The mistrust with which many "-healthy-minded " English men and
women regard Art seems to have found a sympathetic corner in some official heart. It is pro- posed to charge for admission to the British Museum. Mr. H. A. L. 'Fisher's protest in the Observer against this penny-wise-pound-foolish scheme shows that it has not received the support of the Trustees of the Museum, since he is himself a Trustee. The responsibility for -it would appear to be somewhere behind the red-tape entanglements of officialdom. Judged by itself, a more dismally petty method of collecting money could hardly be imagined. From every other point of view the scheme is lamentable. It would retard the education of the poor, whilst the rich, whose incomes provide a substitute for education, and who delight in their inability to afford anything, would grasp eagerly at an excuse definitely to abandon the pretence of visiting museums. Officials are unanimous in giving lip-service to the " Education of the working-classes." They should remember that no education worth having can be limited to reading and writing.
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