My dear P.M.,

I had a talk to Sir Hugo Hirst [1] a few days ago about which I
sent you a telegram with reference to your Industrial Conference.

He told me that he had decided to accept the invitation to be one
of the Big Four [2] in response to pressure from you, Amery [3]
and Lovat [4], which I knew before, but at which I registered
great surprise and delight. He went on to tell me of his meeting
with you at Birmingham in 1926 and how he took you over his works.

It must have been at this meeting, he intimated, that his
qualities became so impressed on you that you reverted to him in
this, your hour of stress. I thought of the many people who had
been asked to make the Big Four before him, and smiled inwardly.

He is a selfmade man and, as such, is rightly proud of his maker,
but after one has paid due homage to this aspect of things, I have
always found him expansive and easy to get on with. His business
(the General Electric and allied companies) comes easily first in
his life, but as long as that is going along satisfactorily, he is
out to help, and I am always able to go to him and find him
sympathetic and approachable.

Since I have been back in London I have, by arrangement, seen the
High Commissioner [5] each week at a stated time, and have kept
him verbally and briefly informed. I am on good terms with him and
with them all at Australia House. My weekly period with him,
however, is only about a quarter of an hour. He does not want
anything except head lines, and it has rather come down to an
understanding that I do not fail to inform him of anything of
outstanding importance to Australia.

I am rather pleased at having discovered the existence of secret
Admiralty Intelligence Reports, in a self-contained form, about
all the important countries of the world, and I have arranged with
them to have copies of such as are up to date sent to the External
Affairs Department-the remainder will follow in due course. The
existence of these Reports is kept very secret and it was only
after several visits to the Naval Intelligence Department that I
happened on them and, after a series of letters and more visits,
that I was given the privilege of getting copies sent to you. They
contain a most useful collection of well-indexed secret
information about each country, that they keep up to date by
issuing loose leaf addenda from time to time. Normally they are
issued only to Naval Commanders-in-Chief. They had not sent copies
to the Foreign Office!

I enclose cutting from the 'Times' of February 15th. [6]

I am going into the question of how the records and registration
are dealt with both in the Foreign Office and in the C.I.D. and
Cabinet Offices, and will send you a complete description shortly.

If you have any reorganisation in view, or if your ideas about a
Cabinet Secretariat are developing, it may be of use.

If I can make reasonable arrangements with the De Havilland
Company, I propose to learn to fly this spring. I have done a good
deal of observing and armchair flying, and am keen to fly myself.

I do not think it worth while having a 'Moth' of one's own in this
country as the flying conditions are not very good. It would be
quite different in Australia.

I enclose copy of a personal letter that I have written to
Henderson by this mail, on the question of it being part of my job
to keep you informed on Defence matters from the C.I.D. point of
view. I very much want to get this nailed to the mast. [7]

You may care to know that the approximate dates on which other
Dominion elections are legally due in the ordinary course of
events are as follows:-

Canada September 1931.

South Africa June 1929.

New Zealand November 1928.

Irish Free State June 1931.

Newfoundland June 1928.

The 'Francs case' [8] report is now published and has very much
depressed the Foreign Office. I enclose the full report from 'The
Times', not that I think it necessary for you to read it, but
someone in Canberra may be interested. It is, I think, generally
regarded (in and about Whitehall at least) as erring on the harsh
side. Personally I think the result was inevitable in view of
public opinion, but is particularly hard on the individuals (other
than Gregory [9], whose case is indefensible). [10]

I enclose 'Times' cutting of rather a nice little speech of Sir
James Barrie at a Worcestershire Association dinner.

The story is told that a jarvey in Dublin, whilst taking Mr. de
Valera [11] to his destination, engaged him in conversation and
eventually asked him, with due politeness, what was the
nationality of his father-and was told that his father was partly
Spanish, partly Portuguese and partly South American-to which came
the reply, 'Sure, your honour, it was a great traveller your
mother must have been'.

I am, Yours sincerely,
R.G. CASEY