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His Lordship does not feel sure from the tenor of that communication that their Lordships fully apprehended the effect of the changes which were made in July last upon the position and prospects of Mr. Woods, and he desires me to request that you will bring the matter again before their Lordships, in the hope that they may see sufficient ground for reconsidering their decision.

The points to which Lord Kimberley would specially direct attention will be found in the letter from this Department of the 21st July, which explains, as you will observe, that Mr. Woods came to this office from the Treasury with distinct expectations of promotion, and that by reason of the abolition of the office to which he hoped to succeed he has now lost the chance of that promotion. He has, indeed, been placed in a class the salary of which by annual increments rises to 6001, but it will be perceived that this affords him no better prospect than that of ultimately attaining to the minimum salary attached to the appointment which was abolished.

The abolition of the office of librarian has resulted in a considerable saving to the public, and Lord Kimberley would suggest that, under these circumstances, their Lordships would not create any inconvenient precedent by granting to Mr. Woods, who, within a little, has had 40 years continuous service, the maximum salary of the class to which he has been appointed.

I have, &c.

The Secretary to the Treasury.

(Signed)

ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.

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towards me at the Treasury, and the reason which influenced the authorities there in selecting me for the post of assistant librarian.

your

"You were selected for the appointment at the Colonial Office, from a regard to merits and qualifications, with the intention that you might obtain earlier and better promotion in consequence of the transfer."-(C. E. Trevelyan, December 12, 1871.)

I hope I have now shown cause sufficient to induce your Lordship to urge once more on the Treasury the justice of your former recommendations in my favour. I feel that it must be repugnant to a nobleman filling the high office of a Secretary of State to subject his recommendation to a third refusal, but I trust your Lordship will remember that the compensation I seek is of much importance to me, and further, you will be giving the authorities at the Treasury another opportunity of relieving their decision from the appearance of inconsistency or caprice.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley.

No. 6.

ви

I have, &c. (Signed)

W. W. WOODS.

PUBLIC RECORD. OFFICE

Reference :-

IC.O. 885.

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4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC.

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

No. 4.

TREASURY to COLONIAL OFFICE.

SIB,

Treasury Chambers, July 18, 1871. THE Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have had before them your letter of the 10th instant,† again bringing the case of Mr. Woods under the consideration of this Board.

Their Lordships desire me to acquaint you, for the information of the Earl of Kimberley, that after fully considering the recommendation of the Secretary of State, they are unable to perceive any circumstances which would justify them in departing from the decision conveyed in the letter from this Board of the 30th August 1870.$

I have, &c. Robert G. W. Herbert, Esq.

(Signed) WILLIAM LAW.

MY LORD,

No. 5.

W. W. WOODS, Esq., to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Colonial Office, September 30, 1872. THE Treasury having conceded the principle of compensation for loss of office, and of expectation of office (by its abolition) in the case of the private_secretaryships, I would hope that on a revision of their decision in my case, the Treasury would approve of your Lordship's two recommendations'in my favour, as founded on the same principle, and from which I quote two passages in support of my argument for a like

rule in a like case:

"Instead of this promotion Mr. Woods will be still attached to the library in the position of assistant, a class whose salaries rise from 3501. to 6001. a year, the maximum salary of the assistant being the minimum of the old librarianship, the post to which Mr. Woods would, in the natural course of things, have succeeded, and to the duties of which he does in the main succeed."-(Sir F. Rogers, July 21, 1870.)

"Mr. Woods came to this office with distinct expectations of promotion, and by reason of the abolition of the office to which he hoped to succeed, he has now lost the chance of that promotion."-(R. G. W. Herbert, July 10, 1871.

If any corroboration of these statements were necessary, the following extract from Sir Charles Trevelyan's letter ought to suffice, as showing the sentiments entertained

↑ No. 8.

‡ No. 2.

• No. 1.

MY LORD,

W. W. WOODS, Esq., to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Colonial Office, February 24, 1874.

I HOPE I may not subject myself to the imputation of unseemly haste in appealing to your Lordship so soon after your assumption of office against a decision of the late Board of Treasury, but if I should be so unfortunate I feel sure Mr. Herbert, for whose sympathy and assistance I am very grateful, will willingly bear testimony to the patience with which I have for nearly four years suffered a very grievous wrong, much aggravated by the knowledge of how very easy it was to correct it.

"Non levius fit patientiâ,

Quicquid corrigere est fas."

I might with confidence rest my case on the Earl of Kimberley's two letters, copies of which are annexed, but courtesy to your Lordship and justice to myself compel me to trouble you with some details, so as to place my case and myself both before you in their proper light.

In 1859, the late Lord Lytton, then Secretary, your Lordship being Under Secretary of State, wrote to the Treasury offering the under-librarianship of this office to "any creditable man "

in that department, in these words:-

"The pay 2001. to 4001, rising by tens; his probable though not the only possible advancement would be to the post of librarian, 600l. to 8007., rising by twenties. Such then is the post we have to offer."

I, then a clerk in the Treasury, at 4002. a year, was selected for the appointment, as Sir Charles Trevelyan writes:-

"From a regard to your merits and qualifications, with the intention that you might obtain earlier and better promotion in consequence of the transfer."

In full reliance on the bona fides of this offer I accepted the post without hesitation. What has been the result? In 1870, after a service of 11 years as under librarian, without any increase to the salary at which I entered, the office of librarian, the post to which as Lord Kimberley writes,-

the

"Mr. Woods has been required to look as the recompense of his services;" post to which Mr. Woods would in the natural course of things have succeeded, and to the duties of which be cloes in the main succeed," was abolished, and I was placed in the class of assistant clerks, rising to 6007. by twenties, the minimum of the librarian's salary.

On my protesting against this arrangement, so much at variance with the terma offered me by Lord Lytton, Sir F. Rogers (Lord Blachford) proposed as a compromise that I should receive at once the salary of 6004., and accordingly Lord Kimberley recommended it for the sanction of the Treasury, who refused it in these terms, as offensive as they are unjust :-

"My Lords do not see sufficient reason for raising Mr. Woods' salary, which appears to them to be adequate to the duties which he discharges. My Lords cannot at the end of 10 or 11 years after Mr. Woods' removal from the Treasury enter into a discussion of what his position might now have been had he remained in this Department."

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