ST. MARY'S HALL, 'BRIGHTON. [To Tim EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—May I commend to the sympathy of your readers the cause of St. Mary's Hall, Brighton, the school for the daughters of the poorer clergy, founded by the Rev. Henry Venn Elliott in 1836 ? At the close of its eighty-three years of faithful service to the Church, during which its pupils have approved their upbringing in many honourable callings, the school is faced with acute financial anxiety, and that at a time when the. number of its pupils, the length of the waiting-list, the devotion of the teachers, and the records of past students bear witness to the place that it fills in the educational world. But the very fact of prosperity in numbers brings anxiety to those responsible for the welfare of the school. The fees paid (.233 to £36 a year) are so far from covering the cost of the education given that with each additional child comes an additional deficit. To raise the fees so as to cover the cost would shut out the very children for whom the school was intended. The deficit has been met in the past by the income from the .R20,000 endowment, supplemented by subscriptions and donations from generous friends; and with very careful management it was just possible to make both ends meet, though this process necessitated the constant postponement of necessary improvements. Now the war prices have made it impossible for even the most rigid economy to maintain equilibrium in the balance-sheet. Faced with a large overdraft and with the pressing need of repairs and improvements long overdue, the trustees have at the same time to meet new demands. Salaries must be raised in accordance with the enhanced scale prevailing to-day; and the school itself, if it is to keep its justly high position among educational institutions, must go forward and be provided with all the equipment necessary for a first-rate education. There is immediate need of £10,000, and a far larger sum must be raised for endowment. The trustees therefore appeal to the Christian public in the knowledge that they are pleading for a worthy cause. The need of the world for highly educated Christian women was never greater than now. St. Mary's Hall is striving to equip for their high calling some of the children who will help to rebuild the world. Cheques, crossed " Barclays, Brighton," may be sent to the Appeal Secretary, St. Mary's Hall, Brighton.—I am, Sir, &c., GERARD M. limos,
Vicar of St. Mary's, Brighton, E.
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