Page 219
great public interest in which the whole service was concerned;
and in the second place, whilst all of us desired that the information supplied to the Secretary of State should be as
accurate as possible, we all realized that the subjects dealt
with were of so comprehensive a nature that the facts were
difficult to get at, and therefore that the experience and
opinion of individuals must inevitably largely contribute to the
information supplied. If the experience or opinion of individual
differed from those of or held by Sir M. Nathan it would certain-
ly have been better to compare them and endeavour to arrive at
a correct opinion: instead of merely attacking them in such a manner as to suggest want of good faith. In consequence of what has occurred I regret that it should be necessary to state that the facts referred to in my memorial were neither invented by myself, nor were they based solely on my own opinion, but were
the result of consultations with many people in different positions whose experience of living in the Colony was such as
seemed to me to entitle their opinion to consideration.
3.
I now proceed to consider the statements
which have been termed inaccurate by Sir M. Nathan.
1.
I stated that "experience has shown that
the dollar has risen more than 6 d. in 18 months". Sir M. Nathan says "experience has not shown" this: the 'not' is underlined apparently to emphasise how inaccurate my statement was. He further adds that "the sterling equivalent of the dollar has not been below 1/10 since 11th October, 1904, and has never risen to 2/4". I regret to say that Sir M. Nathan has, by omitting to verify his reference, furnished the Secretary of State with inaccurate information. From the enclosed letter it will be seen that the demand rate was 1/9¼ on 7th April, 1905, i.e. close on 6 months after the date given by Sir M. Nathan. With regard to my own statement it was obviously made in round figures; I was not concerned to give the amount of the rise
accurately
Page 221