Country Life
THE PETROL DRAGON.
That covey of monsters, with the heads and necks of highly- coloured dragons, which we call petrol stations, are being attacked by an able and successful troop of St. Georges, whose headquarters are in Hampshire. They will never perhaps, like the Great Beast in the " Faerie Queen," be killed outright, but like him they are being scotched. As an addition to the technique of the battle Hampshire is giving this month a prize for the best design of an inoffensive, if not more positively attractive petrol station. This coincides with a fairly satis- factory advance in the southern counties in general. The local bodies have been using their legal powers to prohibit any stations that are an offence to the amenities of the place ; and yet more has been done by quiet suggestion, most of it originating with the Council for the Preservation of Rural England. It is not even yet realised locally how great are the legal powers ; but the knowledge should be widely spread by the recent proclamation by authorities at the Zoo against " litter louts." After a short period of tuition, when boy scouts will go about among the crowds pointing out the evils of litter, the Society intend to prosecute offenders both at Whipsnade and Regent's Park. The first case will deserve a magnificent Press.
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