The British Council, like the King George's Trust, is just
ten years old. Its past is on record, but its future is obscure. The Government is at present considering the whole question of British publicity abroad, and the fate of the British Council will depend on the conclusion the Ministers concerned reach. I think it is dear that the Council ought to survive. On the whole, the methods it pursues, the organisation of British Institutes in foreign capitals, with libraries of British books, lectures by British authors, provision of British newspapers and reviews, lessons in the English language, are the best that could be devised—very much better than any attempted "hand-out" of British information to local newspapers. The annual report, just issued, shows that the Council spent in the financial year 1944-5 some L2,336,000. That is a fair amount of money, but not at all too much if it is administered wisely in interpreting to other nations accurately and attractively the British way of life. No doubt the question of appointing a successor to Sir Malcolm Robertson as Chairman of the Council is part and parcel of the larger decisions now being taken. I have suggested before that no one would fill this particular post better than Col. Walter Elliot, and a more considered study of the possibilities has not altered my judgement.
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