My dear Prime Minister,

I was appointed to represent the Commonwealth Government, and the
Governments of the several States, at the first Session of the
Financial Supervisory Body for the proposed new Imperial Bureaux
and Correspondence Centres. [1] This Body met on November 20th and
its meetings were continued until November 30th.

The first full day's meeting was devoted to a discussion of the
general problems; on the second day, the Directors of the
Institutions at which it was proposed to establish the Bureaux
attended, and the Financial Supervisory Body had the advantage of,
first, a discussion with the whole of the Directors present and,
later, went into detailed consideration of each Bureau with the
Director of the Institute concerned. [2]

The Financial Supervisory Body arrived unanimously at a decision
to recommend to the Governments of the Empire the establishment of
the three Bureaux and five Correspondence Centres which had been
recommended by the Imperial Agricultural Research Conference. It
was, however, decided to recommend that the term 'Correspondence
Centre' should not be used, but that the term 'Bureau' should be
applied to each of the Imperial clearing houses of information.

This decision was due to the realisation of the fact that there
was no difference, except in scale, between the functions of a
Bureau and a Correspondence Centre, and it was felt that the
general use of the term 'Bureau' would avoid confusion and need
involve no additional expense.

The Financial Supervisory Body further decided to recommend to the
Governments of the Empire a definite scale of contributions; this
scale is clearly set out in the accompanying report and
memorandum. During the discussion which occurred before a decision
was reached as to this recommendation, Dr. Grisdale [3],the
Representative of Canada, had announced that Canada would be
prepared to subscribe a similar sum to whatever Great Britain
contributed. It was felt, however, that the whole Colonial Empire
should subscribe a somewhat larger sum than either Canada or
Australia, and it was finally decided to recommend that Great
Britain and the Colonies should both make a slightly larger
contribution than Canada and Australia.

The Financial Supervisory Body, having reached definite
conclusions as to the general form of their recommendations,
decided immediately to constitute an Executive Council for the
proposed Imperial Bureaux and, in effect, the Financial
Supervisory Body constituted itself as the Executive Council.

At my suggestion, full Minutes of the discussions were kept and I
attach a set of these Minutes, which clearly show the way in which
the decisions were reached. I also attach copies of the Report of
the First Session of the Financial Supervisory Body, and of the
memorandum drawn up by the Body and accepted as the basis of the
recommendations which should be made to the Governments of the
Empire. This Report and the attached memorandum fully cover the
ground traversed, and therefore my report need hardly be more than
a covering letter.

I should, however, like to place on record the deep appreciation
which I feel for the way in which Sir Charles Howell Thomas, the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
and the representative of England and Wales on the Financial
Supervisory Body, assisted the work of that Body. The Ministry of
Agriculture directly, and almost wholly, supports six of the
Institutes at which it has been decided to recommend the creation
of new Bureaux, and in these circumstances it would have been but
natural had the Ministry suggested that it should act as agent for
the Financial Supervisory Body in the control of these Bureaux.

Sir Charles Howell Thomas, however, realised the importance of
effective Imperial control, and entirely waived any special claims
on the part of the Ministry of Agriculture. His hearty co-
operation enabled the recommendations to be of such a nature as to
bring out, in the clearest possible way, the Imperial side of the
recommendations.

If the Governments of the Empire accept the recommendations, which
are being forwarded by cable and by despatch through the Dominions
Office, there will be created a new Imperial Body responsible to
all the Governments of the Empire just in the same way as the
Imperial Economic Committee and the Imperial Shipping Committee
are responsible. The Imperial nature of the Body was further
emphasised by the appointment of Sir David Chadwick-the Secretary
of the Imperial Economic Committee-as Secretary of the Executive
Council.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL