Hi sam34567,
Try to use WebClient class to read the file.
C#
System.Net.WebClient webClient = new System.Net.WebClient();
string svg = webClient.DownloadString("http://www.server.com/test.svg");
VB.Net
Dim webClient As System.Net.WebClient = New System.Net.WebClient()
Dim svg As String = webClient.DownloadString("http://www.server.com/test.svg")