Timothy A. Smiddy to Desmond FitzGerald (Dublin)

Dear Mr Minister:

I trust you will excuse my bringing to your notice a personal matter and my asking you to give it your sympathetic consideration.

I enclose a memorandum which I received from the Secretary of your Department with reference to my rent allowance.

1. The principle stated by Mr Boland ¹ in the last paragraph thereof is against all diplomatic precedent. All Chiefs of Missions in Washington and other countries are given residence allowances without any condition other than that vouchers must be submitted for the rents actually paid. This principle is adhered to in Mr Crawford's case who, I note, is to be allowed a rent allowance which is to have effect as from October 1st, 1924.

2. Again, there is no such proviso in the letter sent to me on December 18th, 1924, which authorises a rent allowance not to exceed £1,000 per annum.

3. The rent I have already paid is much larger than a person with my salary would be normally expected to pay - roughly a third of my net salary. My rent will be at least three times more than this as soon as my family arrives. The rent of my house at Foxrock is £144 per annum: an adequate amount for a salary of £1,500, less income tax. Hence, on Mr Boland's own principle - a principle which I do not admit - I should get a refund of two-thirds of rent already paid.

4. Mr Boland, in his memorandum, refers to a 'suite of rooms' and to the absence of a residence. This is quite an inaccurate description and I would point out that Mr Boland is not acquainted with one of the normal modes of residence in this country. I reside in a large Apartment Hotel which practically means a group of residences within one building, each of which is a selfcontained flat - kitchens, halls, etc. The majority of Senators, Secretaries of the Government Departments, many Ministers, live in such Apartments. For instance, in the Apartment Hotel in which I live there reside Secretary of Labour Davis, Secretary of the Department of Justice, the Chief of the Inland Revenue, and the following Chiefs of Mission:- the Minister of Portugal - Dean of the Ministers-, the Minister of Bolivia, the Minister of Nicaragua, the Minister of Paraguay, the Minister of the Dominican Republic and upwards of fifty Secretaries of Legations.

Many members of the U.S.A. Cabinet, such as Secretary Mellon - worth over two hundred million dollars - and the others referred to above reside in apartments. Hence, Mr Boland's conception of what an apartment and suite of rooms are is inaccurate: it is a customary method of residence in this city, and the one I have is worthy of the dignity of the Irish Free State.

5. When I procure a larger apartment as soon as my family arrives my rent will be equal to the amount of my net salary - $525.00 per month. Unless I receive rent allowance to the full amount of £1,000 per annum it will be impossible for me to maintain, even frugally, the dignity of the Irish Free State.

6. I have considered carefully the feasibility of a house and visited several houses and find that the cost of a staff alone would be $600.00 or £120 per month: this in addition to the lowest rent at which a suitable furnished house can be acquired - $600.00 per month - makes such a proposition untenable: it would leave little available for entertainment or representation.

7. I am sure Mr Boland does not realize the amount of expenditure a Minister has to incur - as also Secretaries - on necessary entertainment. Dinners, luncheons, receptions are tendered by diplomats and members and heads of the Government and their Departments which have to be returned - twice and three times a week one is obliged to entertain in some form. It is a necessary part and an inevitable consequence of the presence of a Minister and Legation here.

8. In view of the above I am sure the Minister of Finance will agree to refund in full the rent already paid by me and pay in future £1,000 per annum as rent allowance, provided that that sum or more has been expended in rent: this is in accordance with the practice of all Governments which give a rent allowance irrespective of the condition laid down by Mr Boland.

9. On account of the financial embarrassment occasioned by withholding my rent allowance with the consequent reduction of my standard of living to a degree out of keeping with the dignity of my position, I trust, Mr Minister you will give my request your sympathetic support and inform me of the result at your earliest convenience - if possible by cable.