16 OCTOBER 1920, Page 3

It is essential that we should not have our choice

of Prime Ministers limited to men of wealth. It is also essential that the Prime Minister should have a dignified, butt not too large, country house in which he can get rest and can also talk over great affairs of State with his colleagues or with the representa- tives of foreign nations. The extraordinarily liberal endowment bestowed by Lord and Lady Lee renders it impossible that Chequers should become, like a Bishop's palace, a burden on the holder of the office, and so secures us both these essentials. This splendid act will, we trust, have many imitators. There are plenty of rich men in the country who could do similar service to the nation.