My dear Prime Minister,

There is just one more subject which I want to mention to you by
this mail. It seems to me quite possible that, within two or three
months of the formation of the Labour Government, the new
Government will have made quite clear its intention to support
such bodies as the Imperial Economic Committee and the Empire
Marketing Board, and thus, in effect, to have declared its
adherence to two general ideas. First the policy of Empire
Development, and, secondly, the policy of Empire Buying. Should
this forecast prove correct, it seems to me that this would be of
very considerable political advantage to the Commonwealth
Government. It would then be possible for you to claim that the
policy which you had initiated in 1923 and strongly supported in
1926 had not only been adopted by the Conservative Administration
under Mr. Baldwin [1] but now having been adopted by the Labour
Government could be regarded as the settled National Policy of the
United Kingdom in regard to the Empire.

It is impossible for me to gauge how far your success along these
lines is helpful to the political position in Australia but I must
assume that there are a sufficient number of people in Australia
who appreciate what the Empire means to Australia to render this
of quite first class political importance.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL