This series mainly consists of copies of cablegrams to and from the Secretary of State for Colonies, transmitted through the Governor-General (Rt Hon R Munro Ferguson), relating to arrangements for the visit of the Prime Minister (William Morris Hughes) to London for a meeting of the Imperial War Cabinet in June 1918.

Hughes' party was originally to include himself and one colleague but, in the event and despite British Admiralty concerns, a larger group of eight or nine including Hughes, Mrs Hughes, their daughter Helen, Percy Deane (Hughes' Private Secretary), Joseph Cook (Deputy Prime Minister), Sir Robert Garran and J G Latham left Sydney on 26 April 1918 on the 'Niagara'. They travelled via Auckland, Fiji and Honolulu to Vancouver (where they arrived on 19 May), then to New York (arriving 25 May) and London (arriving 15 June) (1). 

Some early cables in the series are concerned with the transmission of secret documents to members of the Imperial War Cabinet; the later ones cover the route to be taken by the 'Niagara', Hughes' belated appointment of W A Watt to act as Prime Minister in his absence, an invitation from the Governor of Fiji to call at Suva and details of the party travelling with Hughes. The latest cables were sent from Honolulu.

The Prime Minister's Department transferred the cables to archival custody in December 1955. They were originally controlled as part of Accession CP103/22. The subsequent CP359/3 accession title 'Correspondence re movement of Prime Minister to London' was revised as part of the Prime Ministers Papers Project (August 2004).

References:

(1) L F Fitzhardinge, William Morris Hughes: a political biography, Vol 2, pp 309-320