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>> Danzig-Polish Post Office Dispute 1925

The Court has to consider, at the outsed , the scope of the first question. It should be observed that this question is couched in general terms, without any specific reference to points (a) and (b) of the second question.

In a letter to the High Commissioner, dated January 21^st, 1925, Poland maintained that the Polish postal service extended over the territory delimited by the red line on the plan annexed to the decision of the High Commissioner of August 15^th, 1921, and asked the High Commissioner to decide accordingly. The decision of February 2^nd, 1925, was to the effect that the Polish postal operations were limited to the one building in the Heveliusplatz assigned to her for the purpose, thus rendering a. decision on the delimitation of the port unnecessary. One of the grounds of Poland’s appeal (February 20^th, 1925) against this decision was that the High Commissioner had failed to give a definition of the port, as requested by Poland. Danzig, in her reply to the Polish appeal, under date of March 2^nd, 1925, contested Poland’s claim in regard to the definition of the port from the point of view of the Polish postal service.

As regards the limits of the port, no question of res judicata arises. Though Poland contends that the port of Danzig should be delimited for postal purposes in accordance with the red line mentioned in the High Commissioner’s decision of August 15^th, 1921, she does not argue that the said decision, the definitive character of which is not disputed by either Government, has defined the limits of the port from the point of view of the Polish postal service as established under the Paris Convention. The fact that Poland envisages the possibility of an extension of the limits of the port for postal purposes beyond the red line is another proof that, in her opinion, that line has not been fixed by a definitive decision as to the boundary of the port. The Senate of Danzig on their side categorically deny that the decision of August 15^th 1921, has any hearing on the postal service.

The Court entirely shares this view. That decision neither in its statement of reasons, nor in its operative portion has any bearing on postal relations, and this is quite natural because the clauses of Article 104 of the Versailles Treaty have been carried out according to very different systems as regards railways on the one hand, and postal, telegraph and telephone communications on the other. It is further to be observed that the red line has been

Danzig-Polish Post Office Dispute, Seite 18.