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Japp, Hatch & Company Limited
20, Castle Street,

Liverpool, June 26th 1918
Messrs. Worms & Co. - Paris

Dear Sirs,
Without any of your favours to acknowledge, we omitted, when writing you on the 24th about price of coals, to mention that of course until the end of this month, any coals we ship under present contract with Collins Green will be at the contract rate, viz:- 26/2d. plus 5/-, say 3l/2d.per ton.
With regard to Collins Green, and the supply of coal for the coming 12 months, we do not quite know where we are at present. It would appear that the Mines Controller has allocated some portion of Collins Green to other people for export, and it looks as though the maximum quantity we shall get per month will be 650 tons. This will simply mean that any quantity over and above this we shall have to buy in the open market.
With regard to the question of arrears being cancelled, we think it will be well that we should arrange to have these cancelled and not carried forward at the end of every three months. If we make an arrangement to cancel the arrears at the end of every month, it might go against your interests, because, as you are probably aware, some months owing to delays either at this end or in Bordeaux, we only get a small quantity shipped, and then some months we are able to ship double the quantity, and we naturally want to have all the Collins Green Coal we can get for your shipments, so that we certainly think it would be better to arrange that we should have the arrears cancelled at the end of every three months. We shall be glad to have your views about this.
With regard to Brokerage, it has now been settled that we are to give the Mines Controller half of our commission, so that the position stands that we have to return 6d. to the Mines Controller out of the l/- commission, which leaves us with 6d. commission to divide with the Collins Green Agent, but the Mines Controller has now stated that the one-third of 5% Brokerage is to be retained by the exporter, and we are told that if we cannot collect this brokerage from the shipowner, viz:- Messrs James Moss & Co. (for Bordeaux) then same must be paid by the Importer in France; in fact, we are told by the Secretary that this has been the position all along, and that we have committed an offense in not collecting it. You will remember we ceased charging the brokerage to you when the last new schedule came into force at the beginning of March, and endeavoured to get the brokerage out of Messrs Moss, but they refused to pay same, and they are now awaiting a decision from the Shipping Controller about this. The new decree about brokerage, we understand, comes into force en the 1st July, and that all the brokerages collected between the first March and the 30th June are to be returned to the Mines Controller without any deduction whatsoever being made from them. If this is absolutely adhered to, and it is decided that Messrs Moss are not to pay any brokerage, we shall be reluctantly compelled to ask you for the amounts which will be owing to the Mines Controller on the shipments which we hare made between March and the end of June. We recollect your telling us some time age that owing to prices being fixed in France, you were unable to pay these brokerages, and if this is so, we suppose you would be able to take the matter up with your Authorities and let then arrange with the Mines Controller about the payment of same. We are told that if these brokerages are not paid, the collieries have instructions to stop the supply of further coal, but frankly, we do not think the Collins Green people would do that with us. They would certainly be willing to wait and see what transpired if Messrs Moss have not to pay the Brokerage and we have to open up negotiations with you on the subject of payment.
Yours faithfully,

Japp, Hatch & Cy