Dear Mr. Bruce,

IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE

I had hoped to have been able to have posted you the completed
draft of the Dairy Produce Report by this mail. Twice during the
last week the Committee have sat until the early hours of the
morning and last night the Report was signed by most of the
Members but we sat from 11 a.m. until 2 a.m. this morning and so
many alterations were made in the draft that it was finally
decided that the Chairman [1], Mr. Wilson [2], the Canadian
Representative, and myself should be responsible for the re-
drafting of certain paragraphs. I therefore feel that to send you
the mutilated draft would merely be to waste your time.

The report may be printed in time to send a copy to you at Colombo
but if that is not the case, I will send you a revised draft at
Colombo and take care to see that a printed copy reaches you at
Port Said on September 22nd.

I think there is little doubt that it is a good report. In the
Fruit Report the chief emphasis was thrown upon marketing. In this
report we have felt that the chief emphasis should be upon
production.

Immediately the section dealing with Export Control legislation
was agreed by the Committee, I consulted with Mr. Clifford [3] and
sent you the following cable:-

Dairy Produce Report of Imperial Economic Committee will be signed
next week. Section dealing with Control Boards important. Report
will recognise justification for Boards but will urge moderation
in use of statutory powers. Will commend methods practised by
Australian Board and its London Agency but will severely criticise
methods adopted by New Zealand Factories and which the New Zealand
Board is reputed to have favoured namely storage butter in United
Kingdom for long periods in order hold for problematic high prices
with consequent deterioration thus damaging reputation New Zealand
Butter throughout trade including retailers.

Mr. Clifford and I decided on this action because we felt that it
was very desirable that you should be in early possession of this
information, as Mr. Clifford has told me that there are members of
the Australian Dairy Produce Export Control Board who are rather
inclined towards the adoption of the New Zealand methods which
have certainly caused the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board to
become extremely unpopular with the trade in this country.

I think you will agree that the Export Control Section is
satisfactory from an Australian standpoint. As this section of the
report was finally passed last night with only slight amendment, I
am enclosing a copy for your information.

Had the Chairman been prepared to have carefully read the various
drafts of the report prepared by the Secretary [4] and to have
done some work on them, the Committee would have been able to have
completed its work yesterday quite easily without rush and without
the necessity of leaving a good deal of work over for re-drafting.

I propose to write to you fully about the future of the Imperial
Economic Committee by the mail leaving here on the 26th August, in
order to catch your boat at Colombo.

EMPIRE MARKETING BOARD

You will be receiving by this mail the first report on the work of
the Empire Marketing Board. I arranged with the Secretary [5] that
he should send you a copy addressed to the 'Mooltan' at Fremantle.

At the present moment a very difficult situation has arisen as
regards the Empire Marketing Board and press advertising. The
Treasury objects to paying 10% on all monies expended on press
advertising to the Advertising Agents. With one exception, the
Publicity Committee of the Empire Marketing Board agrees with the
Treasury's point of view but the Advertising Agents have formed a
ring and are declining to accept work except upon the 10% basis.

Just how this will develop is a little difficult to say at the
moment but the Publicity Committee does not feel that press
advertising is very urgent and are quite prepared to go ahead on a
Poster Campaign and leave themselves time fully to explore the
newspaper situation.

We hope to make a start on the Poster Campaign about the middle of
October and to have a sufficient number of specimens of the work
which we propose to use later in order to give the Imperial
Conference a good idea of what we have in mind.

RELATIONSHIP OF IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE AND THE EMPIRE
MARKETING BOARD

You will remember that I sent you a memorandum on this subject a
few weeks ago. I am now enclosing copy of a letter which I
received from Major Walter Elliot, the Under-Secretary of State
for Scotland, in answer to my memorandum [6].

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

I enclose certain Parliamentary questions which you will find of
interest. I am particularly anxious to draw your attention to a
question asked by Sir Fredric Wise [7] in the House of Commons on
the 26th of July. This question I have specially marked. Sir
Fredric Wise is a member who regards himself as a great authority
on financial matters and who keeps in very close touch with the
Treasury.

Mr. Ormsby-Gore [8] informs me confidentially that there is no
doubt that in asking this particular question, Sir Fredric Wise
was sounding the position on behalf of the Treasury itself Mr.

Ormsby-Gore further feels that it would be of considerable value
if you took very definite cognizance of this question and
commented on the idea of a suspension of the Trustee Act, either
at the Imperial Conference or on some other public occasion in
Great Britain.

Some years ago I think I told you that, in a conversation with Mr.

A. M. Samuel, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary of the Department of
Overseas Trade, he stated that if ever he was Chancellor of the
Exchequer, the first thing he would do would be to try to repeal
this Trustee Act.

There is a general feeling among Members of Parliament who are
very keen on Empire Development, that the Treasury and its Chief,
Mr. Winston Churchill [9], are bitterly opposed to any policy of
Empire Development which involves expenditure and that they would
infinitely rather pledge the credit of Great Britain in order to
re-establish the currencies of Europe than to spend comparatively
small sums or give guarantees to press forward schemes of Empire
Development.

You will notice that Mr. Amery [10] dealt well and faithfully with
Sir Fredric Wise's question and that Mr. Thomas [11], on behalf of
the Labour Party, promptly disassociated the Party from Wise's
point of view. At the same time if, as indicated above, Wise's
question may be regarded as symptomatic of the Treasury viewpoint,
it deserves your close attention.

EMPIRE DEBATE

As you know the Opposition Parties have the right of deciding
which votes shall come up for debate in the House of Commons.

During the session which has just closed, neither the Labour nor
the Liberal Parties would bring forward the Dominion or Colonial
Office Vote for discussion and therefore the only definite debate
on Empire subjects occurred on the Appropriation Bill on the 29th
of July. It was, however, a very interesting discussion and I am
enclosing the whole text of the debate which I think you would
like to read on board ship.

I would like to draw your special attention to certain sections of
this debate and particularly to the speeches of Mr. Johnston [12]
and Mr. Boothby [13], both of whom followed Mr. Amery. Boothby, in
an otherwise excellent speech, made slighting references to the
Australian and New Zealand Navies. [14] This point did not receive
any publicity in the press so I wrote to Boothby and received from
him a reply, a copy of which I enclose.

EMPIRE PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION

I suggested to Mr. Amery that it would be very desirable for the
Parliamentary Delegation about to visit Australia if its Members
could receive sound information about the coming activities of the
Empire Marketing Board. As a result, Mr. Amery asked Mr. Ormsby-
Gore M.P., Major Elliot M.P. and myself, to meet the Delegation
and to describe the present and contemplated work of the Board.

This meeting occurred last Monday week and was quite successful. I
was asked to open the discussion, which I did very briefly and was
followed by Ormsby-Gore, who gave an excellent general account of
the constitution of the Empire Marketing Board and of its proposed
publicity work and then Major Elliot gave a similar short
discussion on its research work.

I have also arranged that the Secretary of the Empire Marketing
Board should prepare a statement for the Members of the Delegation
so that they will have something from which they can talk when in
Australia.

I have also made a point of meeting a number of the delegates and
discussing their trip with them and giving them useful information
about the aspects of Australian economic life in which they are
personally interested.

AGRICULTURAL DINNER

Mr. F. N. Blundell [15] M.P. asked me yesterday to remind you next
time I was writing about this dinner on the 9th December and just
to state that an official invitation to you had been sent to the
High Commissioner [16] and that the Governing Body, of which he
was Chairman, was extremely anxious to have you as their guest.

It is a good number of months since I heard from you and at the
moment I have no idea whether you desire me to be officially
connected with the Australian Delegation to the Imperial
Conference. I should, of course, be glad to know somewhat in
advance any plans that you may have in this direction if only for
the reason that being forewarned is to some extent being
forearmed.

I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity of discussing a
number of problems with you.

In conclusion I hope that both Mrs. Bruce and yourself will have a
pleasant and restful trip and that your visit to England may be

even more successful than in 1923.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL