Anlage A 45 



giving iminediate notice of the same to the consignees of the goods so 



far as they can be ascertained ; " 

 and 



"The master or agent shall have a lien on the goods for payments 



made or liabilities incurred in respect of any charges stipulated herein to 



be borne by the owners of the goods". 



Cases have already arisen, and others are likely to arise, where Captains 

 of such outward bound ships have acted in the following manner, and this 

 may be assuined to -have happened in the cases in which Counsel's Opinion 

 is requested, viz., that the captain of the vessel when in the ,.Straits" learned 

 either (a) that hostilities had broken out between Spain and United States 

 though without knowing that a blockade had been proclaimed (and being, 

 in the opinion of the Insurance Co. perfectly justified in considering that 

 the entering of or discharging in the port of Manila had by reason of the 

 war been rendered unsafe) or (b), that a blockade had been actually proclaimed, 

 determined to land the goods at the nearest safe and convenient port, and 

 accordingly, deeming Hongkong to be the nearest safe and convenient port, 

 which the Company does not intend to dispute he there landed the goods in 

 proper and safe keeping, and gave immediate notice of the same to the 

 consignees of the goods so far as they could be ascertained. In doing so 

 expenses and damages were incurred or accrued to the owners of the cargoes 

 (the assured) as follows: 



1 . The master incurred expense in landing the goods at Hongkong and 

 giving them into safe keeping for which he has a claim on the assured 

 ent'orceable by lien on the goods. 



2. Expenses were further incurred and are being incurred in warehousing 

 the goods there, in the cases in which it has been determined to keep 

 the goods at Hongkong for a month or two until it can be seen 

 whether the war should come to an end and the goods be there- 

 upon forwarded to their destination, and further expense will be 

 incurred in forwarding them to Manila after the cessation of the war. 



3. Similar expenses to those mentioned in the last paragraph were incurred 

 up to a point of time in those cases in which the owners of the goods 

 determined to seil them at Hongkong for what they would fetch, and 

 in the same case. 



4. A loss" occurred to the consignee owing to the forced sale of the 

 goods in an unsuitable market. — 



In all these cases claims have either been actually made by the assured 

 or are feared by the Insurance Co., and with a view of being able to discuss 

 such claims in a proper manner, and of ascertaining definitely what there 

 liability is with regard to such insurances, and as a guide to them in 

 effecting future insurances of the same nature, the Insurance Co. desires to 

 be advised by Counsel. 



