HELP IF WE ASK FOR IT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 311, 8 June 1945, Page 6

HELP IF WE ASK FOR IT

British Council Holds Out A Hand SIR ANGUS GILLAN, Director of the Empire Division of the British Council, and Arthur Towsey, Regional Officer for the Pacific to the Council, have just completed an exploratory tayr of Australia and New Zealand, with a view to initiating British Council activities here. A member of "The Listener" staff accompanied them on their short tour of New Zealand, in the joint capacities of escort and arranger of meetings with New Zealanders, and representative of "The Listener." The following article describes the nature and scope of the Council’s work, and shows in what ways New Zealand may hope to benefit by it. ee -- --

bed RITISH Council for what?" was the question I had’to e answer everywhere. The exceptions were journalists, professors and lecturers, and others who for special reasons had already heard of the Council and made use of some of its facilities. Very few New Zealanders have heard of it at all, and its narfie, as it now stands, is far from self-éxplanatory. Originally I think it was the "British Council for Cultural Relations with Other Countries," though I find no mention of that name in the Council handbook now in front of me. It was established by ‘His Majesty’s Government in 1934, to interpret Britain in the widest sense to people not living in the United Kingdom. In the *more formal words of the Royal Charter granted to it in 1940, its purposes are "the promotion of a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom abroad and the development of closer cultural relations between the United Kingdom and other countries." In the first place, it was started as a counter-measure to the culture-propaganda of the Fascists and_ Nazis, who were, to put it in the words of Sir Angus Gillan, "rather getting away with it, and leading the world to believe that all art came from Italy and ‘all science from Germany." The British resident abroad and the British traveller had noticed a meagre knowledge overséas of their country, of ordinary British people, how théy lived and what they thought, the present organisation of the state, and the achievements of the nation in science, letters, art, and so forth. The British Council now supplies that knowledge in foreign countries all over the world, During the-pfesent war it decided to make its facilities available to Empire countries too, and though war conditions have limited its activities outside the United Kingdom, its Home Division has done a great deal with service personnel there. Two Way Traffic Sir Angus Gillan (who was administrative officer in the Sudan for 30 years) puts’ the Council’s objects in

these words: "We don’t come to shove anything down your throats. We don't say ‘This is the way you ought to live.’ We say ‘This is the way we live. Have a look at it. Take what you want, and leave the rest. And if in turn you can tell us something about yourselves, so much the better. The traffic has to flow both ways." The British Council is not a Government department. Its independent Charter gives it power to "accept, hold, and dispose of" moneys (mostly voted by Parliament) to these ends. Apart from occasional donations, almost all its funds come from a grant carried in Parliament on the Foreign Office vote. The lists of names on its Advisory Committees are perhaps the best and most concise way to indicate here the standards maintained in its various fields. On the Books and Periodicals committee, for instance, are Stanley Unwin (chairman), Edward Carter. Geoffrey C. Faber, Mrs. Mary Hamilton, and Rebecca West. The late Philip Guedalla headed the Film committee. On the Fine Arts committee are Clive Bell, Sir Kenneth Clark, Captain Gerald Coke, Ernest Makower, Herbert Read, and others. Musical readers will note with interest some of the names of the Music committee-Arthur Bliss, Sir Adrian Boult, Leslie Boosey, Prof. E. J. Dent, Dame Myra Hess, Victor Hely-Hutchinson, William Walton, J. A. Westrup, end R. Vaughan-Williams. The president of the Executive Committee is Lord Tyrrell of Avon, and the Chairman, Sir Malcolm Robertson. The Executive committee includes several names from the special committees mentioned above. The methods adopted have been these: (1) The formation of cultural centres abroad -*‘British Institutes," which as any New Zealander who has refugee friends may discover, have a high reputation among serious-minded people in the capitals and cities where they function. (2) The encouragement of Anglophil societies (new or existing) in foreign countries, and of cultural centres in British colonies. : 3) The formation or support of British schools (where a demand exists) in foreign countfies. _©4) The provision of scholarships to enable foreigners to study English or other subjects in Britain. (5) The provision of facilities for foreigners and servicemen in Britain to gain a true picture of the national life. Agencies Abroad ' A British Institute is directly under Council control, and is a centre of British studies, giving first place to the English language. It has classes and lectures, a

library (literary and technical); clubrooms, and reading rooms. It receives distinguished men and women sent from England to lecture, shows documentary films, both general and technical, houses periodical exhibitions of ‘paintings, photographs and so on. It may have an orchestra and choir, play-reading groups, social activities, even football and hockey teams. There are nine Institutes in Egypt, five in Palestine and Cyprus, others in Spain, Portugal, Ethiopia, the Belgian Congo, and so on. The Valetta one (Malta) has 3000 members. Those in Lisbon and Madrid have 2000 students and members each. An Anglophil Society differs from an Institute in being a group of friends of Great Britain, supported by the Council. It has been the Council’s policy to encourage such societies where they are founded by local initiative and not to attempt to create them where such initiative is lacking. In other respects. they closely resemble the British Institutes. Their activities follow the pattern just described. In some countries there are no Institutes. In Sweden, for example, the Representative has his office in Stockholm, and makes arrangements for various activities in the capital and elsewhere. Lectures are given in many societies, universities and schools, and instruction is given to Swedish teachers of English. There are exhibitions ‘of photographs, and the publication of books in English is arranged. Malcolm Sargent comes to conduct concerts, the poet T. S. Eliot, Sir Kenneth Clark (Director of the National Gallery), Sir Lawrence Bragg and.C. D. Darlington (scientists) come to lecture, and learned bodies are encouraged to make contacts with their British counterparts. In other countries, the methods differ again (in Turkey, for instance, where for reasons of tact, the whole of the Council’s educational. work goes on within the Turkish educational system, and the rest goes on in the Halkevis, or People’s Houses. In the Soviet and in China, the Council’s work is ‘still in the early stages. Eyen so, in China, it is already very extensive and very popular. Plans for New Zealand ; However, the New Zealand reader will be chiefly interested, not so much in how the British Council has gone about its work in foreign countries, as in those aspects of its work in general that we May expect to see in our own country.. Although official approval from both sides has yet to be made final, after

Sir Angus has reported in England and our own Government has considered the matter, we may nevertheless expect to see a representative in New Zealand, and the provision of facilities if we ask for them, for widening our own cultural life and advancing our technical studies. Australia and New Zealand are the first Dominions to be visted in this way by the British Council (although we have already won scholarships, received booklets and one art exhibition, seen films, and heard music, all without the general public being very much aware of the organisation that made them available), and the approach will, of course, be different from that adopted in foreign and suspicious countries. Perhaps the best way to explain these activities in detail is to classify them under the various spheres of interest, to show roughly what the Council has ‘to offer to the man interested in education, law, British science and industry, agriculture, medicine, sport, seamanship, exploration, literature, philosophy, music, the fine arts, the theatre, ballet, and so forth. EDUCATION RRANGEMENTS for the teaching of English have already been described. Many British schools abroad (mostly in the Mediterranean area) are supported. Scholarships are awarded to foreigners, and also to citizens of the Empire, enabling them to study in Britain. During the war, male scholarships were not made available to Empire students, but three women: from New Zealand have gone to England, one to study architecture, one speech therapy, one industrial relations. : PUBLICATIONS ‘THE series, British Life and Thought, and Britain Advances, are on sale here, as well as the periodical Britain To-day, in all of which the aim is to employ acknowledged experts, not lesser lights paid to do a job of propaganda. The Council’s Book Export Scheme, which is not intended to operate in the United States or the Dominions, aims to (continued on next page)

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facilitate the importation of good British books in foreign countries. DRAMA WAR conditions have curtailed the ; Council’s work in this field, but before the war the Sadler’s Wells Ballet went to the Low Countries, John Gielgud played Hamlet at Elsinore, the Dublin Gate Theatre went to Greece, the Old Vic to Portugal, Italy, and the Near East, and in 1937 the Sadler’s: Wells Ballet and the London production of Shaw’s Candida were sent to Paris for the Exhibition, The Council collaborates with CEMA and ENSA in wartime entertainment in Britain. _ Though nothing has ‘been decided yet, ‘New Zealand may expect to see Sadler’s Wells ‘Ballet and Old Vic Shakespeare tours of this country, if we make it quite clear to the Council that such tours would be welcomed. FINE ARTS EW ZEALANDERS have seen the exhibition of Children’s Art, one of three which have been touring the world. Before the war, touring exhibitions of British paintings went to various countries, and arts sections were contributed to the Empire exhibition in Johannesburg in 1938, and the New York World’s Fair in 1939. FILMS A NEWSREEL "British News" goes to all the Colonies, being a composite made up weekly from the issues of the leading newsreel companies. A more important work, though, is the production of documentaries. These are available in both 35 mm and 16 mm sizes, and several are in technicolour. Thirty were produced in 1943. They go to the Institutes and Anglophil Societies, and in New Zealand, some are held and used by the Education Department, while some can be borrowed from the United Kingdom High: Commissioner. ; LAW ‘A COMMITTEE under the chairmanship of Lord Finlay advises the Council on means by which the English and Scottish legal systems might become better understood abroad. A Foyer of United Nations lawyers has now been established at Lincoln’s Inn. LECTURES [D'S#INGUISHED people have lectured abroad for the Council, including Sir Lawrence Bragg (scientist), Sir Harold Spencer Jones (Astronomer Royal), Leslie Howard (who was killed when the passenger aeroplane bringing him back from Portugal in 1943 was shot down by a German bomber), W. L.. Renwick (Professor of English), Dr. C. D. Darlington, Sir John Russell (scien- — tists), T. S. Eliot (poet), Sir Harold Gillies (surgeon), and many others. MUSIC : ERE in New Zealand we have al- ready heard some of the modern British music which would not have been recorded but for the Council — William alton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Arthur liss’ Piano Concerto, and E. J. Moeran’s First Symphony. The Institutes and Anglophil Societies house collections of music and records, with gramophones, and British Music Libraries are being

established in appropriate centres, Musicians who have toured abroad for the Council include Dame Myra Hess, Dr. Malcolm Sargent, Astra Desmond, Lionel Tertis, the Boyd Neel String Orchestra, the Fleet Street Chair, and the Tudor Singers, among others. One of the purposes of Sir Angus Gillan’s visit to New Zealand was to find out whether there would be any interest in tours by such performers, or in a tour by, for instance, a string quartet. PRESS OREIGN Press delegations have visited Britain during the war at the instigation of the Council. Information, feature material, and photographs are supplied to 225 distribution centres in 86 foreign countries, the Dominions, And Colonies, chiefly in the form of "London Newsletter" and "Facts About Britain." Articles can be requested, to be commissioned by the Council in England. SCIENCE MONTHLY newsletter, "Monthly Science News," is published in five languages: Many distinguished lecturers (some already mentioned) have been sent abroad. Scientific information is exchanged, through the Council, between Britain and the U.S.S.R. The Medical Department publishes "British Medical Bulletin." On the average each condensed article i in, it has been republished in over five overseas medical journals. A short series of medical films has been planned, and the first, "Surgery in Chest Disease," had an excellent reception in the press. In 1941, at the request of Argentina, Sir Harold Gillies, the New Zealand-born plastic surgeon, was sent to Latin-America to lecture and demonstrate. Subsequently, sets of the instruments he uses were presented to the hospitals in which he lectured. The Home Division A branch of Coupcil activity to. which Sir Angus Gillan attaches great importance is its Home Division, which operates among visitors to the British Isles. Canadians ‘and United States Forces have used the leave courses planned for them very freely, and have

advanced their own personal studies as well as. discovering something about British learning and British institutions. Films, including films on the life and thought of other united nations were shown in their camps, and concerts provided for the United States forces by CEMA were financed by the Council. Arrangements are being made for servicemen ‘in Britain (which will of course include New Zealanders) to avail themselves of the Council’s assistance before returning home. The -Canadians made much use of the Council’s scheme for introducing overseas men to their counterparts in Britain. Three wheat farmers visited the Plant

Breeding Institute at Cambridge, a beekeeper spent his leave at a commercial apiary, trappers saw the treatment and preparation of furs, a party of undertakers and embalmers spent a busman’s holiday with their British and American colleagues, and men who in civil life were prison guards visited Wormwood Scrubs. In their short tour of New Zealand, Sir Angus and Mr. Towsey.met members of the Government, departmental heads, university staffs and council members, members of the Institute of International Affairs, the Overseas League and the Royal Empire Society, writers, librarians, journalists, musicians, amateur actors, civic authorities, and others. They heard many suggestions about what the Council ought to do in New Zealand, but from their point of view, the matter of immediate importance was to get’ an. impression of the reception that would be given to Council activities in general. Meetings were not without their lighter side. There was the Mayor in one town, who had been told about the "exploratory tour" and in a very sincere but halting speech of welcome said he was very pleased Sir Angus had come "to exploit the position so far as New Zealand is concerned." And there was the councillor who hurried round afterwards and said, "I’m sorry it was’so flat-we didn’t know it would be so interesting. We thought you were here after trade." But there was obvious willingness on all sides to get something started, and. it is probably not overcommitting anyone to say that the decisions, on our part to invite the Council to operate here, and on the Council’s part to carry out what Sir Angus Gillan recommends, are now merely a matter

of formality.

A.

A.