, the value was placed at
$1,000 900. hut in December 1896. at the time
Of the Inspection. it was increased to $4,000
an annual increa-e'oG 10 per cent. in the trafc,
with working expenses at 90 n'er cent. and al
%i the Transyaai @ tralis as S against 43 al owed
for the Cape line, and 52 per cent. conceded to
the N9 line Sos rG Was also made of the
Marques in recent years. land worth only 90
cents in 1889 now selling at Sl1O per square
$4,000 brought recently $4,000. Land outside.
the town advanced c9rrespondingly.
In May. 1873, the Court OF Arbitration. haV-
ing given the various parties to the litigation
time to consider the report. requested them to
make and to formulate other questions if so
desired. TO the experts on the commission.
This Invitation WAS nypied b ,,Sd Of tb and hf
nf fourth expert employed by itself, DR..
EsGhcr Swiss engineer, vigorously criti-
rs assigning an undue value to the concession.
The, British and American Governments,
recognizing its fairness and ability. took
eXGeption to to thrGe POINTS They were Of
the Delaeoa Bay "e RaHtay th'e IN the S"rT trafic ne
ot the Transyaal should he, at least one
third instead OF me one-iourth assigned to 1t.
They also pointed out that the commission
omitted to value about 6.OOO acres of land in
the netGhhorhood OF Lorenzo Marques heo
that on the basis OF the other valuations made
by the commission. that land is worth $4,000
OOO. which should be added to the value Of the
concession. In order to hasten the settlement
ofthc arbitration the three Governments agreed
to forego the oral arguments with which it
was intended to close the discussion. and to
substitute a resume OF the facts and argu-
ments deduced from them; The recent re-
quest Of the British and American (ipyarD-
mcnts for prompt decision by the Court OF
Arbitration on the facts and arguments in the
piece Of international litigation to a speedy
termination,