Dear Mr. Bruce,

IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE

In my last letter I told you that there was little doubt but that
a preliminary report on Identification would be completed by the
end of July. This situation still stands but it is complicated by
the fact that all the Dominion Members of the Committee and Sir
Thomas Allen, the Co-operative member, are very dissatisfied not
with the matter but with the manner of the report. The Chairman
[1] has shewn great reluctance to have a small drafting Committee
and the report is felt by most of the Members of the Committee in
its present draft form to lack directness.

I hope that next week we shall be able to induce the Chairman to
recast the manner of the report.

I also mentioned in my previous letter that the Fruit Sub-
Committee was going to carefully consider whether they could
produce an immediate report. They have unanimously come to the
conclusion that this is impossible and are going to recommend to
the Main Committee that a small appendix to the main report should
deal with some recommendations from the Fruit Sub-Committee but
that, as the question of fruit supplies from the Empire is a
matter of great complexity and also great importance, the Fruit
Sub-Committee should resume its sittings in the middle of
September with the idea of having a report completed by November.

As there is no possible chance of Parliament considering the
report of the Imperial Economic Committee before the Autumn
Session, I do not think that there can be any actual loss of time
in an arrangement of this sort.

It will interest you to know that the majority of the Committee
are very disappointed with the way in which the Chairman handles
the business. He appears to be rather too absorbed in other
affairs to devote the constant and assiduous attention that is
required of a Chairman of so important a body and the consequence
is a degree of haziness which is difficult to cope with.

DRIED FRUIT

In my last letter I gave you, in brief, an idea of some of the
difficulties of the London Agency in connection with the London
Trade Association. I am very glad to say that, as a result of a
personal conference between myself and the Advisory Committee
appointed from the Australian Agents in London, I believe that we
shall be able to avoid any critical situation.

MY BOOK

Since my last letter, both the 'Times' and 'Times Trade
Supplement' have dealt with 'Sheltered Markets' and have been
extraordinarily kind. [2] The 'Times Trade Supplement' published a
leading article on the book, a copy of which I enclose, and the
'Times' gave me a column review of a favourable nature, which I
also enclose. Dr. Haden Guest [3] reviewed the book in the
'Observer' and the 'Aberdeen Free Press' gave the book a column
and a reference in the leading article of the same day. [4]

I think you may be interested to glance at these notices. A number
of Provincial Newspapers have given short preliminary notices in
their London notes to the book but I will not worry you with
these.

EMPIRE SENTIMENT

The past week has shewn a remarkable increase in the public
manifestation of Empire sentiment in this country and this is
particularly manifested in two directions.

In the debate on the Board of Trade Vote in the House of Commons
this week, speaker after speaker emphasized the importance of
Empire trade if British industry was to be revived and I find it
rather amusing to trace the influence of 'Sheltered Markets' in
several of the speeches, particularly that of Sir Philip Cunliffe-
Lister. [5]

During the week there has also been an Advertising Campaign at
Harrogate, which obtained particular publicity in the press.

Cunliffe-Lister supplied it with a slogan of 'Buy British goods'
and added a strong statement about the necessity for giving a
voluntary preference to British Empire goods in addition to the
fiscal preference given by the British Government this year.

The whole theme of the convention was 'buy British Empire goods'
and the necessity for bringing this fact home to the people both
of Britain and the Empire.

Yours sincerely,

F. L. MCDOUGALL