Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 59 Part 2.djvu/626

 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OTHER THAN TREATIES [59 STAT. shall not be permitted to see the interrogatories, documents, or papers, or to consult with counsel, or with any persons interested without special authority from the court; and witnesses who have the rights of neutrals shall be discharged as soon as practicable. The prize commissioners shall also take depositions de bene esse of the prize crew and others, at the request of the district attorney, on interrogatories prescribed by the court. They shall also, as soon as any prize property comes within the district for adjudica- tion, examine the same, and/make an inventory thereof, founded on an actual examination, and report to the court whether any part of it is in a condition requiring immediate sale for the interests of all parties, and notify the district attorney thereof; and if it be necessary to the examination or making of the inven- tory that the cargo be unladen, they shall apply to the court for an order to the marshal to unlade the same, and shall, from time to time, report to the court anything relating to the condition of the property, or its custody or disposal, which may require any action by the court, but the custody of the property shall be in the marshal only. They shall also seasonably return into court, sealed and secured from inspection, the documents and papers which shall come to their hands, duly scheduled and numbered, and the 'other preparatory evidence, and the evidence taken 'de bene esse, and their own inventory of the prize property; and if the captured vessel, or any of its cargo or stores, are such as in their judgment may be useful to the United States in war, they shall report the same to the Secretary of the Navy." I have been instructed by my Government to request the Government of New Zealand, in view of the above provisions of law, to give its consent to the exercise within its jurisdiction of the authority con- tained in the Act. Upon the receipt of such consent, appropriate measures will be taken by my Government in accordance with Section Stat. 747. 7 of the Act to accord reciprocal privileges in prize matters to the Government of New Zealand. I would therefore be grateful to have the reply of the Government of New Zealand in this matter at as early a moment as possible for communication to my Government. I have the honor to be, Sir Your obedient servant, RAYMOND E. Cox, Charged'Affaires a.i . Enclosure: Copy of Act. The Right Honorable PETER FIASEB, PrimeMinister of the Dominionof New Zealand, Wellington. 1302

�