3 APRIL 1926, Page 3

A letter appeared in the Press last week, signed by

Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, Lord Oxford and Mr. Thomas Hardy, appealing for funds to build a Shake- speare Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon in the place of the one tragically destroyed by fire. The Daily Telegraph has inaugurated a National Fund which we hope will be generously supported by the English-speaking world. Much controversy raged round the alleged defects of the old theatre ; everyone has a different scheme for the future. To us what seems of primary importance is that the " home-town " of the world's greatest dramatist should be provided with a decently equipped theatre of its own.