My dear Prime Minister,

While I was in Geneva, a series of four articles appeared in the
'Times' written by Walter Elliot [1] about the Colonial Empire. I
do not know whether you have yet received them but they are so
interesting and in places present such a sound point of view, that
I feel sure you would like to look through them.

The articles are very wittily written. and I am not at all sure
whether wit of the type which Elliot employs is altogether a
useful commodity in a junior member of a Government. For instance
his remarks about Lord Olivier [2] and Lord Delamere [3] in the
latter part of the second article might easily cause annoyance.

[4] I have heard already that the pundits of the Colonial Office
and, indeed, the Dominions Office, including Sir Edward Harding
[5], regard the articles as quite subversive. However, I am sure
that the Empire has much more to gain from the minds of men such
as Elliot rather than from the Permanent Officials in the Colonial
Office, who are, taken as a whole, a very poor crowd.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL