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 DECREE tLT 
 
 OF THE ~^P 
 
 CHILIAN GOVERNMENT, 
 
 DATED 9TH FEBRUARY, 1882, 
 
 CONCERNING GUANO 
 
 / 
 
 THE PERUVIAN BONDHOLDERS' COMMITTEE, 
 
 Moorgate Street Chambers, London, E. C. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 Microsoft Corporation 
 
 http:/ywvw.archive.org/details/decreeofchiliangOOchilrich 
 
[Translation from the Spanish^ 
 
 IMPORTANT DECREE CONCERNING GUANO. 
 
 The following most important Decree has been 
 issued by the Ministry of Finance. 
 
 Valparaiso, 
 
 February gt/i, 1882. 
 
 I have resolved and I decree : — 
 
 Art. 1. One hundred and eighty days after the date of this Decree 
 
 there shall be offered for sale to the highest bidder by closed 
 tender 1,000,000 tons of Guano of 1,000 kilogrammes per 
 ton, or in default of this full quantity, the whole of any smaller 
 quantity of the said article that may be found in the deposits 
 discovered, and at present being worked within the territory of 
 Peru and at the present time under the dominion of the arms 
 of the Republic. 
 
 The character and extent of the obligations assumed by 
 the Chilian Government as seller, shall depend, as to legal 
 results, on the nature of the title to possession that Chili at the 
 present time exercises or that she may be able to acquire in 
 the future over the territories in which the deposits of Guano 
 offered for sale are existing. 
 
 Art. 2. The extracting and delivery of the Guano at the vessel's 
 
 side in the port of embarkation shall also be arranged in the 
 same manner by closed tenders. The contractors or persons 
 who undertake this service shall be subject to the scientific, 
 industrial and economic direction of the special employes or 
 agents of the Chilian Government. 
 
 239 
 
Art. 3. The Guano shall be weighed and analysed before ship- 
 
 ment by the agents of the Chilian Government in conjunction 
 with those of the purchasers. 
 
 The course of procedure to be followed in the case of 
 disagreement in the assays shall be determined upon by private 
 arrangement. 
 Art. 4. Every tender sent in must state a minimum price per 
 
 unit of nitrogen and phosphate contained in each ton of Guano. 
 No tender will be received in which the price is fixed in any 
 other shape. 
 Art. 5. The period fixed by Article i of this Decree having 
 
 expired, the Government shall fix a day for opening the 
 tenders at the Ministry of Finance, (where they should all be 
 addressed,) and before a special committee to be appointed for 
 that purpose. All persons tendering, or their agents may be 
 present at the opening of the tenders. 
 Art. 6. The Government, with the advice of the Committee re- 
 
 ferred to in the preceding article, shall have previously fixed 
 the minimum price at which tenders will be received, which 
 shall also be under closed cover, and shall be opened at the 
 same time with the tenders. 
 
 With the advice of the same Committee the Government 
 shall decide which of all the tenders is to be accepted. 
 Art. 7. The following will be reasons for preference in selection 
 
 of tenders : — 
 
 1st. The greater price offered for each unit of the 
 
 fertilizing substances contained in the Guano. 
 2nd. When prices are equal, the greater quantity of 
 Guano that the contractor engages to export 
 monthly; and 
 3rd. When the prices and exportable quantities of Guano 
 are equal, the more considerable amount of 
 securities offered for covering the obligations of 
 the contractors. 
 Art. 8. The minimum of security with each tender shall be five 
 
 hundred thousand dollars (#500,000), and the character of 
 the security offered, whether in the form of sureties, cash 
 
deposit, goods or public properties, shall be other such circum- 
 stances determining preference that the Government, as the 
 sellers, shall freely consider. 
 
 Art. 9. The price of the Guano shall be covered in pounds 
 
 sterling or by drafts on London at ninety days' sight, and 
 thoroughly approved by the Government, as sellers. 
 
 No cargo shall be despatched unless its value has pre- 
 viously been settled and paid. 
 
 Art. 10. The minimum monthly shipments to be made by the 
 
 contractors shall be twenty-five thousand tons, and the period 
 of two months from the date of acceptance of the tenders shall 
 be allowed, to enable them to fulfil this condition. 
 
 If from any cause whatever the monthly shipments fall 
 below the fixed minimum, the contractors, on the last day of 
 the month, shall pay to the Government the price of the 
 quantity remaining unshipped calculated on the average value 
 of the last shipment. 
 
 Art. 11. The Government, as the seller, shall indicate the deposits 
 
 from which the Guano is to be taken, giving proper and con- 
 venient notice to the purchasers for their guidance in freights 
 and the distribution of the vessels. 
 
 Art. 12. Fifteen days after the issue of this Decree the present 
 
 export of various deposits of Guano from Tarapaca shall be 
 suspended, and only the cargoes of vessels freighted up to the 
 date of the notice given to this effect to Messrs. Gibbs & Co. 
 and McKellar & Co. may be completed. 
 
 Art. 13. After deduction of all expenses for extraction, analysis, 
 
 weighing, shipment, payment of employes who superintend 
 these various operations, and other charges that may be 
 incurred up to bringing the article to the ship's side, the net 
 price of the Guano shall be distributed in equal parts between 
 the Chilian Government and those creditors of the Peruvian 
 Government whose titles of credit may appear to be sustained 
 by the guarantee of this substance of Guano. 
 
 Art. 14. In order that the creditors of the Peruvian Government 
 
 may be able to exercise the right accorded to them by the 
 preceding Article, they must, with the consent previously of 
 
6 
 
 all those who may avail themselves of the benefits of this 
 Concession, constitute a Board of Arbitrators, who shall solve 
 the various difficulties that may arise as to payment, legitimacy 
 or validity of their titles, and the priority that their respective 
 credits are entitled to. 
 
 Art. 15. The term of 180 days, reckoning from the date of this 
 
 Decree, is granted for the said creditors of the Peruvian 
 Government to appoint the Board of Arbitrators referred to in 
 the preceding Article, and notify the same to the Ministry of 
 Finance. 
 
 If, at the expiration of this term they have not appointed 
 Arbitrators, the Chilian Government shall itself appoint them. 
 
 Art. 16. The Chilian Government shall deposit in the Bank of 
 
 England the net amount of the price of the Guano which 
 corresponds to the 50 per cent, destined for the Peruvian 
 creditors. 
 
 Art. 17. In accordance with the efforts made by Mr. John Procter, 
 
 with full power from the " Peruvian Bondholders' Committee," 
 recognized in this character by the decision of 7th June, 1881, 
 of the High Court of Justice of the Master of the Rolls — 
 Chancery Division — the said Peruvian Bondholders are at 
 once considered as accepting the Concession granted by this 
 Decree, and the proclamation of 22nd February, 1880, issued 
 by the General-in-Chief of the Army of Operations, and 
 approved by Supreme Decree of 2nd March of the same year, 
 in favor of these same creditors, from this date becomes of no 
 effect and of no value whatever. 
 
 Art. 18. The power conferred on Mr. John Procter, as Agent and 
 
 Delegate in the territories of Chili and other territories of 
 South America, of the Committee of foreign holders of 
 Peruvian Bonds, is registered in the Ministry of Finance. 
 The said power executed in London is dated 30th May, 1881, 
 certified the same day by the Notary Public of that city, 
 William W. Venn, and vis£d at the Chilian Consulate. 
 
 The said document states that the total of the registered 
 bonds that Procter represents amounts to ^25,838,270 
 sterling, although in the election of the Committee only 
 
^2i,243>°4° sterling had taken part, and they voted on 8,008 
 different lists. 
 Art. 19. The deposit of the funds in the Bank of England re- 
 
 ferred to in Article 1 6 shall be made to the order of the Board 
 of Arbitrators appointed by the parties interested or by the 
 the Chilian Government in the case provided for in Article 15. 
 
 If previous to the appointment of Arbitrators there shall 
 be an accumulation of funds arising from the sale of Guano, 
 that deposit shall be placed provisionally at the joint order of 
 the official designated by the Chilian Government and by the 
 Committee of the foreign holders of Peruvian Bonds respec- 
 tively. 
 
 In proportion as other classes of creditors of the Peruvian 
 Government shall avail themselves of the benefits of this con- 
 cession, the provisional deposit of funds shall also extend to 
 their order. 
 
 Let this be recorded and noted, let it be communicated 
 and published. 
 
 (Signed) SANTA MARIA, 
 
 (Signed) LUIS ALDUNATE. 
 
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