Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Dear Mr. Bruce,

Since my last letter of April 17th, the question of the duration
of my stay here has undergone a very definite change. When I wrote
to you last, I did not understand the position because Senator
Wilson [1] had not made it clear that you wanted me in Melbourne.
On April 19th the Senator received a cable from you to the effect
that unless, in his opinion, my services were very urgently
required in London after May 14th, you wished me to join the
'Mooltan' and come out with the Senator.

So far as I can tell at the present moment, the preference
discussions will last throughout the greater part of May but I
daresay that once the issue is actually joined on the floor of the
House of Commons, it will not be possible to do very much more

effective work. I should, of course, personally have liked to have
seen the preference debates out to the bitter end and watched the
effect of our educational work upon the House, but probably that
desire is chiefly dictated by my intensely keen interest in the
subject.

I had, this morning, a long conversation with Senator Wilson at
which we both arrived at the conclusion that you wanted me to come
out on the 14th of May unless the situation here was so urgently
critical that it was obviously necessary for me to remain a little
longer. I am, therefore, going to make all arrangements to leave
with Senator Wilson and catch the 'Mooltan' at Marseilles. If the
preference situation is critical at the last moment, Senator
Wilson will cable you to that effect and I will adjust my
movements at the last moment to your final decision.

I am presuming that any work that you may want me to do in
Melbourne will be in connection with the organisation of primary
producers on the lines of your speech at the Royal Agricultural
Show at Sydney. [2] If this should prove to be the case, would it
be possible for you to send me the full text of your speech to the
'Mooltan' at Colombo?

Since my last letter the House of Commons has been in recess and I
have, therefore, no further political news.
I enclose a cutting from the Morning Post which may be of interest
to you.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL

McDougall returned to Melbourne for discussions which led to the
establishment, late in 1924, of the Commonwealth Dried Fruits
Control Board. While in Australia, he was offered the post of
Manager of the Australian Dried Fruits Association. He, however,
was anxious to return to London, where, in June, Baldwin's
proposals from the Opposition benches for Imperial tariff
preference were narrowly lost in a free vote. McDougall therefore
persuaded Bruce to send him back to London to continue his work
for Imperial preference and Empire development, for which he would
be paid 500 per annum by the Commonwealth Government. He was to be
paid a further 750 by the Dried Fruits Control Board as part-time
Secretary of its London Agency. By the time he returned to London,
a Conservative government, led by Baldwin, was again in power.