In that letter Mr. MacDonald stated that he thought it
necessary to reiterate that the British Government had never recognized the legality of the occupation of the Ruhr, and though the Conference had agreed to the time limit" of a year, the British Government " urged most strongly that the Governments concerned should take every possible step to hasten the evacuation, as, in the opinion of the British Government, the continued occupa- tion may prejudice the working of the Dawes plan." This letter has not been particularly well received in Paris, where it is regarded as a fussy insistence upon what was already sufficiently well known. We are now told that the chief of Mr. MacDonald's critics was Mr. Snowden. According to " A. P. N.," the well-informed political correspondent of the Westminster Gazette, there has been " a great deal of strain " between the Prime Minister \ and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This, indeed, may be deduced plainly enough from an interview with Mr. Snowden which was published in the -Winchester Guardian of Tuesday.
