Extracts from a confidential report from Frederick H. Boland
to Seán Nunan (Dublin)
'The Permanent Under-Secretaryship of the CRO'
(Confidential)

The departure of Sir Percivale Liesching from the CRO, and the appointment of Sir Gilbert Laithwaite to succeed him, are hardly favourable developments from our point of view.

2. As I reported at the time, Sir Percivale Liesching told me last April that he intended to retire from the service on attaining the age of sixty early next year. His intention, as he indicated to me during the conversation, was to go into the City. He has since changed his mind. Lord Swinton succeeded in persuading him to go to South Africa as High Commissioner.

[matter omitted]

7. The appointment of Sir Gilbert Laithwaite to succeed Sir Percivale Liesching caused some surprise in Whitehall. The anticipation was that Sir Percivale would be succeeded by the present Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Sir Saville Garner, who is considerably younger than Sir Gilbert and has the same kind of outlook as Sir Percivale. Sir Gilbert does not enjoy a reputation in Whitehall in any way comparable to that of Sir Percivale. He is thought among other things to be somewhat pompous and reactionary. It is the thought of the reactionary Sir Gilbert advising the High Tory, Lord Swinton, which renders the present change on the whole an unfavourable development from our point of view.