7 APRIL 1933, Page 16

IDEALISM IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

Snt,—The quotation from the late John Galsworthy which the Rt. Hon. J. R. Clynes cites in your issue of the 24th ult., in connexion with the above subject, is really a paraphrase of a statement which is hundreds of years old. The original will be found in a book of Essays by Galsworthy, entitled Brief Candles, and runs, so far as my memory serves,. thus : " Hundreds of years'ago the Chapter of Seville met and resolved Let cc build a Cathedral to the Glory of God so that the people who see it will think we were.either mad, or inspired.' " It is some time since I read Brief Candles, and then in a

Tauchnitz edition on the Continent. I think, however, a reference to that volume will confirm my statement.—I am, Larkhall, Scotland.