18 APRIL 1931, Page 13

Of course, subtracting value in this regard from one piece

of land should add a virtually equal value to another. Value is not destroyed, but transferred. Both the Government and the C.P.R.E. are busy with plans for compensating one man's loss out of another's, so to speak, unearned gain ; but till this desirable consummation is reached—and it will need special legislation—much the best way is for the County Council itself to get control of threatened areas ; and this in very many counties can be achieved cheaply enough. It is good news that more surveys are about to be produced. Those of Kent, of the Thames-side, and of Cornwall are delightful and original books of topography, as well as invaluable documents for the making of a regional plan. They are books of a new sort, deserving of a much wider popularity than they get. (Incidentally, one may say the same of the parts of Domesday which may be procured separately for each county.) The next two surveys to appear are of the shires of Devon and Derby ; and, like the others, may be expected to be models of graphic topography well worth the study of every county patriot.