SAVING RURAL ENGLAND [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—I
have read, with great interest, the articles and correspondence which have recently appeared in your paper, in connexion with the Society for the Preservation of Rural England.
Mr. Guy Dawber's lament that the owners of wayside filling stations have not for the most part seen fit to call in an architect to design their buildings, is exactly what I pointed out in my letter to the Times of April last. Unfortunately, as will be patent to an observer, the average owner of wayside filling stations has no appreciation of art or any idea of the commercial value of beauty. We cannot, however, suppose that the controllers of the large oil interests in this country are equally ignorant, and it is amazing that they should not have attempted to give a lead to their retail agents by pre- senting them with a set of drawings designed by an architect who has a proper appreciation of the materials suited to the particular district in which erection is to take plice.
This course would be easily attained if the various oil and petrol groups concerned would promote a competition open to all British architects under 'the auspices of the R.I.B.A. for, say, four types, varying in size and texture, to suit different districts, adopting a unit type, so that the small wayside man could add to his building and still maintain its character as occasion demanded. Once this was done and the opportunity given to oil retailers to put their house in order, a direct appeal might then be made to the motoring public through such bodies as the A.A. and the R.A.C., requesting that they should, whenever possible, support only those filling stations which had made a serious effort to preserve the amenities of the countryside in which they are established.—I am, Sit. &e.,
-High Street House; Lancaster ' - THOMAS H. MAWSON.
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