26 FEBRUARY 1927, Page 16

THE BRITISH INSTITUTE IN PARIS

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sma,—Steady progress is being made with the Fund k establishing a British Institute in Paris. Largely owing to the keen personal interest taken by our Ambassador in Paris, Lord Crewe, upwards of I40,000 has now been received-or promised. It is hoped that in the autumn the well-known Coffigc de 13 Guilde, opposite to the Sorbonne, will be officially opened a part of the Institute for the use of British students. This w be a centre for those preparing for examinations in French. will also spread the knowledge of English in France, for it promote the study of English literature, institutions, economics. Owing to general economic difficulties and the fall of t franc, the intellectual classes in France now find it sin impossible to afford to cross the Channel as they used to do

pre-War days. The teachers, however, of France are largely the backbone of public opinion, and thus the British Institute will provide a valuable means of enabling Them to keep in touch in Paris direct with British thought. The second part of the scheme is the building of a Hall of Residence at the Cite Universitaire, where British students will be provided with good accommodation, and where they will have many opportunities of meeting their French fellOw- students both in the proposed communal dining and reading rooms and on the playing fields near by. In this connexion the new Halls of Residence will meet a very real need. The Prince of Wales last autumn opened a Canadian Hoitel and the projected British Hall of Residence will help students from the British Universities. The Scheme will have even more far reaching results, for it will establish personal relations and create close links between the intellectual life of both countries. Lord Revelstoke is the Hon. Treasurer of the

Fund.--I am, Sir, &c., B. S. Towx-noE. 53 Netherhall Gardens, A'.W.8.