417.00/342

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Nicaragua ( Hanna )

No. 553

Sir: The Department refers to the Legation’s despatch No. 1100, of August 2, 1929, enclosing a copy of the Presidential decree of July 30, 1929, providing for the establishment of a Provisional Claims Commission to adjudicate claims of American nationals against Nicaragua growing out of the Civil War from October 25, 1925, until the date on which peace is officially declared, together with a copy and translation of the Foreign Office’s note No. 157, of July 31, 1929,95 transcribing a Presidential decree dated July 31, 1929, appointing The Honorable J. S. Stanley as President of the Commission.

Judge Stanley has been notified of his appointment and will proceed to Nicaragua on the steamship El Salvador, sailing from New York on September 5.

It will be noted that the decree of July 30, 1929, empowers the Commission to formulate regulations, or to adopt those framed by the Commission created by the law of December 3, 1926; requires that claims must be presented to the Commission within six months from the official declaration of peace, and that claims not filed within this period are to be barred.

In order that the Department may notify American claimants in the United States, it is desired that you advise the Department promptly by telegraph, to be confirmed by mail, when peace is officially declared in Nicaragua, and, in addition, that you forward copies of the regulations as soon as they are adopted by the Commission.96

The Department desires that the Presidential decree of July 30, 1929, information of the date on which peace is officially declared, and the regulations adopted by the Commission, be given the widest possible circulation among American citizens and organizations in Nicaragua.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
Nelson Trusler Johnson
  1. Note not printed.
  2. See Comision Provisional de Reclamaciones, Ley Creadora, Decreto de Nombramientos y Reglas de Procedimientos (Managua, Imprenta Nacional, 1929), copies of which were transmitted to the Department in despatch No. 1228, November 15, 1929 (not printed). (417.00/369)