A WAY TO PRESERVE RURAL BEAUTY.

THE following petition has been forwarded to the Chairman of the Surrey County Council. It is, we believe, the first active attempt to bring into being a body of persons charged with the performance of what is on all hands admitted to be a duty towards the public and the country as a whole, and as such we print it in full herewith :— IRE PETITION of JOHN ST. LOE STRACHEY of

the Parish of Albury in the County of Surrey, Rate- payer, To the Chairman and County Council of the County of Surrey SHEWETH 1. THAT your Petitioner is a Ratepayer and owner of land in the County of Surrey. 2. THAT the County of Surrey contains Whether for woods, waters, wastes, commons, village greens, hillsides, chalk pits, rivers or brooks, some of the most beautiful rural scenery in England.

3. THAT it is to the interest of the inhabitants of the aforesaid County of Surrey to maintain and preserve the natural beauties, rural amenities, and architectural and historic monuments of the said County intact and uninjured.

4. THAT owing to the increase in the number of inhabitants in the said County of Surrey, the making and widening of roads, growth of buildings, and other improvements and developments, there is great danger of the said natural beauties, rural amenities, and architectural and historic monuments being injured or destroyed.

6. THAT the said injury and destruction can be for the most part prevented if proper care is taken as to the manner in which the said developments and improvements are made.

6. THAT the injury and destruction is due, as a rule, to want of knowledge and want of proper advice, and not to any desire on the part of the persons concerned to do injury or destruction.

7. THAT in view of the aforesaid facts a Central Committee to be called the County of Surrey Amenities Committee should be formed by the Surrey County Council to consist partly of members of the said County Council and partly of persons co-opted by the said committee.

8. THAT all public schemes undertaken by any Department of State, by the County Council, the Education Committee, or any other public local authority within the said county be at once referred to the said Amenities Committee for its direction and advice, and in order that the said Committee may make recommendations as to the way in which the improvements and developments in contemplation can be best carried out without injury to the natural beauties, rural amenities and architectural and historic monuments as aforesaid.

9. THAT the said Amenities Committee shall appoint District Committees in the different districts of the county, and that such District Committees shall appoint Parish Com- mittees or individual representatives in every parish within the said district, and that it shall be the duty of such Parish Committees, or individual representatives, to bring to the attention, first of the District Committee concerned and then of the Central Committee, every scheme or proposal which may be likely to be injurious to the natural beauties, rural amenities or architectural and historic monuments of the said county, and to make such recommendations thereon as shall seem useful and appropriate.

FINALLY, this Petition showeth that it would be in the interests of the inhabitants and ratepayers of the County of Surrey if the County Council would forthwith appoint such an Amenities Committee as aforesaid.

And your Petitioner will ever pray, &c.,

(Signed) J. ST. Lox STRACHEY. Neulands Corner, Merrow, Guildford :

May 6th, 1913.

The petition, it will be seen, covers wide ground. It deals in general terms with a variety of possible cases, and, of course, does not touch on details. But to give detailed cases in which a little thought and care might have preserved from destruction something of beauty which has now been lost to us for ever would be, of course, the easiest task in the world. Such cases would not necessarily be losses of large tracts of land, or important beauty spots, or costly pieces of property. Wimbledon Common, Colley Hill, St. George's Hill, and Box

Hill have not been the only areas threatened during the past few year by developments and "improvements." There are other smaller cases of possible loss and destruction which will occur at once to the memory of all who have watched with concern the advance of bricks and mortar into the quiet woods and fields between London and the Sussex border. Here it may be the loss of an acre of gorse and heather, there of a group of elms, elsewhere of an interesting old building pulled

down to make way for something new and " up to date "—in the latter case quite possibly using " up-to-date " methods in order to bring about the unexpected result of killing the goose which lays the golden eggs. Take, for example, the case of

the charming little village of Coldharbour, which lies between. Leith Hill and Anstiebury Camp. In August 1910 the local

education authorities decided that it was necessary to add to the school buildings a coalshed for the schoolmaster and some latrines. They therefore decided on the destruction of a noble elm and a Spanish chestnut, thus permanently spoiling the charm of the village, which used to be one of the prettiest in Surrey. This was quite unnecessary destruction, for the additions to the school buildings could have been made without cutting down trees ; it merely happened that those who had to do with the planning of the building either did not realise, or perhaps did not care, whether the trees were felled or not. Other people, however, cared very much, and would have worked hard to keep the village unspoiled. Or take the case of Ditton Marsh, part of the open common which borders the road between Thames Ditton and Esher. Here there has existed for some time a line of telegraph poles run- ning alongside the road—ugly things in themselves no doubt, but in their place, and therefore not to be denounced as spoiling the view or the open country. It became necessary a little time ago to erect a line of telephone poles in the neighbourhood. This second line of poles might perfectly well have been placed beside the existing line, and so would not have defaced more of the common and the sky above it than was defaced already. But the new poles were not placed parallel to the old. Instead, to take a short cut and to save a post or two and a few yards of wire, they were taken across an untouched piece of common, thus enclosing between poles and wire a stretch of grass which it is impossible any longer to regard as open or free or beautiful. A little thought and a few shillings would have saved that portion of the common. It is a small matter ? No doubt,—but a few score of such small matters may rob a county of a great deal of its charm and beauty. Take again, as another example of threatened destruction of a senseless kind, the proposal (happily for the moment rejected by the town council) to pull down the old town hall of Godalming. This is a picturesque little Georgian building with a clock and a copper cupola, which for ninety-nine years has stood at the junction of narrow streets, and possibly in so doing has slowed down the traffic—not an undesirable result, you would suppose, in a town-centre so small and so crowded. For years past this little build- ing has been a cause of contention, the "up-to-date" party among the ratepayers wanting to pull it down so as to widen the street and make more room for the traffic, which incidentally they seem to suppose would bring more money to the tradesmen. But the fact is that it is the very picturesqueness of the little narrow street, with the town hall and the old brick-and-timber houses, which brings Godalming visitors, and with the visitors trade, from near and far. With the old houses pulled down for new, who that could help it would drive into Godalming ?

Points such as these, which cannot be added up in visible cash, are apt to be overlooked or forgotten. They would be brought out and insisted upon by the members of the Amenities Committee proposed in the above petition. What would happen, in the case of a beautiful piece of country or a fine old building being threatened by an " improvement," would be that the local committee-man would report the case at once to his fellows on the Committee. A meeting would thenbe called, and a sub-committee, perhaps, would be appointed to enter into friendly correspondence with the builder or the council or corporation concerned in the "improvement," to see if there could not be found some via media by which the objects desired could be achieved without destruction or annoyance. By taking the road ever so little to the left, it would be pointed out, you could save that noble group of trees; by choosing an alternative route for the cable you might free

this piece of common ; by retaining that little glimpse of old- world building you may attract motorists to lunch at the inn. And so on. The principle on which such an Amenities Com- mittee would work needs only to be explained, surely, to be appreciated ; the petition printed above is the first step towards bringing such a principle into practice. Already in a part of Surrey an admirable non-official and voluntary example of how to help preserve the charm of the county has been given. The West Surrey Society, under the skilled and considerate guidance of Mr. Thackeray Turner— one to whom by the way the whole country owes a debt of gratitude in the matter of the preservation of ancient buildings —has in Guildford and the neighbouring district done splendid work in the matter of saving things of beauty and interest by timely intervention, reasonable protest, and quiet direction and advice.