CO129-590-11 Commission of Enquiry into irregularities in Immigration Departments 22-4-1941 - 19-12-1941 — Page 333

not attached

2 -

334

received the concurrence of, the General Officer Commanding,

Major-General Grasett, who had during the summer of 1940

expressed to me some criticisms of Mr. Forrest's moral

delinquencies though none of his administrative ability.

4. I attach copies of the annual confidential report

sent to the Secretary of State regarding Mr. Forrest. These

are uniformly satisfactory except for the last two signed

by Sir Atholl MacGregor.

5.

Paragraph 40. refers to an unhelpful attitude towards

Mr. Forrest. I attach minutes from the Financial Secretary

and the Accountant-General who were the officers chiefly

concerned.

The nearest approach to a mordant minute from

my own pen that I can discover is one which, dealing with a

very rambling minute from Mr. Forrest on a diversity of

subjects I wrote (17 February, 1941) "This file suffers from

the usual trouble of conflicting subjects which seems inherent

in all discussion on Immigration.

the simple question of.

Let it be confined to

#1

•

I can assure Your Excellency

that I gave Mr. Forrest much more help than I consider

necessary with most heads of departments.

(Signed) N.L. SMITH. Colonial Secretary

22. 4.

1941.