Some time ago. the structural imperfections of St. Paul's Cathedral and their pressing need for remedy were cabled by Reuter, but it came as a shock to read recently the Dean of Westminster Abbey's urgent appeal for £250,000. Of this sum £100,000 is required to repair the two great western towers of the Abbey, the external stonework of Henry VII's Chapel and other parts, and the balance establish a fund for freeing the whole of debt and keeping the Abbey constantly efficient. The news that the Abbey is in structural and financial danger something which must appeal to every Briton who has passed through its doors into the religious stillness in which sleep the great of Empire. Its walls have wit. nessed the rejoicing and anguish of a proud people for well on 1,000 years, and the Abbey is as much part of them as they are of their race. The time seems to be coming when some national fund will have to be started for the preserva tion of our national monuments, and were it not trenching upon political ground it might be suggested that such a fund should at least be supported by state grants, That any particular church should serve within the Abbey's walls is incidental to the history of England and not to be weighed against the imperative necessity for preserving theat sacred edifice which has become the epitome of our race.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.