LORD NUFFIELD'S GIFT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21973, 23 December 1936, Page 9

LORD NUFFIELD'S GIFT

£2,000,000 FOR SPECIAL AREAS TRUSTEES GIVEN FULL DISCRETION (BRITISH OFFICIAL WLEHJSsS.; (Received December 22, 7.30 pit.) RUGBY, December 21. A gift for the promotion of wellbeing amounting to £2,000,000 by Lord Nuffield is announced. « It is to be devoted to the benefit of areas which are suffering from special adversity through changes in industrial employment in the last decade.

Lord Nuffield, in a statement, says that he desires to give practical shape to the current expression of goodwill towards King George and simultaneously to do anything possible to support the Government, particularly the Prime Minister (Mr Stanley Baldwin), for whose unceasing efforts on the country’s behalf he has the sincerest admiration. Lord Nuffield says the trustees will have full discretion in the use of the capital of the trust for the initiation or support of measures likely to give employment to those living in special areas, as well as of measures designed for social betterment in those areas. Lord Nuffield says that he appreciates that the Government has done and is doing all that is possible within its legitimate sphere, but he feels that there is still room for a trust, the activities of which would not be limited by considerations which apply in the allocation of public money authorised by Parliament. The three trustees appointed arc Mr Nigel L. Campbell, Lord Portal, and Mr B. Seebohm Rowntrec.

Lord Nuffield’s gift, which “The Times” editorially describes as a staggering illustration of the versatility and good judgment of Lord Nuffield’s philanthropy, came as a complete surprise, even to the trustees, who were not asked to act until late in the afternoon. Mr Rowntree said: “I have not even met Lord Nuffield, who must have thought of me because of my lifelong interests in unemployment.”

The Lord Mayor of Cardiff declared: “The gift is the best Christmas box the special areas have received for many years. It is a ray of hope in South Wades.” The Government has already allocated more than £7,000,000 among the black spots, situated chiefly in South Wales, Durham, Tvneside, Cumberland, and Scottish industrial districts. Lord Nuffield’s total benefaction* now exceed £7,500,000.