Changes in Memorial Hall.

The directors of the Harvard Dining Association submitted to the Corporation on May 8 a petition, embodying a number of improvements to be made this summer in Memorial Hall. In replay to this, the following letter of agreement has been received by the board of directors:

"On petition of the Harvard Dining Association, the Corporation agrees to advance the money necessary for building in the dining hall a fire-proof floor with fire-proof stairs and partitions at the east end; also for cold-storage and electric-lighting plants, and for ventilation of the kitchen, and to charge interest upon these advances from the end of the current financial year upon the standing debt of the association, at the rate of four and a half per cent a year."

Of the proposed changes, the most important and expensive will be that of replacing the present floor of the hall by one that will be fire-proof. The present wooden floor and beams will be replaced by iron beams, surmounted by brick arches with a cement covering. On this it was originally intended to put a mosaic or tiled floor, but as this would have prevented holding Senior dances, a hard oak floor will be substituted, and the expense of this will be shared in all probability by the Association and the funds of future Class Day Committees until the sum is paid.

An excavation will be made on the north side of Memorial of sufficient size to accommodate two cold storage rooms, each 24 ft. by 16 ft., and an ice-making room 24 ft. by 12 ft. The ice-making plant will supply all the ice necessary for the dining hall, and it is expected that there will consequently be considerable saving, as the present ice bills average about $145 per month.

Another change, not included in the petition, will be the re-arrangement of all the tables in the dining hall, so as to run north and south, which will offer the means of accommodation about 75 more men. The tables will also be re-numbered in a more regular order than exists at present.

The approximate cost of these changes will be $25,000, which sum will be added to the debt of the Association to the University.