At the end of last week a White Paper was
issued explaining the constitution of the new British Broad- casting Corporation which takes over the B.B.C. Lord Clarendon has been appointed Chairman of the Corpora. tion, and Lord Gainford Vice-Chairman. The Governors are Sir John Gordon Nairne, Dr. M. J. Rendell (formerly Head-Master of Winchester) and Mrs. Snowden. The Director-General of the' Corporation, that is to say its chief executive officer, will- be Mr. J. C. W. Reith, who has been the guiding spirit of the B.B.C. The Postmaster- General seems to have more authority over the Corpora- tion than was contemplated by Lord Crawford's Committee, though in general Lord Crawford's recom- mendations have been adopted. Even if the absolute character of the Postmaster-General's personal power is a doubtful point about which time alone will decide it is not reasonable to object to complete Government control of the service in times of national emergency. No reasonable person who remembers the valuable use which the Government was able to make of the B.B.C. during the General Strike could- expect that any Government would let such an important means of communication slip through its fingers.
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