"CLEAR THE GALLERIES."

In response to the growth of dissatisfaction at the continued closing
of certain picture galleries and museums, either wholly or in part,
the Government has appointed a special commission to investigate the
matter, under the presidency of Sir Tite Barnacle (fifth baronet). A
report of the first session follows, during which the cases for the
public and culture, and for the Government as against both, were fully
stated.

The first witness was Lord HARCOURT, who said that he had done all he
could, both in the House of Lords and in the columns of _The Times_,
where, he was glad to say, large type was given him, to bring the
Government to its senses on this matter. So long as the War was on, he
and his fellow-critics had refrained from interfering. But now that
it was over they demanded that the museums and galleries should be
cleared at once of flappers and typewriters and thrown open again to
their rightful users, the public.

Sir Buffer Stayte, K.C.B., O.B.E., speaking for his own Government
department, said that, although in a manner of speaking the War was
over, it was also not over. There was a heritage of trouble which
required endless attention, and the best place to attend to it was in
the museums and galleries. Experience had taught them that buildings
filled with works of art acquired by the nation, either by purchase
or gift, for the nation, and held as a national trust, were the most
suitable places in which a clerical staff could perform clerical
duties.