Sir Harry Batterbee called on me this morning and said that Mr. Thomas was now not nearly so sure about a General Election as he had been when he made his speech at Derby.

The Dominions Office seemed to think that there is much more in Mr. Malcolm MacDonald (the new Under Secretary for the Dominions) than might appear at first sight. He is said to be very able. His dealing in the Dominion Office with the question in the H. of C. by Major Ross,¹ the Unionist Ulster M.P., about facilities for fire-escape apparatus crossing the Border revealed, I am told, a strong sympathy with us and the opposite feeling towards Major Ross and his friends.