26th May, 1926
PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
Dear Mr. Bruce,
I have on one or two occasions told you that it would be useful if I received more information as to what is happening in Australia than occurs at the present time. At the moment it would be very useful if I knew a good deal more about the way in which the Commonwealth Bank (Rural Credits Dept.) [1] operated. Again it would be advantageous if I had some means of knowing how the Paterson stabilization scheme on butter [2] was working out.
I wonder whether it would be possible for you to arrange for some member of your staff to call from time to time upon the appropriate Departments for a report on such matters and to forward to me copies of the information so obtained. I know that it is open to me to cable to you for information on any given point but it would be particularly useful if I could receive reports about any measures or happenings affecting the economic interests of Australia. Perhaps you will be good enough to give this matter your consideration.
Yours sincerely, F. L. MCDOUGALL
_1 See Letter 34.
2 Introduced by Thomas Paterson, Minister for Markets and Migration in the Bruce-Page Government. A levy on production financed a bounty on exported butter; the cost of the levy was recovered from higher prices for butter consumed in Australia.
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