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31st March, 1936.

Edward Shackleton, Esq.,
Hampton Court Palace,
Middlesex, England.

My dear Eddie,

I was most interested to get your letter of 19th March,
and to hear about your new expedition. It sounds full of promise.
I am particularly glad that you are going to do something to explore
the ornithology of Lake Hazen. From my talks with Sergeant Stall-
worthy it seems to me that there is an enormous amount to be
discovered there about the breeding place of birds. You ought to be
able to dispose once for all of the legend of Crockerland, in which
no one but Peary has ever believed. It is a most ambitious project,
and I applaud your proposal to make air reconnaissances first, if
possible. We had Washburn, the young American, here the other day,
who has been doing good work in the Mount St. Elias group in Alaska,
and he attributes his success entirely to his preliminary air recon-
naissance.

I am in rather a difficulty about these expeditions. You
see, a Governor-General can hardly recommend anything to his Government
without it taking on something in the nature of a command, and
therefore I have to walk very warily. I can do a lot in private
conversation, but I dare not make any official proposals. Canada,
except for the privately owned planes of the mining companies, is
very backward in the air, though she will have to pull up her socks