[Written from Geneva]

My dear Prime Minister,

To-day Mr. Loveday [1], who is in charge of the statistical side
of the Economic Organisation of the League, had lunch with me in
order to discuss certain aspects of the forthcoming report of the
Economic Consultative Committee. He told me that there was some
possibility of his leaving the Secretariat because his old college
Peterhouse had urged him to become Bursar and to associate that
with lecturing in the University on Economics. Loveday said that
he was rather attracted by the idea but would be afraid of
stagnating in Cambridge. We discussed the possibility of his doing
some work for the Empire Marketing Board, should he decide to
accept the Cambridge job. I told him that personally I hoped he
would stay at Geneva, as the work of which he takes direction is,
in my opinion, a most important part of the League's economic
activities.

My purpose in writing this letter, however, is that this afternoon
the idea struck me that, seeing that the Commonwealth Government
is setting up a Bureau of Economic Research [2], I think it well
worth while to draw your attention to the possibility of inviting
Loveday to visit Australia in order that he might confer with
whoever you make Director of the new Bureau. Loveday's experience
at Geneva has put him in touch with I suppose practically every
source of information in the world on economic matters and he
certainly has a remarkable flair for the marshalling of facts and
their presentation in such a way as to be both accurate and
readily intelligible.

If after the new Bureau had been going for some months, so that
its staff could envisage their task and realise the sort of
information they particularly desired to collect, then I suggest a
visit from Loveday for a sufficient period for him to be able
really to assist the Director of the Bureau in the establishment
of a definite technique and the discussion of a whole series of
problems might prove the very best way to set the new organisation
upon a firm foundation and to enable it to make rapid progress. I
imagine that three months actually in Australia would be the sort
of time that would be necessary. If anything of the kind happened
and you could get together the same sort of private committee that
you had to consider tariff matters, in order that they might
discuss the general problem of the Economic Research Bureau's
activities with the Director and Loveday, this would surely also
be very useful. [3]

I am enclosing a copy of the League of Nations latest publication
for which Loveday is responsible. Should you have time to look
through it, this will give you some idea of Loveday's work.

Perhaps you would give this idea your consideration and let me
have your reactions.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL