The London County Council, after careful inquiry, gave the scheme of
1898 benevolent encouragement. Hope was held out that a site for
either a theatre or an opera-house might be reserved "in connection
with one of the contemplated central improvements of London." Nothing
in the recent history of the London County Council gives ground for
doubting that it will be prepared to give practical effect to a
thoroughly matured scheme.
Within the Council the principle of the municipal theatre has found
powerful advocacy. Mr John Burns, who is not merely the spokesman of
the working classes, but is a representative of earnest-minded
students of literature, has supported the principle with generous
enthusiasm. The intelligent artisans of London applaud his attitude.
The London Trades Council passed resolutions in the autumn of 1901
recommending the erection of a theatre by the London County Council,
"so that a higher standard of dramatic art might be encouraged and
made more accessible to the wage-earning classes, as is the case in
the State and municipal theatres in the principal cities on the
Continent." The gist of the argument could hardly be put more
pintally.
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