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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

mmimmim C.O. 885

22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

|ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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be helpful in the matter-perhaps even financially!), and British Africa and Austra- lasia might follow. It will take about five years for the pupils who have heard these India lectures to work their way up through and out of the school, and though the same lectures might quite profitably be repeated in three years' time, it would be much better if schools like ours could have the use of a cycle of series that would provide a different set of slides for each of five years.

蠢

Dr. Macdonald does not know I am writing but I shall tell him to-morrow I have done so. Should he conclude that this epistle may excuse him from writing more than a mere note when he returns the slides (he is extremely busy), your Com- mittee will, I trust, agree with him. I am quite sure that he, and all the teachers of geography, and all the pupils would, if they knew that I was writing, join with mein very heartily thanking the Committee for their wise kindness in lending the slides.

The Secretary,

St. Andrew's Provincial Committee,

St. Andrews.

7658/11

No. 6.

Yours faithfully,

JAMES GIFFORD.

MESSRS. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND COMPANY to VISUAL INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE.

39, Paternoster Row, London, E.C.,

February 2nd, 1912.

DEAR SIR,

WE are much obliged by your letter of January 30th,* referring to our letter of May 10th, 1911,† in which we stated the terms on which we would undertake the reproduction of a series of wall-pictures from originals painted by Mr. A. II.

Fisher.

We note that in several particulars the conditions under which the Visual Instruction Committee then invited us to tender have been modified. We have given further consideration to the question, and under the changed conditions we regret to say that we do not see our way to renew our offer to reproduce the pictures.

We are much indebted to the Committee for consulting us on the matter

36499/10

And remain, &c.,

·

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND COMPANY.

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In the meantime I had tackled Australia, only to find a total absence of pictorial material for large areas; it was not a case of underpinning but of creating something out of nothing. I had to depend on my imagination, together with the indications of possible subjects for slides given by the miscellaneous collection of rather poor material which I received in addition to the albums of photos. You will realise the deficiencies when you come to make the slides. The result was that the Australian lectures had to be re-cast three times and took as many weeks as the New Zealand took days, since here the material was fairly complete. When I returned from my holiday the seven Australasian lectures were in manuscript and needed only typing and correcting; Fiji remained to be written. I had allotted the last ten clear days of the vacation to this, but was asked by Sir Charles Lucas to write a new lecture for set one, and to push this set on with all speed. So I spent the ten days collecting material, and even took the trouble to borrow negatives and take trial prints myself, in order to save the delay involved in sending them to Newton.

A clear ten days' loss takes a good deal of catching up in a busy session, but I managed to get six of the Australian set ready for the critics. The rest of my spare time was occupied, as you know, in the troublesome business connected with the completion of the slides, as the actual correction of the proofs was only a matter of a few hours. The making of the slides is not my business, but if I had been personally responsible I should certainly not have left it until the lectures were in proof, as the greater part of the work might have been done in the summer when the makers were not busy. I am not responsible for the delay due to the slides or to the inadequacy of the material supplied to me by the Committee, and it has imposed on me a great deal of work which I did not engage to do and for which the only payment is the sense of satisfaction in the improvement of the quality of the lectures. When I undertook the lectures I laid aside some important and partly-finished work of my own, anticipating that the heaviest part of the task would be over by the beginning of this session. I also postponed the consideration, in the spring, of the offer of some well-paid work until I could see the end of the lectures near; I was again pressed on the matter in the autumn and felt bound to give a definite refusal, in view of the backward state of the lectures. So that I may claim to have a real grievance arising out of the delay.

I rather pride myself, as a rule, in being up to time with any work which 1 undertake; but I doubt if anyone, even devoting his whole time to it, could have completed the lectures properly in the time arranged, having regard to the character if the illustrative material. For myself, I should never have pretended to undertake such a task, though I do not hold the Committee or Mr. Mackinder responsible for the misunderstanding, since it is impossible to realise the deficiencies of the material until you come to handle it in detail.

I am typing this to save your eyes the task of deciphering my handwriting.

No. 7.

MR. A. J. SARGENT to SIR E. IM THURN. [Answered by No. 9.]

DEAR SIR EVERARD IM THURN,

79, College Road, Bromley, Kent,

February 5th, 1912. I AM Sorry that I could not call on you to-day, but I welcome the opportunity given by your letter of dealing with the subject of the delay of the lectures. The delay is a far more serious matter for me than for the Committee, and I have only refrained from raising the question earlier because I strongly object to giving up a piece of work once it is undertaken, and I assumed that the Committee realised that I was doing work for which I was not paid and which I had not contracted to do. I seem to have been in error, so here is my view of the case.

I undertook to write the three sets of lectures around the illustrative material provided, and was warned by Mr. Mackinder that a certain amount of underpinning would be needed in the case of Canada. There was a slight delay at the start as he was in Scotland, and I wished, in the interest of the lectures, to consult him before plunging into an unknown task. But I was able to deliver the completed draft of the first set early in April, although the work was done at the busiest period of the session. The draft was returned to me from the critics just when I was thinking of my summer holiday.

• No. 4.

† No. 111 in Miscellaneous No. 249.

* 36409 10: not printed.

38281/11

No. 8.

Yours sincerely,

ARTHUR J. SARGENT.

THIE RIIODES TRUST to SIR CHARLES LUCAS.

Seymour House, Waterloo Place, London, S.W.,

7th February, 1912.

DEAR SIR,

I LAID your letter of the 11th of January* before the Rhodes Trustees at their meeting on the 5th instant. The Trustees agreed to your suggestion, and decided to waive the condition that the Colonial Office should send a representative to South Africa to obtain material for the lectures, illustrated by lantern slides, on South Africa, for use in schools of the United Kingdom. India, and the Colonies, towards which the Trustees made a grant of £500 in May, 1910.

Yours faithfully,

Sir Charles Lucas, K.C.M.G., C.B.

No. 1.

D. MÅVOR.

for the Secretary.

36499/10

G

No. 9.