26 MAY 1950, Page 5

In spite of a letter in last week's Spectator, I

remain unconvinced that Derbyshire Education Committee is justified in spending £17,000 in the purchase of a mansion to be used as a school for rock-climbers. It is clear from reports in the local Press that in parts of Derbyshire, at any rate, buildings for schools for ordinary children from five to fifteen are badly needed. This £17,000 would help a good deal to provide them. A rock-climbing school may be an excellent thing in its way, but I should have thought its provision was the business of some national body, voluntary or official, not of a single county Education Committee.