LADY MARGARET HALL.
[To TIM EDITOR OP TILE *SPECTATOR:] SIR,—I feel that I am guilty of an act of presumption in addressing you ; but as your paper reaches a great variety of readers, I venture to draw attention to our present needs. During the last twenty-seven years that this Hall has been in existence we have been able to send out a goodly number of teachers and other useful workers, not only in this country, but to India and the Colonies; and I may add that this Hall, small as it has been, has fully " held its own " with other bodies in the numbers of First Classes and other academic distinctions it has won. We are greatly in need of enlarged accommoda- tion, and wish to raise in all about £7,000. It is significant that of the £2,000 at present collected, some £850 has been raised by the efforts of old students, and about an equal amount by members of our Council and their personal friends. (Beyond two valuable and highly prized scholarships, we possess no endowment whatever.) So far, it will be seen, the public at large have not come forward to any very great extent to help us. On the other band, the same public (as represented by parents) seem to think it very reprehensible if we cannot find room for their daughters, forgetting that, while sleeping accommodation pays itself, publio rooms are not directly remunerative, and are very costly to build. Our chapel is often crowded to suffocation, and our books have quite out- grown our library accommodation. It is always harder to plead a cause like this than that of the starving poor of London or other "crying needs." But when we think of what one carefully trained and educated man or woman may do to help on the world's progress, surely we find some justifi- cation for the present effort.—I am, Sir, &c.,
E. WORDSWORTH (Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford).
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