ANOTHER LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1868, 30 September 1913, Page 7

ANOTHER LETTER.

MR. LLOYD-GEORGE AND THE CECILS, LORD SELBORNE STATES HIS CASE, By Telegraph-Prow A«oct&uon i -Ooi)yrii:M London, September 1 28. ... In connection with the attack mads by Mr. Lloyd-George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, oil members of tlio Cecil family, the Earl of Selboruc, in a letter to Mr. Lloyd-George, states that when" ho (tlio Earl) was appointed UnderSecretary for tlio Colonies in 1895 ho offered to resign his Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company directorship, but Lord Salisbury ; then Prime Minister, declared that it was unnecessary to do so, as ho was not a Cabinet Minister and shipping contracts! were not negotiated by tlio ColonialOffice. When, however, ho came to tlw Admiralty in 1900 he resigned from the Peninsular and Oriental Company's directorship and sold liis shares. Ho adds that his case is wholly different to Mr, Lloyd-George's.

Lord Selborno's letter js a contribution: to the controversy between Mr. Lloyd-' George and the Cecil family over tlia former's allegation that certain members of tlie latter Hiad hecn "peculiarly often- ■ sive in negotiating huge contracts with tho Uni6nist Government when in office." Mr. Lloyd-George said that he could fur-* nish instances, and in reply to a ohak lenge hy tho Marquis of Salisbury to cits these instances, ho pointed out that tho sole responsibility for their publication,'; would rest with his• Lordshdn. Lord Sel-;.' borne is related to the Cecil family, and was some time TJnder-Seoretary for tli«'., Colonies (1895-lflOO), First Lord of the Ad- 1 miralty (1900-1905), and Governor of tlio' Transvaal and High Commissioner for South Africa.