Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

(Due to arrive Melbourne 14.3.25)

My dear P.M.,

I write to tell you that I had the honour of an audience with the
King on Monday, the 9th instant.

This, I think, arose out of correspondence which the King
initiated with Hankey [1], commencing with queries as to what my
appointment was and what it meant.

I enclose two extracts from this correspondence, not from personal
reasons but to show you the attitude that Hankey takes. [2]

The King was good enough to give me 25 minutes' conversation with
him, the gist of which was as follows:
He enlarged on the difficulties of organisation of the Empire in
order to secure unanimity, by virtue of the fact that Great
Britain, the headquarters, was in Europe but not of it, and the
constituent members widely separated. He asked if I had read the
two articles in the last 'Round Table'. [3] Said that it was, he
thought, admitted generally that if Great Britain was at war, all
the Dominions were automatically at war too. Enlarged on the
difficulty of having the Dominion Prime Ministers come on a five
or six months' trip to attend an Imperial Conference and then, as
lately happened, a change in Government negatives the most
important resolution come to. This must make for great
disappointment in the Dominions. Said that it was unfair for other
nations to regard Singapore as a menace to them. Said how pleased
he was that Hong Kong had voted or promised a quarter of a million
towards the expenses of Singapore, being roughly the amount by
which they had profited by the war. He did not suppose that
Australia and New Zealand could do much financially towards
Singapore on account of having started a cruiser programme.
Enlarged on the great value of Sir Maurice Hankey, his ability and
energy, and how successive Prime Ministers for 10 years had found
him indispensable.

I am, Yours very truly,
R. G. CASEY