The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1920-09-17


of Westminster, says in part:
During the past 30 year: over 100000 has
been expended upon the fabric. This large
has been obtained partly through the temporary
suppression of one of the Abbey canonries and the
use Of the income for the fabric, partly through
subsidies supplied from time to time by the
clesastical commissioners in answer to urgent and
piteous appeals. At the present moment are
indebted to the extent of several thousands of
pounds in respect of moneys borrowed from the
ecclesiastical commission for essential repairs.
Now however, faced with desperate
state of things The sum of money which
than 50 years ago was fixed for the maintenance
of the fabric and for the services of the Abbey has
become utterly inadequate for these purposes The
immense rise In the cost of materials and in the
wages of the staff together with the greatly in
creased standard Of efficiency demanded in the last
half century from every branch Of service to
church and nation has brought us to the verge of
bankruptcy 1t has even been necessary, while
fabric repairs have unavodably been postponed, to
divert to the absolutely essential duty of keeping
up the services and worship of the Abbey the in
adequate of money which had been ear
marked for keeping the fabric In repair.
I'VE no longer able to pay way
"At the same time there is urgent need for
~. The repair of the two great western towers.
"2. The reparation of the external stonework
of Henry Wis chapel.
"3. The renovation of large portion of the
parapet running round the roof.
II. The repair of the clerestories and flying
buttresses
There is besides continual large outlay
quired by the maintenance in proper repair Of
Il. The much decayed cloisters and
"2. The ancient dwellings which, at the present
scale of prices not be kept in suitable struct
ural repair Gas has hitherto been required) at the
private cost of the officials who the temporary
occupants. I" .
"But the Abbey must not be allowed to suffer
The Englishspeaking peoples of the world glory in
ctI1fn
thought that its structural condition should suffer
through lack of adequate funds. They Will expect
to take them into my confidence, as now do
II know WELL after residence for nine
years in this place. and know well from the ex-
traordnary experiences in the Abbey during the
years of the Great War, how dear is this church
to the people of this country. to our brothers and
sisters in Canada. Australia, New Zealand, South
Africa and India; and, in a peculiar degree, to
our brothers and sisters of the great Republic of
America
Il ask for the sum of f250,000 OF this the
sum of 100000 is required for structural repairs
In the immediate future"
The safety of the Abbey and its relics was of
great concern to the dean during the period of air
raids during the war. OF this he writes IN the
London Times:
'When the war broke out it hardly be-
Iieved that London was likely to be assailed from
the air. But as time went on the menace became
evident The counses of those who at first had
said, oh, there is no practical DANGER they VIII
never get as far as London, and if they do, you
can safely take the risk of not being hit could
NOT possibly be followed by those on whom the
chief responsibility rested We decided to do all
that was possible for the protection of the chief
treasures of the abbey and to give assurance to
the public that nothing had been neglected.
Needless to say, many interesting and fantas-
tie suggestions reached me, displaying more sym
pathy with the security of the building than prae-
tical knowledge OF the cost or of the feasibility
of the recommendations What did may be
grouped under three heads-C) The removal of
treasures to a safe place; (2) The protection OF
certain conspicuous monuments, and (3) The sub
stituton of wood for glass in four of our most an
cient stained glass windows.
of) The following objects were removed to
the crypt under the eloister house; The corona
tion chair: the old professional shield and sword
the saddle shield and helmet associated with King