Dear Mr. Bruce,

IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE

The Dairy Produce Enquiry is progressing fairly quickly. Yesterday
I sent you the following cable:

Imperial Economic Committee Dairy Produce Board gave very
satisfactory evidence yesterday. Consider it desirable I should
receive full information as to operation of Paterson scheme, also
how Rural Credits Department, Commonwealth Bank, is functioning.

[1] Could you arrange for reports on these subjects to be
forwarded by earliest mail.

The evidence given before the Committee by Major King [2] on
behalf of the London Agency of the Commonwealth Dairy Board was
very good. I had previously discussed with Major King the lines of
his memorandum of evidence and, under cross-examination, a large
amount of useful information was put on record.

Major King was accompanied by Sir James Cooper [3] and Mr. Norton
[4] and I am very glad to say that they presented a very excellent
case in favour of the type of control which the London Agency is
exercising. I am quite sure that the Australian evidence made the

most excellent impression upon the Committee as a whole.

Questions were asked by Members about the operation of the
Paterson scheme and also about the way in which the Rural Credits
Department of the Commonwealth Bank was able to assist the
dairying industry. As the London Agency had not very much
information on these points, I thought it as well to cable to you
for these two pieces of information.

Mr. Shepherd [5] has informed me that Sir Joseph Cook [6], who is
at the present moment in Geneva, has received a cable from you
stating that Mr. W. H. Clifford [7] has been invited to serve with
me on the Imperial Economic Committee for the Dairy Enquiry.

I have been in communication with Messrs. R. & W. Davidson, who
are Mr. Clifford's agents in London, and find that this firm have
no knowledge of Mr. Clifford's whereabouts. They anticipate that
he will be in London about the 10th of June. If Mr. Clifford is
prepared to devote the greater part of two days a week to the
Dairy Produce Enquiry, it will be very helpful and advantageous to
have a man with so wide an experience of the Australian dairying
industry associated with me. While I am, of course, prepared to
carry on on my own, I certainly think that, in view of the very
great importance of the dairying industry and the very large
number of dairy farmers who will be interested in the report, it
would be desirable for Australia to have two representatives.

EMPIRE MARKETING BOARD

The second meeting of the Empire Marketing Board was held
yesterday and Mr. Amery [8] was in the Chair. The other Ministers,
with the exception of the Treasury Representative Mr. McNeill [9],
were all present and there was a full attendance of the non-
ministerial members. A very protracted and somewhat desultory
discussion took place.

Mr. Amery urged the immediate sanction of two proposals, one for
the expenditure of a sum of from 5,000 to 10,000 (spread over two
to three years) on conducting research into the mineral content of
pastures, and the other for a grant of about 30,000 (again spread
over two or three years) to provide the capital necessary for the
continuation of the work of the Imperial School of Tropical
Agriculture at Trinidad.

The enquiry into the mineral content of pastures is one likely to
be of immense value to all parts of the Empire and particularly to
the pastoral and dairying industry of Australia and I was very
glad to see this expenditure sanctioned.

So far as the Tropical School of Agriculture was concerned, I told
the Board that I thought we were being rather rushed but it was
explained that the three important Lancashire Associations which
were interested in cotton growing were prepared to put up 30,000
themselves provided that 30,000 would be made available from this
Annual Grant. On the distinct understanding that the money from
the Annual Grant should be used for increasing the efficiency of
the College for research in the direction of improving production
of foodstuffs, the Board agreed and both these grants were
sanctioned.

The remainder of the meeting was taken up by discussing the
machinery and methods whereby the recommendations of the Imperial
Economic Committee on research and publicity could be put into
effect, the final upshot being that two small Sub-Committees were
asked to prepare schemes to lay before the next, or the next but
one, meeting of the Empire Marketing Board.

The temporary Sub-Committee to put up a scheme on research
consists of Major Elliot [10], the Under-Secretary for Scotland,
Lord Bledisloe, the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Mr.

OrmsbyGore [11] and myself.

The analogous body to put up a scheme on publicity consists of Sir
William Clark, the head of the Department of Overseas Trade, Mr.

W. S. Crawford, the Advertising Agent, and myself
It was very far from being my wish that I should have to have a
say on both these subjects but in the discussions it had become
rather obvious that I had perhaps done rather more constructive
thinking about how the Economic Committee's recommendations were
to be put into operation than anybody else present at the meeting
and the Board felt that in devising methods I could give useful
assistance both on publicity and research. Personally I should
have preferred to be mainly connected with the research side but I
am rather afraid that the Secretary of State and other ministers
will particularly want me to serve on the Publicity Sub-Committee
as they seem to regard me as being particularly expert on
educational publicity.

'ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF THE EMPIRE'

I have unfortunately mislaid the 'Times Trade Supplement' for last
week and am therefore unable to forward the further article on the
'Economic Problems of the Empire'. I will obtain this next week so
that your set of these may be kept complete.

EMPIRE PROPAGANDA

I spent the whole of last evening from 6.30 P.m. until 11-30 P.M.

in the House of Commons discussing with two or three members the
possibility of forming a Conservative Group pledged to do
everything in their power to bring Empire economic subjects before
the House and the public, through the press and through speeches
between now and the date of the Imperial Conference. I hope to be
able to report that this idea will be accomplished but at the
moment the continuation of the coal strike makes it very difficult
to get members to give sufficient attention to Empire problems. If
the coal strike is settled within the course of the next week or
fortnight, I hope to be able to make substantial progress.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL