* * * THE UNHAPPY OUSE.
' The river in question—and others suffer similarly—is the Huntingdonshire Ouse, especially that part of it which separates the little old historic county town of Huntingdon from the lovely riverside village of Godmanchester. Once, as Roman and Saxon camps indicate, the neighbourhood of the old bridge was quite the most important strategical
point in England. Above the town the river is equipped with once excellent locks ; and many years ago the control of the water transport was a legitimate source of considerable wealth. The river was equally valuable to those who went up and down with barges or with pleasure boats. To-day the locks are unused and to some extent unusable ; and one at any rate has the appearance of some derelict work of a for- gotten civilization. It might be scheduled and made over to the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments and Places of Historic Interest ! An occasional fisherman treats its interior as a pond, and reclines in the retirement of surrounding weeds and bushes without fear of disturbance.
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