WAR MEMORIALS.

(To THE EDITOR OP THE " Spectnent.")

SIR,—Limavady is to be congratulated on the form which its War Memorial is to take. There can surely be no more useful kind of commemoration than that of providing a community with an Institution which will cater, under a single roof, for a variety of much-felt local needs which are unlikely to be supplied in any other way. With the spirit of comradeship which the war has fostered there has come a desire, now very widespread, that every community should possess a building where—free from sectarian, party political, or class control—the men and women of the die- . trict can meet for social, recreative, educational, or utilitarian purposes, and in which the spirit of comradeship and co-operation can be fostered and find full and free expression.

Your correspondent Mr. Boyle invites suggestions respecting the architectural details to be considered in the provision of such a building. As one who, for, many years past, has made a close study of this subject I may perhaps be allowed to state my experience : it may be of some use to him and to others who are also contemplating that the War Memorial to be set up in their midst should take the same eminently sensible form.

Institute buildings are usually of two types: (1) the dwelling- house type; or (2) the public-hall type. In the former the avail- able space is divided up into various rooms (e.'g., library or read- ing-room, billiard-room, games-room, refreshment bEkr or counter, committee-room, and the like). All these apartments are more or less small and disconnected, and are designed to make the building serve the purposes of a social club. In the second type of building the main idea—which is kept steadily in view in the planning— is that of securing a large and well-proportioned room capable of holding a few score, or some hundreds, of people, as the case may be, and of adapting it for use not merely for the primary purposes of a library and reading-room, but also for lectures, classes, debates, musical festivals, dramatic performances, to say nothing of concerts and social gatherings, public and committee meetings, and—not least of all—as a home and meeting-place for the local Friendly Societies and numerous other homeless

agencies to be found in any community which have now too often to seek refuge in the public-house.

By well-thought-out planning and by the use of movable glazed partitions this comprehensive object can be attained. So striking is the difference in utility which attends the adoption of the one type of building as compared with the other that I feel that I cannot too strongly emphasize the very important part which careful planning—the outcome of practical experience in this field, and not merely of amateurish or even professional effort— must necessarily play in any scheme of social and educational development which may be attempted through the medium of a Village Institute. In my view there is little to be said in favour of the first of the above-mentioned types of building which cannot be urged in favour of the latter, whilst, on the other hand, the convertible public-hall type possesses features of superiority which make it unquestionably the one which is best adapted to

its manifold purposes. •

In an Institute situate in a lonely Welsh valley, and for the

founding of which as a memorial. to local poets I was largely responsible, it has been found possible to combine, in a single compact and inexpensive building, the provision which enables it to be used (though not, of course, at one and the same time) for the very varied purposes of a library, reading-room, smoking and games room, and café, besides serving such public uses as those of an occasional Petty Sessional Court-house, weekly bank, board- room for the local District and Parish Councils, as well as of a public hall for meetings, concerts, lectures, and dramatic per- formances. For the latter we have contrived (out of what would otherwise be waste basement space) two retiring rooms for the performers, and not omitted such items as footlights, drop-curtains, and other stage accessories. In addition, the Institute possesses a good bathroom (with hot and cold water) for the use of the villagers and visitors, a, five-roamed cottage for the caretaker, and an acetylene-gas installation.

I shall be glad (on receipt at my London address of a stamped

and addressed envelope) to send to your correspondent or any other of your readers who may be interested in what I believe to be as useful a form of War Memorial as can be devised, a copy of the ground-plan and elevation of our little building, which, I may add, has well stood the test of nearly eight years' use, and, es an institution, has paid its way from the start. —I am, Sir, &c.,

ALFRED T. DAVIES,

President of the " Ceiriog " Memorial Institute, Glyn, near Ohirk,

Denbighshire.

Reform Club, Pall Mall, S.W. I.

[We may add that Sir Alfred Davies speaks with special authority concerning Village Institutes. He has been consulted on this subject by the Reconstruction Committee, and his memo- randum, which we, have seen, shows an intimate knowledge of what has been and what can be done in this direction.—ED. Spectator.]