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James Burness & Sons
138, Leadenhall Street

London, 5th February 1918
Messrs Worms & Co. - Paris

Dear Sirs,
Agency & coaling of the steamers of the Osaka shosen and Nippen Yusen Kaisha. We enclose copy of the telephonic communications which we have exchanged with you today in this connection which are self explanatory & we have since spoken to Mr. Blair of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha upon the lines of your suggestion, who, after conferring with the Manager, Mr. Ishii, told us that so long as the coaling alone were concerned they had no objection whatever to your undertaking it, but the holding of the Agency & consignment, handling of cargo, etc., for the Osaka Shosen Kaisha would be incompatible with the interests of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha.
We thanked Mr. Blair for his assurance upon the point when he told us that he was writing the Head Office at Tokio today upon the subject & would add a postscript to his letter to the above named effect.
The question now remains for you to consider how you will be able to deal with the Agency & consignment, upon which subject we are afraid we are unable to offer any suggestion that is worth much, as if any of the Coaling firms are entrusted with same it follows almost as a matter of course that they will not be content with the Agency unaccompanied by the Coaling - so far as Port Said is concerned.
We are, Dear Sirs,
Yours truly,

James Burness & Sons

James Burness & Sons

Paris telephone - 5/2/1918 9.10 a.m.

Mr. Worms said: Will you please ask your Mr. George and Mr. Atkinson to consider the following with regard to the Osaka Shosen Kaisha :-
We quite approve of the steps you have taken in connection with the OSK's enquiry but we are somewhat disappointed at the reply received from the NYK. We shall not for a moment think of doing anything which might displease the NYK but at the same time we are very anxious not to let the 0SK go to others for a good many reasons and, among others, because according to information we have had indirectly it is an enormous concern, their services to Europe will develop tremendously and may become even more important than the NYK, also in view of the numerous British clients we have already lost, and may still lose before the war is over, owing to amalgamations, sales of fleets, liquidations, and competition of the English Coaling Co. who will continue to absorb more and more Companies, we are anxious to secure new clients, Japanese or otherwise. Last, there may be a fight between the NYK and the OSK at the beginning, perhaps for two or three years, but we are convinced that after a while the two Companies will come to terms and we shall then be very sorry not to have the OSK and the NYK would also regret it.
Would It not be possible to make an arrangement of some kind which would give satisfaction to all concerned? For instance, could we not take the coaling business only of the OSK both at Marseilles & Port Said, leaving the Agency & consignment business to others? This we suppose the NYK would not object to. At Marseilles
there would of course be no difficulty as the OSK could place their consignment business with any broker there, just in the same way as Mr. Young is the Agent to the NYK while we are doing the coaling business. At Port Said matters might not be so easy inasmuch as the coaling & consignment always go together but we wonder whether some agreement could not be entered into with friends, such as Messrs Hull, Blyth & Co., who would be entrusted with the consignment while we should attend to the supplying of bunkers only. As you know, we are acting as agents for Messrs Hull, Blyth & Co. at Port Tewfik and are also supplying them with lights; perhaps they might agree to reciprocity, all the more so as the OSK might have handling business which would prove profitable to Messrs Hull, Blyth & Co.
Our reason for making this suggestion is that we do not care to give up the business altogether before we have tried every possible compromise.
We may mention that we also at the same time received a letter from Messrs M. Samuel & Co. whom Mr. Okada has no doubt seen. They offer us the agency and consignment of the OSK both at Marseilles and Port Said, they also put some questions as to our connection at these ports, etc., but we are not replying to their letter until we hear further from you after you have considered the above because we must say "yes" or "no". They ask us to treat their communication strictly confidentially but in view of your letter of the 1st inst. we thought we hadbetter mention the matter to your goodselves.
Mr. Worms added; Please consider the matter and let me have
your views

• The NYK do not want us to take the OSK business because they are now fighting with one another but we are satisfied that in a few years they will fight no more because after the war there will be no fight between two firms in the same country. Therefore in order to please the NYK for two years or so we are to jeopardise our chance of getting a very profitable business; we have always understood that the OSK would be the first company in Japan and we should like to try some arrangement that would hold good while the two Companies are fighting.
  
  I will speak to you again at 2 p.m. but if you want further time to consider the matter we will simply write to Messrs Samuel tonight that their letter only reached us yesterday on my return and that we want a few days to consider it.

Paris telephone - 1.45 p.m. - 5th February, 1918

Our communication to you:
- Osaka shosen Kaisha - Agency & Consignment at Port Said & Marseilles Mr. Atkinson has carefully considered your telephonic communication of this morning, but in the absence of Mr. George who will not be back at the Office until Thursday he is unable to obtain the benefit of his views in the matter.
We thoroughly appreciate the great disinclination which you must necessarily feel at having to turn away the business of the OSK from your doors after it has been practically placed in your hands through the good offices of Messrs M.Samuel & Co., but if we may venture to say so we think it is a choice of evils. If the coaling of the steamers at Marseilles were alone in question we think the difficulty might be got over so far as that port is concerned, but as regards Port Said, both the Manager & the Assistant Manager, Mr. Blair, made it quite clear to us that the holding of both Agencies would not be compatible with their interests & we do not at present see how the coaling & consignment could be divorced from each other - and bearing in mind what happened in connection with South American ports where they withheld their Agency from Messrs Wilsons owing to the latter having accepted the representation of the OSK - we should feel great reluctance in advising you to give up a reality for something which is not quite such a certainty. Moreover Mr. Blair told us that after the War the NYK would be developing in various directions & that amongst other Lines that they would start would be one from Calcutta to New York which would be rather an important affair.
The difficulty might be got over so far as Marseilles is concerned as the coaling & agency need not necessarily hang together, but of course we are debarred from saying anything further to the NYK upon the subject owing to the secrecy which has been imposed upon you by Messrs M. Samuel & Co.
Your communication to us:
Osaka Shosen kaisha Inasmuch as you have already seen the Nippon Yusen Kaisha after the call which you received from Mr. Okada, could you not see them again without saying anything about the letter we have received from Messrs. M. Samuel & Co. and tell them we quite appreciate their point of view & are quite prepared to give up every sort of Agency & consignment of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, but as we are first of all suppliers of bunker coal, and the Osaka Shosen Kaisha could always obtain coal at Port Said from somebody, would the Nippon Yusen Kaisha have any objection to our entertaining the idea of supplying the coal, it being understood that all business concerned with agency, consignment, handling of cargoes, looking after freight, etc. would be left aside and given to someone else. If they have no objection we could then turn the thing over in our minds and see whether some arrangement could be come to with somebody else for that portion of the work. Our point is not at all to choose between one & the other but to try to get both; if the Nippon Yusen Kaisha were to say it is a question of "take it or leave it" we would "leave it". In other words if the Nippon Yusen Kaisha say they will not allow us to coal the steamers of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha then we will giro the matter up.