My dear Prime Minister,

With reference to the cable from your Department dated 26th July
stating that you were being pressed by the International Institute
of Agriculture at Rome for the nomination of a Commonwealth
representative, I got in touch with Sir Charles Thomas, the head
of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and found that the
British Government had decided to be represented and had nominated
Mr. Enfield. [1]

Sir Charles Thomas said that he very much hoped that Australia
would be represented on this first occasion, because he felt that
Empire collaboration, at least during the early stages of the
Committee, might be very useful.

I cabled this information but you also asked what stage the
negotiations between Rome and Geneva had reached.

I was fortunately able to see Sir Arthur Salter, the head of the
Economic Organization of the League, who happened to be in London.

He explained that, at the meeting of the League Council at Madrid,
the Italian representative objected to the formation of a
permanent Agricultural Committee at Geneva but that other members
of the Council were in favor of it. He said that the Council
recognised that the Economic Committee of the League, under its
standing powers, could form an Agricultural Panel to advise them
whenever advice on agricultural matters was necessary and he
thought one might take it for granted that this method of
procedure would be adopted, as it would avoid the strenuous
objections of Italy to the formation of a Permanent Agricultural
Committee at Geneva.

Salter's view was that there was no point in holding aloof from
the Agricultural Economics Committee at Rome. He also said that he
thought it was impossible to tell, at this stage, whether the work
of the new Committee at Rome was likely to be of any great
practical importance. He strongly urged, however, that Australia
should be represented at the first meeting, although he said that
he thought it was quite possible we might not feel it was
necessary to be always represented at later meetings.

I do not know, of course, whether you would have in mind to
appoint me as your representative and to ask me to go to Rome in
time for October 3rd. Should this prove to be the case, it would
merely mean that I would have to go on from Geneva to Rome without
returning to London, for it is probable that the Assembly will not
complete its work until about the 26th of September. This would,
in many ways, be a nuisance but I have all these things so much at
my fingers' end at the present time that it would probably be
better for me to go than for you to send anybody else. Of course
the governmental activity here will not become intense until the
middle of October.

PREFERENCE AND IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

I enclose a copy of an article from today's 'Times' entitled
'Empire Trade', the typescript of which I forwarded to you with my
letter of the 18th July last. [2]

With reference to Beaverbrook's [3] campaign for Empire Free
Trade, I am now enclosing a copy of an article by Amery [4] from
this week's 'Sunday Express'.

My mail this week is necessarily very brief I am going to
Aberystwyth tomorrow morning for a discussion on pasture research
with Dr. Stapledon and Dr. Orr [5] at the Research Station there.

I am then going on to two other Research Stations, after which I
intend to take a few days holiday over the August Bank Holiday and
shall probably not be back in London until August 12th.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL