6 DECEMBER 1930, Page 15

Now we cannot expect those who have enthusiasms for this

or that sort of land valuation or taxation to wait till such a prophecy as this may be fulfilled. It follows that the one way to save England and to prevent the conflict of such valua- tions with the ideal of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England is to hurry forward both centrally and locally the adoption of town and regional planning facilities. I believe the best way to encourage this ideal is to acquaint local bodies with what progressive councils have done elsewhere. An admirable example for general imitation has been set by the Rural District of that very lovely region centred at Newquay. It fits in admirably with the recent survey of Cornwall, of which I wrote last week. This, as other regional surveys, suggests constructional as well as preventive schemes. Easy travelling and the accessibility of local beauties need not spoil the character either of a place or its people as Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch seems to fear in the rather pernicketty conclusion of his historical preface to Cornwall. If character can only be saved by isolation, it is not worth saving.

• • • • THE SPOILING OF ARDEN.