Diary, 1926 - London, Scotland, Paris and Berlin

Scope and Content

Many meetings of the Colwyn Committee on National Debt and Taxation, the Bank of England Committee of Treasury and Finance and Statistical Committees, the Eastern Telegraph Company, the United States Debt Committee, the Royal Commission on India Currency and Finance, the Boxer Indemnity Committee and the Universities' China Committee, the P&O, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and St Felix Council; also family matters, reading, theatre and concert visits.

JANUARY Attends meeting with Lord Willingdon to discuss his forthcoming visit to China as chairman of the Anglo-Chinese mission; working on Colwyn Committee report; attends Bank of England committee meetings discussing gold imports, the bank rate, Belgium, Greece and the gold standard for India.

FEBRUARY Many committee meetings and discussions on guaranteed bills, German bank loans, Indian gold standard and salt gaballe.

MARCH Many committee meetings, in particular work for the Indian Currency Commission; declines to address St Peter's Missionary Society, the Overseas Banks Association and the Currency Association but makes successful speech on 'The Call of China' at St Katherine's Church, Regents Park, London; also many discussions at the Bank of England with the governor, deputy controller and head of discount department, 'And they say Directors do no work!' 8; also talks on Belgian exchange, China policy and the blockade of Canton; continued work on the Colwyn Committee report and disappointment at the failure to avoid a Labour minority report; to Paris and Berlin.

APRIL Many meetings and talks including the first meeting of a committee for exchanging visits of Chinese and English professors, and visits to Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) office to discuss co-operation with Germans in the Far East in loan negotiations.

MAY To City by bicycle during the General Strike; continued meetings and talks including talks on wireless in China; to Edinburgh for family visits and seeking holiday accommodation; to Berlin.

JUNE To Berlin and Paris; continued Colwyn Committee meetings, 'Colwyn is not a good Chairman', 22, continued discussions on a successor to the Governor of the Bank of England; translates long German telegram. 'I feel the hours given to German grammar are bearing fruit.' 26.

JULY Attends National Savings meetings, more discussions at the Bank of England about Norman's successor, 'a boring subject', 13; meetings at the Foreign Office on Lord Willingdon's Boxer Indemnity report; to Berlin.

AUGUST Family holiday at Ethie Castle, Scotland.

SEPTEMBER Colwyn Committee meetings, 'a tedious affair. But after over two years we are nearing the end', 22; Norman to continue as Governor of the Bank of England, to Berlin.

OCTOBER Boxer Indemnity Committee report signed, 'a long tedious and difficult job. It is not a good report embodying as it does a series of compromises.' 18

NOVEMBER Many meetings including discussions on Indian Currency report; advises Lamont of views on recognition of the Kuomintang government in China; attends lectures on the gold standard by Ralph Hawtrey; refuses to raise money in the City for the Shanghai YMCA; to Berlin.

DECEMBER Working on Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) chairman's speech.

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