Anlage B 47 



Anlage B. 



Gase II. 



Copy London, d. Nov. 23 rd 1904. 



Dear Sirs. 



I have carefully considered the letter of the to Messrs. 



forwarded to you by our Mr together with 



the Policy of the and the papers which accompanied it, and 



I am able to reply at once to the two questions put in that letter, as f ollows : 



1. There does exist in England a certain period fixed by law within which 

 an action upon a Policy such as this must be brought and that period 

 is six years from the date of the accident which gives rise to the 

 claim. Your friends will therefore see that they will not be prejudiced 

 by any slight delay. 



2. It is possible to bring an action against one reinsurer and to leave the 

 other actions over until the result of it can be seen, provided the 

 delay in bringing the other actions does not exceed the period of six 

 years. There is however nothing gained by selecting an action in 

 which a small amount is involved, as none of the fees are ad valorem, 

 and the same costs are incurred in respect of a small case as of a large 

 one, and it is therefore better in selecting a case to take one of a 

 substantial amount. 



As to be general question involved, viz, whether the 



can recover a total loss from the on this Polic} r — that is 



one upon which I am not able, upon the Information at present before me, 

 to give any opinion. The question will turn chiefly upon the facts of the 

 case, and the extract from the Official Report of the Russian Ambassador 

 in Korea, Mr. Pavlov, printed in the Government Gazette of 27 th April and 



10 th May 1904 is so meager that it would, in the interests of the 



be unsafe to rely upon it: because all it says is that it "was decided' 1 (it 

 does not say by whoni), to burn the cruiser "Variague", and that the 

 "corresponding order" was given by the Commander of the "Koreetz" 



to the Captain of the but there are no details given 



as to what threats or force were used in giving these commands, or 

 by whoni they were actually executed. I think the shipowners, in their own 

 interests, ought to have a thorough enquiry made into the facts, because 

 it is highly probable that if the facts were accurately ascertained it would 

 be found that some degree of force was used. 



