10 JULY 1947, Page 5

Various protests against the expenditure of taxpayers' money on Basic

English reach me. One, from a British Council lecturer, seems particularly pertinent. If, he says, he teaches his foreign students Basic English and then asks one of them to his house to meet an English friend, what happens? The former proudly starts a con- versation on the basis of his 85o words ; the latter, not knowing Basic rules, replies in normal English, to the complete discomfiture of the foreigner, who promptly loses both heart and his confidence in his teacher. The students in question are, in fact, emphatic in

their insistence on learning " proper " English. * * * *