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James Burness & Sons
London and 3, Bute Crescent, Cardiff
138, Leadenhall Street

London, 23rd November 1916
Messrs Worms & C° - Paris

Dear Sirs,
Bordeaux & the General Situation. We beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 20th inst. and are much obliged to you for posting us so fully with reference to the coal position in France, which we very much regret to see is even more serious than we had thought. We must confess that the impression conveyed to us by our recent interview with Mr. Barbier of the Bureau des charbons here is that, in his opinion at any rate, the scheme is working satisfactorily and although he did not say so in so many words he was of opinion that the scheme was working fairly well taking it as a whole and he hinted that in the past you had been somewhat generously dealt with and consequently there was a certain amount of leeway to make up to the other shippers to France. We hope we may be mistaken in taking this view.
We were very pleased to hear today from your Cardiff House that it was rumoured no further licenses were to be granted to Spanish ports after this week and are hopeful that this may result in freeing tonnage for the French ports.
When we went up today to endeavour to have an interview with Lieut. Thoumyre, it would appear that this gentleman was engaged at a meeting and Mr. Barbier came to see us as on previous occasions. He then told us that he did not know of the promise which had been made to you by Lieut. Thoumyre that a 2.000 tonner should be allocated to you for Havre in consideration of the undertaking you had given him in the mean­time to supply the gasworks there with coal from your stock, but he promised later in the day to have a word with that gentleman and we are pleased to say he came through to us this evening to tell us that a 3.000 tonner had already been allocated to your Newcastle House. We thanked him for this but said although we had spoken to Newcastle several times in the course of the day they did not appear yet to have had a boat named to them. However on speaking to Mr. Torry this evening when he had just returned from the Committee he told us they had just received a letter from the Bureau des charbons confirming that the "Felix" 3.500 tons had been allocated to them, that the boat was described as being due Tyne to discharge but they rather thought she was still at Bayonne. This we shall mention to you when next on the telephone suggesting at Mr. Torry's request that perhaps you might be able to get some information from Bayonne as to her position.
We are, dear Sirs,
Yours truly,

James Burness & Sons