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Ottawa can be very hot periodically throughout the summer - one cannot dogmatise on this, however. In one June, I wore my thinnest tropical suits for a fortnight, and even so felt hotter than I ever did in India. I have known a scorching heat-wave in September. Again, other summers have never been more than pleasantly warm.

The G.G. is usually at Quebec for part of the summer, where it is cooler, though sultry spells and fierce thunderstorms are normal. Further down the St. Lawrence, or on the Atlantic coast, the summer climate is delightful as is the scenery; but sea-bathing is an uncertain proposition the water is usually too cold.

The Prairies should be avoided, if possible, in July or August - the heat and dust are frightful. The summer resorts in the Rockies, on the other hand, are perfect at that time of year.

As to clothes, from the climatic point of view, I can only give my own experience. I have had no "special" clothes whatever, except the Astrakhan wedge hat worn by members of the Staff in winter in lieu of a top hat. Otherwise, I have got along very well on an ordinary English wardrobe. I have a fur coat, but only rarely wear it on formal occasions in an extra cold spell; ordinarily, I wear a good thick "London" overcoat when appearing in public, and for everyday life, a solid coat of the "British Warm" type. I have never felt as cold as one does in a February north-easter in London. I wear thinner underclothes than I do in an English winter.

The great secret is always to get your outdoor clothes on - your overcoat, your scarf, gloves, snowboots etc. before you show your nose outside the front door. Never leave a house, or a train, for a moment in the winter without this precaution. You are probably leaving a temperature of 75 deg. above zero for one of 20 below - a change of 95 degrees in a few seconds cannot be trifled with.

Apart from skiing clothes, which can be bought in Canada, one rarely, alas, has the opportunity in Govt. House life of wearing rough clothes. One's time is spent either in a suit of dittoes or in flannels for golf or tennis. "Country life", as we understand it does not really exist in Canada. Sartorial conditions, therefore, are always those, if not of London, then of a weekend from London in somebody else's house. It is

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only on occasions of rare blessedness - in a fishing camp, for instancethat one gets the chance of wearing rough clothes. In such circumstances a khaki shirt, and a pair of old riding breeches, knickerbockers, or slacks are what one wants.

For the long train journeys in the summer on those days when there are no official duties, I have found a coat and trousers of the Indian khaki drill known as "Solario" most useful, as it is cool and can be washed. But a light grey flannel suit is just as good. As I mentioned above, anybody owing light tropical suits may find them very welcome, though it is not worth buying them specially.

To amplify what I said just now about country life, it really comes to this: in Canada there is only the town, the villa, and the Bush. I can only think of one place that approximates at all to an an English country house, and that is Vincent Massey's house between Kingston and Toronto. In the "Bush" category, I include the fishing or lakeside "camps" of the well-to-do. These are often luxurious enough, but they are essentially temporary, and holiday homes; and, in these days, the opportunities that a G.G. or the senior member of his Staff have of getting away to them are all too rare. The golden age when Lord Lansdowne would retire each summer to the Grand Cascapedia river for six or seven weeks of the best salmon fishing in the world is gone for ever.

None the less, a G.G. if he makes up his mind to it, can get away into the wilderness now and then, and it is an excellent thing that he should make such expeditions occasionally. Lord Byng did a memorable trip in the remote north-west, and now that aeroplanes have made that district so much more accessible, it could well be repeated. Lord Willingdon rarely left the beaten track, and Lord Bessborough's adventures off it have been limited - apart from an official visit to the Peace River district - to two fishing holidays on Anticosti Island. But, as I say, any G.G. who is minded to explore can do so, and any such tendency would be far from unpopular with Canadians generally.