15 FEBRUARY 1935, Page 16

COUNTRY LIFE

Defacement by Roads

A new road of a very modern sort is meditated across one of the most gorgeous scenes left in the Cumberland Lakes ; and some residents and visitors, including an eminent climber or two, are opposed to the project, almost to the point of fury. They say, truly enough, that the neighbourhood does not benefit at all from such " hog parades." The cars gallop through with the maximum speed in order to reach luxurious hotels far beyond the Fells. They quote especially local experience of the new road across the Cairngorms which has done much aesthetic damage. It is perhaps worth recalling that the Council for the Preservation of Rural England was called into existence by the threat of the motor ; and the touring motorist continues to be the spoilt child of our time. Local feeling against the class becomes very real in some districts ; and one hears in villages very much the same comments on this sort of tourist as of the members of shooting syndicates. They descend on a quiet country place with cars, well stocked with hampers ; they shoot their hundred or two of pheasants with much expenditure of ammunition, send them straight to Leadenhall Market and depart without making even a superficial acquaintance with any resident in or about the hamlet, or leaving behind a penny more than they can help of their superfluous wealth.