Thanks for the very interesting information.

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Boylan P [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:   Saturday, July 25, 1998 3:30 PM
        To:     [log in to unmask]
        Subject:        Free entry to [UK] major museums and galleries
is NOT yet "guaranteed"

        Though I am sure that the Daily Telegraph story is correctly
transcribed,
        I am afraid that there is in fact no "guarantee" in the
(English) Culture
        Secretary's announcement.  Chris Smith, the Minister who made
the reported
        announcement has no standing at all in the other three kingdoms
of the UK
        - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of which  now have
admission
        charges at some national museums, and the announced additional
funding
        does not apply to any of these three countries, nor to the
        significant number of "charging" national museums in England
that are
        funded through other ministries, notably Defence.

        More substantially, without new legislation (which has not been
announced)
        the Minister does not have the legal power to force even those
national
        museums funded by his own ministry to drop admission charges.
Most of
        the current trustees, who have to power to accept or reject the
        minister's proposals and wishes, were appointed by the last
government, as
        were most of the current directors, and it is very widely
believed that
        a philosophical stance that was strongly pro-admission charges
was seen as
        an important pre-requisite for both trustee and senior staff
(especially
        director) appointments in many cases.

        Those who have been such strong advocates of admission charges
as a matter
        of principle would therefore have to make very public
climb-downs before
        they could voluntarily agree to the implement the Minister's
proposals.
        Indeed, only last night the director of one of the largest
national
        museums explicitly refused to confirm that the minister's
proposals would
        be implemented.

        Patrick Boylan