F OR a variety of reasons I do not and cannot
use this column as a vehicle for financial appeals. I think I have only made one exception to that rule, and that was in favour of a Malta fund some two or three years ago. That perhaps justifies a similar exception now, particularly as it comes in the form of a challenge. One of the last appeals Dr. Temple signed was for a fund of Ltoo,000 to restore and extend the war-damaged cathedral centres at Gibraltar and Malta ; General Eisenhower warmly endorsed the appeal. The plan it is hoped to carry out includes the erection in St. Paul's Cathedral, Malta, of a Shrine' of Remembrance in memory of the British men and women who lost their lives in those unforgotten and unforgettable days when Malta's resistance against ceaseless air attacks was one of the epic episodes of the war. The cost will be £2,000, and the Bishop of Gibraltar (the Rt. Rev. Harold Buxton), in whose diocese Malta lies, believes that readers of The Spectator, and in particular readers of this column, would be ready to make the responsibility their own. I believe so too. At any rate, I am ready to try. There are many urgent needs today, but the sum is not a large one. Malta has almost unique claims, and to many the idea of providing a Shrine of Remembrance for those whose claim to remembrance is so unanswerable will make a compelling appeal. I therefore accept the Bishop's challenge, in the hope that there are two thousand readers of this column who will be ready to send Li each (or more—or even less) for such a cause. Cheques should be addressed to Janus, 99, Gower Street, London, W.C. t, and made payable to The Spectator. I am taking perhaps an unfair advantage of my position to contribute the first item myself.
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