25 JANUARY 1946, Page 4

Few distinctions have been better deserved than the barony con-

ferred on Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, who is at the moment on his way to Indonesia. One of the most experienced of all British career diplomatists, Sir Archibald did admirable service in China from 1938 to 1942 before being moved to the most arduous of all diplo- matic posts—Moscow. Professional diplomat though he is, no con- siderations of traditional orthodoxy bind him, and if the rumour should prove true that his next post will be Washington, he will quite certainly adapt himself to requirements there as successfully as he did at Bagdad in the middle thirties or in Sweden before that, or in Chile before that. But I imagine that what Sir Archibald is really looking forward to most is not Washington, or any other mission anywhere, but retirement to a certain estate down the Clyde, which is the central spot on earth for his essentially Scottish heart.

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