, 1912-11-02
THE CONCESSION"

the Harbour Concession.
On End October the coEcessionaires,
Councillor of State H. N, Andersen, former
Governor Cold, Bank Director Glilckstadt,
Merchant HoIger Petersen and Admiral
Richelieu, issued a communication Ill which
they refer to their statement to the Diet and
the Ministry of Finances about the Har-
bour improvements in st. Thomas, which
they consid cred a work for the State to do,
but offered-if hat was not suitable for the
moment-to DO The work themselves with
assistance of foreign capital on a concession
for certain privileges i'll the harbour.
The Diet partly accepted this proposal,
but it was claimed, that possibly foreign
capital would endanger the project and it
would be preferable to employ only Danish
capital. The concessiOnaires were willing
to agree to this, gave mp the promised for
cign capital, and tried to raise the capital IN
D nmnrk. They only obtained st Million
Crowns. They state this was not sufficient
to meet the obligations which the coLces-
sion put upon them, hence they give up the
concession, which the State may eventually
III other ways take up and extend The UNI
dertakings mentioned in their proposal.
But they consider the deepening OF
the harbour and establishment OF Wharves
(Kajanlng) as q fundamental necessity Tor
the development OF st. Thomas harbour,
and therefore offer the Minister of Finances,
without concession, to form a smaller COM
pany exclusively with Danish capital to full
I'll that part of the concession mentioned sub
s IS, with which object they will secure the
so-called 'French Wharf and will try to
have this part Of the work finished at the
sam time the Panama Canal is opened to
traffic. They have furthermore made ar
engagements with Sir Owen Phillips OF the
Royal Mail Steam Packet Co, to work the
Floating Dock together, and eventually eX-
tend same.
They offer those who have taken shares in
the West India Company to exchange same
for obligations in the new Company bearing
interest of 4 per cent from LIST October 1912,
which obligations in 1916 may be exchanged
for ordinary shares i'll the Company or le-
paid in 1920, or they can get their money
back now. They conclude by stating that
the new Company sill have no privileges
and no duties more than what all other own
ers of wharyes in St. Thomas have.
In an interview with ''Politikeu" Council
Tor Andersen states: SO far from giving up our
idea nre we, that we are now doing The work
on our OVID account and our proceedings will
III no way be changed from what we intend
ed to do with the concession. We are only
marching forward possibly in another time
than originally intended
TO another paper, the "Nationaltidende,
Mr.. Andersen states that the wharves (kaj-
pladsen) will be 5000 feet long with appara-
tus for discharging ships, warehouses, and
c~isterns, SO that vessels can be quickly pro
vided With coal, oil fuel, water &c.
70 Il third paper "Vort Land, Mr.. An
dcrsen said: All the preparations are ready,
Engineer Hey's drawings also. AS soon as
they ne approved OF, the work will COM
mcnce not one hour will be lost.
Mr.. Hey and his assistants as well as
some of the members of the Board of Direc-
tors of the West India Company were ex-
ptcted shortly to leave Copenhagen for ST.
Thomas.
In "Nationaltidende' it is stated that the
Minister of Finances would give the leaders
Of the West India Company authorization to
carry out q part of the proposed harbour
work, first the deepening of the harbour ard
building of wharves, st. Thomas Bulletin,
nat D6Tb