The dangers to the Thames-by-London are great. Even such famous
spots as Runelagh have no assurance of being left to the control of a mere private society. Syon House and Park are a threatened gem ; the Garden House, the Georgian boathouse, the rare and priceless trees, the open lands. If the Duke of Northinnberland liked to sell to the highest bidder, the whole glory might perish, from the trees and the Adam designs to Lady Jane Grey's barge ! It is a happy preliminary that the Urban District concerned has a plan which schedules the Park as a permanent open space ; and the district has been zoned " for dwelling-houses, for industry and for open spaces. But a wider and more certain scheme is necessary. The view from Richmond Hill, famous the world over, may easily be desecrated ; and the Thames is not only beautiful : it is deeper in history than any river in the world, and the value of the associations is admirably sketched in this survey. I should like to see every County Council or group of Councils in Britain do a like service for the chief river or seafront within their sphere ; and follow the survey with a regional plan both of preservation and development. Something similar is, I believe, designed for the Lea, humble though it is. What of the Wye and Severn, and the Ouses and Avons, and of lesser streams where the salmon run no longer 't * * * •
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