| Description | Letter written from Highbury, Birmingham, dated 4 October. Chamberlain agrees that the present rate of expenditure cannot be maintained and that Hicks-Beach [1837-1916, politician and first Earl St Aldwyn] was right to alert his colleagues to the seriousness of the financial situation. However he maintains his view that an increase in military expenditure cannot be avoided in the next budget. He comments on the reestablishment of the Sinking Fund. He discusses a proclamation, pointing out that it cannot be enforced without legislation and discussing its impact on prisoners of war. He comments on the alleged correspondence between Kitchener [1850-1916, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and army officer] and Schalk Burger [1852-1918, South African military leader, lawyer, and statesman]. |