THE ROADS BEAUTIFYING ASSOCIATION [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
see in your issue of November 23rd that Mr. Clough Williams-Ellis mentions the Roads Beautifying Association by name, and I therefore hope that you will allow me to make some reply.
First of all, I should like to say that I agree with nearly all that he says. It is true that England is being re-formed and it is equally true that the local authorities have power to plant on the highways and that for good or ill they are doing so. This is precisely the reason why the Roads Beautifying Association came into being. Some of us felt that up to the present time the planting of these new roads was not of a quality that this generation could worthily hand down to posterity, and that in the future it should be under the guidance of those having adequate knowledge of such a technical subject.
Highway planting has hitherto been done without method, the refuse of any local nursery being accepted, often planted at the wrong time of year, and without design. The whole raison Vire of a Roads Beautifying Association is that they have on their Technical Committee the most eminent experts on trees and shrubs in the country, and that they are prepared
to put their advice at the disposal of any public authority
who cares to make use of it. It is true that if local authorities could be persuaded to view the matter propely there would be no reason for our existence, but is there any suggestion of this coming about ?
The same thing might be said for every other society which has the beauty of England at heart, such as the National Trust and the Council for the Preservation of Rural England. Both of these societies have done excellent work in saving for the nation places of historic interest and beauty, which would have been lost but for their efforts. Surely this is one of our national characteristics, that we look to the Govern- ment to do the bare essentials, and prefer that the " frills " should be left in the hands of those who are keen and in- terested in their subject, and are far better qualified on the technical and aesthetic side than any Government official has time to be.
I think Mr. Williams-Ellis should speak more strongly on the subject of motor parkways. I have recently been over these roads round New York, and they are far ahead of anything we are doing here.—I am, Sir, &c.,
WILFRID Fox, Hon. Secretary, The Roads Beautifying Association, 34 Chandos House, Palmer Street, Westminster, S.117. 1.
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