| Description | Correspondence between Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain dated 1927. Throughout 1927, Churchill was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Chamberlain was Minister of Health. A letter from Philip Cunliffe-Lister [Cunliffe-Lister, Philip (1884-1972) 1st Earl of Swinton, politician] to Chamberlain; and reports and memoranda regarding Churchill's rating relief scheme and Chamberlain's Poor Law reform scheme are also included.
The letters relate to Churchill's scheme for the reduction of rates for agriculture, manufacturing, transport and public utilities and Chamberlain's scheme for reform of the Poor Law and local government.
The file contains the following items:
/12: Letter from Churchill to Chamberlain, 18 October. Relates to the rate relief scheme being 'the main objective of the Finance of next year' though he is unsure whether it can be achieved; says that 'joint action' on a scheme 'is indispensable'; and says that Chamberlain 'must not expect me to produce 3 or 4 millions a year for a partial scheme of modest dimensions [ie Chamberlain's scheme for Poor Law reform]'
/13: A typescript report from the Treasury on Churchill's rate relief scheme. Chamberlain has annotated some comments to the report.
/14-15: Letter from Churchill to Chamberlain (with enclosed printed memorandum by Churchill), 17 December. Relates to Churchill's enclosed memorandum on his rate relief scheme combined with Chamberlain's Poor Law scheme; and urges Chamberlain to not reject the scheme saying that if Chamberlain does reject the scheme that he 'shall have to recast my finance on purely negative but highly orthodox lines'.
/16-17: Manuscript draft memoranda by Chamberlain objecting to Churchill's rate relief scheme and regarding Chamberlain's Poor Law reform scheme.
/18: Letter from Chamberlain to Churchill, 20 December (manuscript copy). Response to Churchill's letter and accompanying memorandum saying he does 'not wish to commit myself to a final judgement' on Churchill's scheme but 'that in its present form I see grave difficulties' and that he cannot see how Churchill's scheme can be linked up with Poor Law reform.
/19: Letter from P. Cunliffe-Lister to Chamberlain, 28 December. Relating to Churchill's memorandum and other matters. |