PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference
C.O.885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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He was informed on 1st August, 1907,* that the Committee agreed to his receiving: (1) in respect of general management of the scheme a retaining fee of £300, in quarterly instalments, extending over three years from the 1st of September, 1907; (2) £5 per lecture for authorship; and (3) a royalty upon the sale of slides, the amount of the royalty not to be settled until one year after the issue of the first set of lectures. Mr. Mackinder accepted the position offered him in a letter dated the 7th of August, 1907.† After certain correspondence had passed, his posi- tion was considered at the meeting held on the 8th of July, 1910, when he explained that, until an artist was sent out again, there would be no question of the payment to himself of a retaining fee for general management. He offered to write two sets of lectures, in addition to those on India, on the terms of the original arrangement as to fees for authorship and royalty. The Committee accepted this offer. The order in which the two sets should be produced was left to Mr. Mackinder's discre- tion.
The Sub-Committee are asked to decide what would be an equitable arrange- ment under these circumstances as between Mr. Mackinder and the Committee.
I venture to suggest that they should also recommend what amount of royalty should be paid to him on the slides of the Indian lectures, and also-which is a new question to what proportion of the 10 per cent. royalty to be paid by Messrs. Philip It is only on the popular edition of the Indian lectures he is fairly entitled. right to point out that the delay during this year in the publication of the Indian lectures was not in any way due to Mr. Mackinder, but due to referring them, at my suggestion, to the India Office and to the extreme care which it was felt necessary to take in order to ensure their accuracy; that the statement of the assets of the Committee, which is appended, shows what has been attained under his manage- ment during the three years for which he received a retaining fee; that his name has been, and is, of much value to the Committee with the publishers, and the public; and that at the present time he is engaged in initiating the use of the Indian lectures, a service which could not be rendered with the same effect by anyone else, and which should in the ordinary course result in profit to the Committee.
I would suggest that a reasonable and equitable compromise might be found by releasing him from his voluntary undertaking to write, as part of his three years' engagement, two sets of lectures, viz., on Canada and on the Imperial stations, and by making a settlement on the lines of the letter from him to me which I have annexed. Neither he nor I commit ourselves to all the details of the letter, but it is submitted as a basis of discussion.
25 October, 1910.
Annexures.
(1)
C. P. LUCAS.
ASSETS OF THE VISUAL INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE IN REGARD TO THE QUEEN'S FUND.
India:
480 slides, with corresponding negatives for reproducing them, and corres-
ponding prints in albums.
41 oil-colour paintings.
6 water-colour paintings.
500 copies of the " Eight Lectures on India" printed by Waterlow.
Canada:
1,209 negatives, and corresponding prints in albums.
36 oil-colour paintings.
Diary letter containing Fisher's notes (not the property of the Committee). Australasia:
1,360 negatives, and corresponding prints in albums,
56 oil-colour paintings.
Diary letter by Fisher, and notes of additional subjects in Government and private collections of photographs. (Diary letter not the property of the Committee.)
No. 161 in Miscellaneous No. 188.
† No. 166 in Miscellaneous No. 188.
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Imperial tour:
1,219 negatives, and corresponding prints in albums. 50 oil-colour paintings, 2 etchings.
Diary letters by Fisher (not the property of the Committee).
(2)
MY DEAR LUCAS,
243, St. James's Court, S. W., 24th October, 1910. WHEN we parted the other day after discussing alternative methods for disposing of the remainder of my task, you used an expression which set me thinking, and as the result I have come to the following conclusion, which I would ask you to be good enough to lay before the Sub-Committee.
It seems to me that I had better not be solely responsible for the completion to any promised date even of one of the three courses of lectures now in hand. These courses deal, as you will remember, with Canada, Australasia, and the Imperial Stations. The idea was that I should undertake the Imperial Stations, and should hand over to some other writer or writers the other two courses. political uncertainties which condition my non-political work, I feel that this is In view of the somewhat risky, and I am very anxious that all of these three courses should be out of hand within the next twelve months. me feel that it was highly desirable that I should retain some control over all three On the other hand, your remark made of the volumes. A new author of standing would inevitably give a wholly fresh turn to our work. I therefore make the following proposal, which will, I think, satisfy the two requirements that the completion of the work should not depend solely on my initiative and energy, and yet that the unity of the execution should not be spoiled.
ments.
I have a colleague in the University of London, Mr. A. J. Sargent, with whom I have been in the habit of working for several years past. When I cannot take a lecture he takes it for me, and I trust him to elaborate syllabuses and other docu- In other words, we have proved by experience that we are the right men to co-operate. Mr. Sargent is not, however, à mere pupil and shadow of mine. He is a Reader in the University of London and a Lecturer at the School of Economics, a man of good Oxford education, a trained geographer, and has ideas and a good style of his own. I have mentioned the matter to him, of course without in any way binding the Committee, and I find that he would be very pleased to be associated with me as joint author of the three courses still to be written. spot, and we meet at least weekly.
He is on the
The method of work which we should follow would be that I should in the first place plan the scheme. He would then make his suggestions, and we should settle the scheme. He would then write the lectures, which would be typewritten with a margin. I should make my comments, and we should settle the first draft. This, according to the precedent of the Indian lectures, would then be circulated in proof among various experts. I should be responsible for the incorporation of their suggestions, and for the final polishing. Mr. Sargent is ready to throw over all other work, and to give himself entirely to the task this winter, except for the delivery of his l'niversity lectures.
In regard to finance I make the following suggestions for the consideration of the Committee. After discharging all present liabilities, I believe that the Com- mittee have a balance of about £250, exclusive of the grant from the Rhodes Trustees. I suggest that out of this £100 should be paid to Mr. Sargent, and that £150 should he set aside for the cost of the three depût sets of slides. Another £100 would need to be raised in order to pay for a few months longer the allowances for Noall and Chamberlain, and perhaps to make a grant towards the cost of the abnormal corrections of proofs due to the interference of the experts. The cost of printing with Waterlow might be entirely avoided if we decide to issue a popular edition in each case through Messrs. Philip, as in the case of India. Messrs. Philip would, I have reason to know, be willing to undertake both the popular and lecturing editions, for which, of course, the same type could be used.
It would be necessary to give Mr. Sargent a supplementary interest over and above the fee of £100. I suggest that the 10 per cent. royalty paid to the Committee by Messrs. Philip in respect of Canada, Australasia, and the Imperial Stations, should be paid over to Mr. Sargent until he had received an additional sum of
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