THE Secretary of State for the Colonies has appointed Mr. N. F. Hall, director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, to be development advisor for West Africa. He will be on the staff of the Resident Minister and will act in close consultation with the Governments of Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and the Gambia, which have been working for some time on plans for postwar development. Mr. Hall has been on leave of absence from the National Institute since 1938 for war duties, and has served as joint-director of the Ministry of Economic Warfare; and more recently has been in charge of economic warfare work at the British Embassy, Washington, where he held the rank of Minister in the Diplomatic Service.