Meantime negotiations had been resumed between the com- panies and
the Strike Committees at the Board of Trade in view of an alleged misunderstanding over the Government's offer of a Commission on the previous Thursday. The Prime Minister in making the offer had spoken very plainly both to the directors and the men's representatives on the national danger involved in a general strike and the policy the Govern- ment intended to pursue to protect the public. " His sternness," we quote from the Daily Chronicle, "so dig- appointed the men that they did not grasp his meaning, left the Board of Trade with an entirely erroneous idea of the Government's proposal," and declared the strike. What followed may be summarized from the Master of Elibank's communigug to Tuesday's papers. The Attorney-General was the first to learn of the misunderstanding, and at once com- municated with Mr. Lloyd George, who was acting as head of the Government in the absence of the Premier. At that very moment Mr. Ramsay MacDonald was informing the Chief Whip of his intention to move a vote of censure on the Govern- ment. Mr. Lloyd George at once summoned them both, and Mr. Ramsay MacDonald consented, in reply to an urgent appeal from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to bring the representatives of the railway men into communication with him.
