§ LORD WENLOCKMy Lords, I beg to ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is the fact that the International arbitration in relation to the Delagoa Bay Railway undertaken by the Berne Tribunal has now been proceeding for upwards of nine years, and, if so, what steps they have taken to impress upon the court the obligation of giving their decision, seeing that the case was finally closed as long ago as April last, and that judgment was promised in October, 1899, again in January, 1900, and has not yet been issued; and if Her Majesty's Government will state whether they are prepared to join with the Government of the United States of America in pressing for an immediate award. In putting this question to the Government I do not propose to go at any length into the complicated proceedings which led up to the appointment of the international tribunal, but I cannot help thinking that this is a matter of sufficient public importance to bring before the notice of your Lordships' 475 House. I think your Lordships will agree that those whose interests are at stake have every cause to complain of the delay which has taken place in regard to the decision of their case. I am given to understand that they have—and not without reason—denounced the delay which has taken place as a grave public scandal. We have heard a great deal of the advantages and benefits to be derived from international arbitration, but I think the most ardent advocates of that system will have reason to pause in their bestowal of praise on this mode of procedure after witnessing what has occurred in this particular case. The matter referred to the Berne tribunal was not very difficult of solution. It was a question of what the Portuguese Government should be called upon to pay for the cancellation of a concession of a railway and certain other advantages given to a certain body of people, and it was simplified by the fact that the Portuguese Government themselves admitted the liability which was imposed upon them by their own action, and they went so far as to hand over a sum of about £28,000 to the British Government, on account, to help the unfortunate British investors to meet their more immediate and pressing requirements. In these circumstances I think we may well ask Her Majesty's Government to assure us that they will do their best to press for an immediate award in this particular case.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (The Marquess of SALISBURY)My Lords, I entirely concur with the noble Lord that the delay of the Delagoa Bay arbitration is a most lamentable matter, and that we should be very glad if this litigation could be brought to an end. But the noble Lord suggests that we ought to move in the matter. I wish he had continued his speech a little longer, in order to tell us what precise kind of movement he wished us to initiate. The tribunal is not subject to us in any way whatever. We are litigants before it. If the British counsel were to get up and address a vigorous denunciation, such as the noble Lord would address to them, I am afraid they would simply tell him to hold his tongue. An official remonstrance from one of the litigants before a tribunal is not within the ordinary experience of judicial affairs. It is quite 476 true that we have in years past, again and again, under various Governments, tried what unofficial representation could do to induce greater rapidity of action. I am informed that the tribunal entirely declines to admit that it is responsible for this delay. The president says, I am told, that if there is undue delay it is the fault, not of the tribunal, but of the parties. That being the state of the case, I frankly admit that our chance of taking any action which would effect the object the noble Lord has in view is very small. I quite concur with him that it is unfortunate, not only in its bearing on the fortunes of the litigants, but also in the discredit that it reflects on the value of the principle of arbitration, from which we had hoped great things. There is no doubt that the Powers will be less willing to refer any differences they may have to arbitration if they are told that the proceedings will take nine years before a result is obtained. I can only join with the noble Lord in lamenting this result, and I can assure him that, while we should be glad to do anything we can do in this case, it is entirely outside our power to coerce the action of the tribunal.