Volume 3 1926~1932


Doc No.
Date
Subject

No. 273 NAI DFA 17/16

Extracts from a memorandum by Daniel A. Binchy on his trip to and arrival in Berlin (Copy)

Berlin, 10 October 1929

I arrived in Berlin this morning and have taken an apartment in the hotel, according to instructions. Mr. McCauley is also staying here for the present. As you know, we were to have left London on Tuesday and arrived here on Wednesday, but a stupid mistake on the part of Cook's in the reservations made this impossible. We were booked specifically for the 11.20 train from Victoria, and when, about 11.5, we came to the station to have our heavy luggage registered, we were informed that we had missed the Nord Express, as in order to catch it we should have travelled by the 11.0 a.m. train. Cook's representative at the station admitted the error and furnished us with a set of tickets for the same route on the next day. In order to travel by the particular boat which catches the Nord Express (The Golden Arrow) it was necessary to pay a supplement of 10/- each, which would have been included in the original reservations, had Messrs. Cook's Dublin office made them correctly.

In London, acting on instructions, I paid formal calls on Sir Charles Davis, Permanent Under-Secretary for the Dominions, and Mr. Mounsley of the Foreign Office. The former was friendly and as genial as his very great deafness would allow him to be: the latter was polite, but obviously suspicious. In both cases, conversation was kept on the most general lines. When the question of the British Embassy in Berlin cropped up, I acknowledged the help which had been given by some of its members during my visit in July. Beyond this, nothing was said on this point.

[matter omitted]

Tomorrow, I hope to visit the British Embassy and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where I hope to arrange a date for the presentation of my credentials to the President. I will report on the result of this interview immediately.

(Sgd) D.A. Binchy