More Trouble at the Tate
The doubts felt about the resignation of Mr. Le Roux. senior deputy keeper of the Tate Gallery are not likely to be ended by Mr. Butler's statement (in the House of Commons on Tuesday) that the Government has every confidence in the present board of trustees and must therefore leave the adminis- tration of the gallery to them. For it is not a question of whether or.not the Government has confidence in the trustees. It is a question of whether the trustees can straighten out a situation which has been disturbed for a long time. In the past few years there have been eleven resignations among senior staff at the gallery, and it is now alleged that since the resignation of Mr. Le Roux yet another senior official has resigned. For an institution of this kind the turn-over seems rather large, and it is not unreasonable to deduce that it indicates something wrong with staff relations. What that something is is mostly a matter of speculation at the moment. It is possible that personal.relationships enter into it or that the system of appointments is at fault. This new trouble comes on top of a series of incidents in which there was admittedly maladministration inside the gallery. These facts were exposed at the time, in the Spectator and, elsewhere; they were in due course admitted by the trustees; and finally they were set right. But it must now be asked how long staff disturbances within the administration of one of our great national art collections can be allowed to continue without some further investigation into their cause.
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