Baghdad Feb 18 Darling Father. I am thinking of you today in Port Said and hoping that this time you got my letter. You very nearly did not for the mail left in awful rain and mud and was held up at Ramadi [Ramadi, Ar], on the Euphrates, all day. We did not think it could get on, but next day we heard that it had left Ramadi at 4 p.m on Thursday. It got through but it must have had a difficult time.
It did rain! On Friday my roof, having been opened up by the frosts, gave up the game and I came home after lunch to find my sitting room more like a shower bath than anything else. However fortunately the rain ceased about 5 and next day there was sun in which to dry the carpets. The world has dried up wonderfully fast. On Sunday afternoon Ken and I went down to near Haji Naji's garden - the roads were awful I must say - to try and get a woodcock, a very rare bird here but the cold has driven them down. We actually saw two but they eluded us.

I have been feeling dreadfully mopish about my poor little dogs, specially Peter because I miss him dancing round me all day. Everyone has been most kind and sympathetic. On Thursday afternoon Ken came in - he is just as sad about Sally - and carried me off to dinner; he had some people dining. It was better than being alone with those two little ghosts. On Friday Mr Cooke insisted on my coming to lunch and showed me afterwards his wonderful collection of cylinder seals to distract me. On Sunday, he and Ken and Iltyd came to dinner and bridge and on Monday Mr Cooke and I dined with the J.M. Wilsons. On Tuesday, Ken and I went out with the King towards sunset to shoot geese from some butts H.M. had had made near the Ba'quba [Ba'qubah] road. We didn't succeed in shooting the geese though we saw them and heard them chattering. They are beautiful birds, aren't they, and they fly in such fine formation. It was nice out there in the quiet desert at dusk.

Today the Queen has had her mourning party. Mrs Higgins took me up and Esme came and all the English women who had been asked. It was very kind of them. I came away with Esme just as the Arab ladies were arriving - I thought they might tackle them for themselves.

The news from the north is satisfactory. Arbil [(Hawler)] has behaved very well indeed and Kirkuk better than we expected - there are a good many Turkomans there you know and we thought that a large proportion might ask to go back to Turkey. But very few have. The Dutch interpreter has proved, as I anticipated, quite incapable of interpreting the vernacular in any tongue - even Kurdish! And we hear that the Turkish "experts" are growing more and more gloomy.

Nevertheless we are in the middle of a ministerial crisis over the Turkish Petroleum Concession. I think I have told you about the T.P.C. - it is international, British, French and American, and a very big group, the only group big enough to find the enormous capital needed for piping the oil across to the Mediterranean. The great thing from our point of view is that the development of the country should begin and foreign capital developed. The participation of France and the U.S.A. is an additional safeguard which we welcome. But a foolish and ignorant agitation has been got up, chiefly by those out of office as a stick to beat those in office, to urge that all other companies should be allowed to compete and get the concession if they offer better terms. The result would be that they would offer almost any terms, reckoning on selling ultimately to the T.P.C. as Sir J. Cadman pointed out. This would mean two or three years' delay and general economic inequilibrium. The King has been working hard to make the Cabinet see reason, but three of the Ministers are still threatening to resign. They told Sir Henry that they saw the dangers ahead if they turned down the T.P.C. but that they trusted to H.M.G. to get them out of the mess they had made. So H.E. at H.M.'s request has asked H.M.G. to cable its views in the strongest terms.

Meantime, Mr Amery, Sir S. Hoare and Sir J. Shuckburgh propose to come here themselves at the end of next month - a very promising sign. If only the 'Iraq Cabinet wouldn't be so completely asinine, I think there are better prospects before us than we have had for a long time. I have still great hope that Sir Henry and H.M. between them may pull it through.

By the way, last week I was thinking about my little dogs and I forgot to answer what you told me of Col. Slater's sayings. It is very malevolent of him. He knows quite well that what he says about me is quite untrue and he says it only to throw discredit on the administration here - just as Philips did. So when you hear me praised in that peculiarly malicious way the best service you can do me and us is to deny it flatly.

Your letter of Feb 3 - your conversation with Hobson interested me very much. Thank you for all you said to him. That must have been a very nice luncheon party and you seem to have made an excellent speech. What you said to the Chancellor of the Exchequer was also very good. I am reminded of Lord Cromer's dictum that finance is merely common sense - but then how rare is common sense!

I wish I were spending today with you at Port Said. Ever dearest your very affectionate daughter Gertrude.

It will be interesting hearing of your doings in the Antipodes.

I am writing separately to Mother.