IMPERIAL TRUST

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 71, 21 September 1937, Page 8

IMPERIAL TRUST

A BALDWIN TRIBUTE

FOR CLOSER RELATIONS

A gift of £250,000 by an anonymous donor as a thankoffering for Lord Baldwin's "courageous, farseeing and sympathetic handling of a supremely difficult situation" as Prime Minister is to be converted into a new Imperial trust, says the "Manchester Guardian." The trustees will allocate the fund "for the interests of inter-Imperial relations." It is the donor's hope that other contributions may be attracted and that the fund may be "built up on a scale which would enable it to serve the whole Empire."

The following announcement was made ori behalf of Lord Baldwin of Bewdley:—

Last December Earl Baldwin of Bewdley received a letter from an individual in this country indicating his wish to make a thankoffering for the Prime Minister's "courageous, farseeing, and sympathetic handling of a supremely difficult situation" which had "averted incalculable dangers for the Empire."

He accordingly proposed to place at the Prime Minister's disposal the sum of £250,000 for the purpose of endowing any object best calculated to strengthen still, further the ties that bind together, the Dominions and the United Kingdom, which had once more demonstrated their, solidarity at- a time of emergency. . ' .

In a subsequent communication the donor explained that it was his hope that India would not be excluded from the benefits of whatever scheme might be adopted. He added that he wished to leave the decision as to both the disposal and the administration of the gift to the Prime Minister's unfettered discretion, and attached only one condition to his offer—that he should be allowed to remain anonymous.

BEST WAT TO OBJECT.

Lord Baldwin accepted the gift, believing that the donor's generous and public-spirited action would be acknowledged with appreciation and gratitude throughout the British Commonwealth.

After careful inquiry .and consultation with others he has reached the conclusion that the donor's general object would best be served by the conversion of his gift into a new Imperial Trust to be administered by independent trustees who would be given full discretion to allocate the income from time to time to such objects as they might think fit in the interests of inter-Imperial relations.

Steps for the creation of such a trust are now in hand and the names of the trustees will shortly be announced. In accordance with the donor's intention, it is proposed that the operations of the trust should be directed in the main to the. promotion of closer relations between the United Kingdom and the Dominions, but the terms of the trust will be so drawn as riot to debar the trustees from contributing at their discretion towards Ihdian participation in any scheme of general interest to the United Kingdom and the Dominions.

While, however, the scope of the trust will be thus limited at the outset, it is the donor's hope that other contributions may later be attracted to the trust, and that in course of time a large Imperial ■■ fund may be built up on a scale which would enable it to serve the whole Empire.

It is learned that'the nationality of the donor is British. When the offer was made Mr. Baldwin—as he then was—at once consulted with a number of people interested in the.disposal of money of • this kind; and they considered how best it could be used.