Lord Rothermere has put all lovers of London in his
debt by contracting to purchase the Foundling site in Bloomsbury for £525,000. He is paying a deposit of £50,000, and undertakes to pay the interest on the remainder at 51 per cent. until June 30th, 1931. He has also undertaken to make a further contribution of £50,000 towards the purchase money. The only condi- tions attached to the gift are that the site shall be used as a children's park, and that for one month in the year it shall be at the disposal of the Boy Scouts. This is the second large gift Lord Rothermere has made to London. Two years ago he purchased the site of the Bethlem Hospital, as a permanent memorial to his mother, for the use of the people of Southwark. These are splendid examples to rich men of how to make use of money for the public good. Another most generous benefaction of the week is Sir James Barrie's gift of all his rights in Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Unless the taste of children in plays changes, this ought to be a permanent endowment.
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