5 APRIL 1913, Page 3

The papers of last Saturday published a correspondence on the

subject of Stafford House, the lease of which was offered last November to the nation by Sir William Lever. Sir William Lever said that questions in Parliament during his absence in the Congo had suggested that he had been actuated by improper motives, and he therefore withdrew the offer. Mr. Asquith, in a letter, said that he was not surprised at Sir William Lever's resentment, but he trusted that an "irrelevant and passing incident" would not after all lead to the withdrawal of a very generous gift. Such touchiness is to be regretted. When Lord Rosebery gave his beautiful villa at Naples to the nation he set the true example of how to carry through transactions of this nature.