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2, Cheyne Gardens. - Thanks Bessie for her 'most flattering remarks', and Bob for his 'kind note'; glad they 'didn't find the old lady [Janet's article "Goethe's Mother", in the October number of the "Quarterly Review"] very dull reading. Afraid that neither the Friday or Monday Bessie suggests for her and George to visit will work, as they are visiting the Sydney Buxtons on Sunday the 25th; asks if they could come on Friday 1st December instead. Has heard 'great accounts' of the house [the Shiffolds] from Caroline, and longs to see it herself.

India Office.—Refers to a long controversy which ended with a letter from the Secretary of the Advisory Committee to the India Office on the 8th, pointing out that the Committee’s reluctance to give advice limits their usefulness to contracting Departments. It is generally unsafe to rely on an agreement between masters and men in one firm, and the fact that this existed would not make it unnecessary for them to refer to the Committee for advice. On the 7th Sir Richmond Ritchie wrote to the Secretary of the Committee suggesting that, subject to any remarks by Sir George Askwith, the Secretary of State [Lord Crewe] believed that it would be unnecessary for the Committee to consider the case further. As the delay in obtaining a reply had been so long, they [the India Office] were anxious to see if the Advisory Committee could advise whether, in view of the present situation at Dowlais, they should be safe in accepting tenders from the firm. The Secretary replied conveying what amounts to a refusal of the Chairman to advise on this question, and asking if they still required an answer to the question of 23 August. Montagu was drafting a reply to the effect that he must require an answer, as he could obtain no advice from the Committee as to whether such answers could safely be dispensed with; but before he could send it Mr [J. M.] Robertson gave an answer in the House yesterday which he believes should not have been given before his own reply had been received. He understands that the Committee is aggrieved that the India Office has already permitted the firm to tender to them. He regrets this, and has reprimanded his Stores Department. The question is now likely to die, and he intends to inform Hardie that, as an arrangement has been made at Dowlais satisfactory to all parties, he has instructed that orders may again be placed with Guest, Keen, & Nettlefold at their Dowlais Works.

(This draft was made on the 11th, but the fair-copy was not sent till the following day.)

Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens, S.W.—Montagu has no substantial grievance against the Fair Wages Advisory Committee or the Board of Trade. He is sorry that he was not consulted as to the terms of Robertson’s reply in the House, but it was based on an official letter from the India Office conveying the Secretary of State’s opinion that no further consideration of the case was necessary. He is anxious to protect the Committee from being forced to shelter contracting Departments and weaken their sense of responsibility.

India Office, Whitehall, S.W.—His complaint against the Fair Wages Advisory Committee is that it stops short of giving the advice necessary to produce harmony between Government Departments. Such advice cannot shelter the contracting parties, who are free to to accept or reject its advice. He accepts that Buxton is not responsible for the Committee, but points out that the Board of Trade always answers questions on in it in the House and that it often uses Board of Trade paper. The opinion communicated in the Secretary of State’s letter, which was written with Montagu’s approval, was explicitly stated to be subject to Sir George Askwith’s approval. The letter was only written because of the Committee’s delay, and Buxton took action without waiting for the India Office’s reply to Askwith’s letter of 8 December. He will not be sorry if Buxton consults the Cabinet on the matter, since, if Buxton’s views of the Committee hold good and if future negotiations with the Committee proceed along similar lines, it is not as useful a body as it might be. But he hopes Buxton will not act till the Secretary of State [for India] is present to answer his contention.

(Carbon copy?)

Predominantly consisting of correspondence between Henry Babington Smith and Sir Edward Grey and between Babington Smith and S. C. Buxton; some other correspondence.