My dear Prime Minister,

All my good resolutions about preparing for you an outline of
possible subjects for discussion on the economic side of the next
Imperial Conference have had to be postponed owing to the
continued pressure of work in connection with the establishment of
the new Agricultural Science Bureaux. [1]

The meetings of the Financial Advisory Body have continued during
this week and we hope to complete our labours tomorrow. I am very
glad to be able to say that everything has gone very well indeed
and I feel that we owe a considerable debt of gratitude to Sir
Charles Howell Thomas, the Permanent Head of the Ministry of
Agriculture, for accommodating his pre-conceptions to our Imperial
aims.

I have definitely decided to recommend the creation of 3 'Senior'
and 5 'Junior' Bureaux and to limit the total expenditure to a sum
of 20,000 for the next five years. This will mean that a
recommendation will be made that Australia should pay the sum of
about 3,100 a year which I suppose will be divided between the
Commonwealth and the States.

Our hope of obtaining the services which we expect these Bureaux
will render for so small an expenditure is due to the fact that we
believe we have obtained the consent of the Governing Bodies of
eight first class Scientific Agricultural Research Stations to the
Bureaux being placed in these Institutions with the free use of
their library and all other facilities.

British agriculture will, of course, gain to a certain extent from
the establishment of these Bureaux but the Bureaux will be of more
obvious and direct assistance to the overseas parts of the Empire.

Under these circumstances I cannot help feeling that the Ministry
of Agriculture, the Board of Agriculture for Scotland and the
Governing Bodies of the Institutes to which we are proposing to
attach the Bureaux, have taken a generous and broadminded point of
view. I shall, of course, be forwarding an official report on this
subject in about a fortnight's time but I would like to suggest
that, when a suitable occasion arises, you might take the
opportunity of expressing your appreciation of the way in which
British Institutions have cooperated to make this idea feasible.

While on this subject, I should just like to say that I think it
is very important that Australia should be prepared to adopt a
rather generous attitude to the question of financial
contributions to Bodies such as the British Woollen & Worsted
Research Association. I am, of course, not suggesting for a moment
that Australia should make any contributions to either Imperial or
British Institutions except where it is felt that value for money
will be received but Australia is today obtaining most useful
support for the development of her research activities through the
Empire Marketing Board-a support which could be measured in tens
of thousands of pounds. It will certainly facilitate further
assistance from Empire Marketing Board funds if Australia on her
side is prepared to be generous in contributions to such pieces of
work as the new Imperial Bureaux, the Empire scheme for Mechanical
Transport research and to such Research Institutions as the
Commonwealth Council may feel it desirable to subscribe.

PUBLICITY FOR AUSTRALIA

I have been convinced for many months that more attention ought to
be given to the question of how to present the idea of Australia
to the British public. Thinking over this subject, I came to the
conclusion that there were a number of Bodies equally interested
in a successful solution of this idea including the Commonwealth
Government, the Australian joint Publicity Scheme-represented by
Mr. Hyland [2]-the Shipping Companies trading with Australia and
the Empire Marketing Board and I therefore arranged, in
collaboration with Colonel Manning [3], of the Migration
Department, to give a lunch in Australia House attended by
representatives of these Bodies. This lunch occurred today and was
attended by Sir Alan Anderson [4] and two other Members of the
staff of the Orient Line, Mr. Oscar Thompson [5], Tallents and
Huxley of the Empire Marketing Board [6], Mr. Hyland, Messrs.

Trumble [7], Collins [8], Manning and myself so far as the
Commonwealth Government instrumentalists are concerned, and most
important of all Mr. Frank Pick [9], the General Manager of the
Underground Railways, who has made a hobby of publicity and who
should be regarded as far and away the most successful advertiser
in Great Britain.

We had a most interesting talk, to which Sir Alan Anderson and Mr.

Pick were the chief contributors. We came to the conclusion that
as Australian States do not compare favorably in beauty with many
Cities that people could visit and that, as from a purely scenic
point of view New Zealand and South Africa offer greater
advantages to the tourist than does Australia, the line to take in
regard to Australia was to lay stress upon the dynamic
possibilities of Australia and the opening that Australia offered
as a career for young men with some prospects.

It is of course impossible to go very far in such a discussion
around the lunch table but I suggested that an informal Committee
should be set up, under the Chairmanship of Colonel Manning, to
discuss the question of the presentation of Australia to the
British public. This was agreed to and it is hoped that in about
four months' time, we may be in a position to have prepared and
agreed a report which I hope the Commonwealth Government will find
to be of considerable value. At Mr. Oscar Thompson's suggestion,
it was agreed that the Committee should seek an opportunity of
conferring with the Business Mission on its return from Australia.

The Committee appointed consists of the following:

Colonel Manning, Chairman
Mr. J. R. Collins
Mr. A. E. Hyland
Mr. G. Huxley (of the Empire Marketing Board)
Mr. T. Tallents (Secretary of the Orient Co.)

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL