29 DECEMBER 1944, Page 18

National Parks An interesting screed on National Parks . has been

produced by the Council for the Preservation of Rural England. Personally, I find it difficult to be much interested in the form of preservation, perhaps because any such park in this island will not bear comparison with Yellowstone or Banff or Kruger's Park. The glory of England is England, not any one district, and all the places suggested as parks are already accessible and particularly free from threats. Neyer- theless, the National Park has an inspiring sound and would be welcomed by everybody, if only as a symbol. The Scott Report came down definitely in favour both of the park and the method of getting it. We may hope and now expect that a National Park Commission will be formed after the war to "select and finance National Parks as a distinct unit within the whole national scheme of land use." A separate Scottish Council is in being. It may perhaps be said that the Lakes are to the English planners what Snowdon and the Cairngorms are to Wales and Scotland. So though we shall not meet bison, bear or lion as in other countries and continents, it will be pleasant to feel that these partial wilds are preserved in perpetuity" for the people's pleasure. The supple- mentary idea of forest parks in newly afforested areas is making way.