My dear Prime Minister,

Since my last letter the Christmas holidays have intervened and,
apart from continued public anxiety with regard to the health of
the King [1], there is not very much to report. There were,
however, one or two matters which occurred just before the
holidays and to which I should like to draw your attention.

The first is a matter which I think you will find distinctly
amusing. About a year ago the Poster Sub-Committee of the Empire
Marketing Board decided that it was time a poster in the interests
of the Irish Free State should be exhibited on the special frames,
and accordingly we made enquiries from the Irish authorities as to
whether they had any special views on the matter. The reply was to
the effect that the Irish authorities had strong views on the
point that the artist employed to produce the poster design should
be an Irish Free Stater. We accordingly started to search for
Irish artists, and after one or two unsuccessful attempts, finally
decided on a man who was recommended by Sir William Orpen [2], who
I daresay you know is himself an Irishman. The artist then
produced a first design which was quite good, from an artistic
point of view, of Irish Dairying, but the figures that he
introduced were of the most repulsive character, representing
Irish peasants with what appeared to us to be more or less
criminal types of faces. We therefore submitted this design to the
High Commissioner for the Irish Free State [3], who warmly
approved of it and suggested that the artist should be allowed to
go ahead and complete the three posters which make up a full set.

We therefore authorised this and finally got our set of three
posters. They were all quite good, and if finally exhibited will
have a very telling effect, but in each poster the human figures
introduced were calculated to give people a very low idea of the
morality, public health and indeed kindliness of the Irish people.

We therefore felt that it was necessary to send the designs over
to Dublin, with the idea of their being definitely vetted by those
in authority there. The posters were duly sent to Dublin, the
Minister of Agriculture [4] inspected them and stated that the
matter was too important for him to decide himself, and he
therefore arranged that the posters' designs should be inspected
by the Cabinet. The Cabinet, after considering them, approved, and
the posters were sent back with quite a warm letter of approval
from the Ministry of Agriculture.

We were just on the point of making arrangements for printing when
we got an urgent message asking us to send the posters back to
Dublin. This request was complied with, and we then learnt that
the Permanent Head of the Ministry of Agriculture [5] had managed
to convince his Minister that the matter should be re-opened with
the Cabinet. We naturally assumed that the reason was because the
Permanent Head considered that the posters would not be a good
advertisement for Ireland, but we discovered that his reason was
that he thought a pig in the foreground of one of the posters had
his ears set on at an angle that was not true to that particular
breed! The position now is that the Irish Free State Cabinet is
for the second time considering the set of posters and we are
awaiting a second expression of the Cabinet's Views!
While on the subject of Empire Marketing Board posters, I should
like to report that we are just about to exhibit a set produced by
an artist in Western Australia, who was commissioned to produce a
set of three, illustrating Wheat, Sheep and Forestry in Western
Australia, by Huxley [6] during Mr. Amery's visit. This is the
first time that the Empire Marketing Board has taken the risk of
commissioning a set of posters from overseas. We normally
commission an artist who then submits rough designs which we can
criticise. We are, on the whole, very pleased with the Westralian
artist's work, and I am sending by next mail a set of these
posters to you and I hope that you will glance at them. When it is
realised that the Empire Marketing Board posters are now exhibited
on 2,000 special frames in all the principal towns of England, and
that in addition the smaller reproductions are exhibited in over
20,000 schools in the United Kingdom, apart from a certain number
of schools overseas, it will be seen that this form of publicity
has reached striking dimensions and can hardly fail to be having a
pronounced educational effect upon the people of this country.

SCOTCH HOME RULE

On the Friday before the Christmas holidays I had dinner with and
spent a long evening talking to Walter Elliot. [7] We were
discussing a number of things, but he gave me a most interesting
account of the growth of the movement towards Scotch Home Rule.

Until the last two or three years Scotch Home Rule has only been a
matter of academic political interest, but it has gradually come
to assume quite a marked practical importance. The Scotch Labour
Party and the Scotch Liberals have both pledged themselves to
Scotch Home Rule. At the last election of a Rector of Glasgow
University four candidates were nominated-Mr. Baldwin [8], a
Labour man, a Liberal, and Cunninghame Graham [9] as a Scotch
Nationalist candidate. Mr. Baldwin was elected by a very narrow
majority, Cunninghame Graham running him a very close second, with
the Labour and Liberal candidates nowhere. A vacancy has just
occurred at North Midlothian and once again there will be four
candidates in the field. The seat was captured by the Tories at
the last election, after a long Liberal history. This time there
will be a Tory, Liberal, Labour and Scotch Nationalist candidate.

Elliot feels that there is some prospect of the Scotch Tories
adopting Scotch Home Rule, and then a real fear that Scotch Home
Rule might become practically an agreed non-political measure
which might be carried through Parliament and come into effect in
the near future. What the Scotch have in mind is, of course, the
Ulster basis-that is to say a Scotch Parliament with a
continuation of Scotch representation at Westminister, though on a
reduced scale. From Elliot's point of view any such idea is
alarming because it would involve a choice between Scotch politics
and the Imperial work upon which he has set his heart. He feels
that in the event of Scotch Home Rule being brought about, members
representing Scotch seats would carry very few guns in the House
of Commons, just as in a somewhat similar way the Ulster members
fail to count.

I very strongly represented to Elliot that what was good enough
for Ulster was by no means good enough for Scotland, and that all
my Scotch blood boiled at the idea of Scotland being prepared to
give up the substance of a disproportionately large voice in the
counsels of the Empire (in comparison with population) for the
shadow of local self-government. I also suggested to him that as
men of Scotch descent count for so much in the business and
political spheres of the Dominions, Scotch Home Rule would tend to
decrease the reliance felt in His Majesty's Government in Great
Britain, and that the movement on the whole would be a retrograde
step unless Scotland was prepared to abandon entirely any idea of
representation at Westminster and go in for Dominion status, in
which event I felt that the movement towards the establishment of
inter-imperial bonds would be greatly strengthened. It is, of
course, quite possible that this issue of Scotch Home Rule may not
become practical politics in the immediate future, but apparently
there is a real chance that it may occur. If you have any views on
the subject I shall be particularly glad to know what they are.

[10]

PROSPECTS FOR BRITISH INDUSTRY

The commencement of the New Year is naturally seeing the Press
devoting a certain amount of attention to the prospects of British
Industry in 1929. I am enclosing a very interesting letter from
Lord Weir [11] to the Times on this subject, which I feel sure you
would like to read.

I am awaiting with some interest and perhaps even cynical
amusement the dicta of the Chairmen of the Big Five Banks. [12] It
will be amusing if once again in 1929 they say, as they said in
1928 and 1927 and 1926 and 1925 and 1924 and in 1923, that the
previous year had for various reasons, some stated, not fulfilled
expectations, but that having carefully surveyed the whole
tendencies of world trade, they are of the opinion that there is
justification for a reasoned optimism in regard to the coming
year.

ECONOMIC RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA

I had an interesting letter from Rivett [13] by the last mail, in
which he reacted very favourably to a suggestion that I had made
as to the attachment of a couple of post-graduate economic
students to my office, with the idea of such men undertaking at
one and the same time a certain amount of economic research in
this country on industries, in order to provide bases whereby the
standards of efficiency of Australian industries could be judged
in comparison with those of Europe, and also carrying out certain
further training at the London School of Economics. I am awaiting
with great interest your reply to the suggestion that I forwarded
on the general subject of economic research in Australia. [14]

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

The intervention of the Christmas holidays has prevented any
further progress on the series of notes with which I am proposing
to bombard you on this subject. I propose, however, to start again
in the immediate future. One aspect that I felt ought to be
considered is the demand that is growing up in this country for
the advertisement of British goods in the Dominions on a somewhat
analogous basis to the way in which the Empire Marketing Board is
educating British public opinion towards Empire produce in this
country. I do not think it would be very difficult to find at
least some basis for a reasonable discussion on this matter.

I am enclosing a copy of an article which I have recently
prepared, in which I bring out the idea that, in order to get
really active co-operation from this country in Empire
Development, it may be necessary to have some concentration of aim
and to select certain portions of the Empire in something
equivalent to a priority list. I am not sure whether this article
will be published or not, but I think that you will probably find
it sufficiently interesting to be worth your while to read.

SOUTH AFRICAN TREATY [15]

I enclose a further cutting on the South African-German Treaty,
from which you will see that the Germans are laying flattering
unction to their souls as a result of what-has occurred. You have
probably had this information in the Australian cabled news, but
Reichert's [13] speech on the breach made in the British Empire
preference system is well, worth noting and quoting. I also
enclose a copy of an article from the Times Trade Supplement,
dealing with the same matter.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL