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Evening Access to the Museums To the case that has recently been presented for ex- tending the hours in which the Reading Room at the British Museum should be open no adequate objection has yet been made ; and with this should be coupled the case for opening the whole Museum and the National Gallery and certain other public galleries in the evening. Of would-be students at the Reading Room there are hundreds who are absolutely debarred from making any use of it except on Saturdays, owing to the fact that they are engaged in business on other days. For the same reason thousands of members of the general public are deprived of adequate opportunities of visiting museums and art collections. But of what use is this vast wealth stored in the national museums, whose capital value has been estimated by a Royal Commission at hundreds of millions, except in so far as it is accessible to, and enjoyed by, the public ? * *
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