Pedal boards had always been made flat with straight keys until Willis and the great organist, Dr. S. S. Wesley, devised the radiating and concave board whereby all the pedal keys were brought within equal distance of the player's feet. This was introduced in the organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, in 1855, and Willis has refused to supply any other type of board with his organs ever since. Curiously enough, the advantages of this board were not appreciated by many players who preferred the old type of board and at a conference called by the Royal College of Organists in 1890 it was decided to officially recommend a board which was concave, but had parallel keys. The following letter to the author shows that the R. C. O. has experienced a change of heart in this matter: THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ORGANISTS. LONDON, S. W., 27th May, 1909. Dear Sir: In answer to your inquiry the Resolutions and Recommendations to which you refer were withdrawn by my Council some years ago. No official recommendation is made by them now. It is stated in our Calendar that the Council wish it understood that the arrangements and measurements of the College organ are not intended to be accepted as authoritative or final suggestions. I am, Yours faithfully, THOMAS SHINDLER, _Registrar_. The radiating and concave board has been adopted by the American Guild of Organists and has long been considered the standard for the best organs built in the United States and Canada. It is self-evident that this board is more expensive to construct than the other. That is why we do not find it in low-priced organs. In most American organs built twenty years ago, the compass of the pedal board was only two octaves and two notes, from CCC to D. Sometimes two octaves only. Later it was extended to F, 30 notes, which is the compass generally found in England. Following Hope-Jones' lead, all the best builders have now extended their boards to g, 32 notes, this range being called for by some of Bach's organ music and certain pieces of the French school where a melody is played by the right foot and the bass by the left. The chief reason is that g is the top note of the string bass, and is called for in orchestral transcriptions. Henry Willis & Sons have also extended the pedal compass to g in rebuilding the St. George's Hall organ in 1898. PEDAL STOP CONTROL.