THE LATE MR. JUSTICE NEVILLE.
THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
Sm,—Many of those who knew and admired Mr. Justice Neville during his long association with the Courts of Law, first as the fair and skilful advocate, who understood how to deals with witnesses at a time when such skill was not common on the Chancery side, and then as the clear-headed, industrious, and pre-eminently human Judge, may have been unaware of the value and extent of his work in another sphere, that of social service. Yet those who knew him best must feel that no record of his life can he complete which does not dwell specially on the fact that in spite of the absorbing nature of his professional work he took a leading part from the first in the movement for town planning, for securing healthier homes and better conditions of life for those who were engaged in industries. An address which he gave in Manchester on the invitation of the University fourteen years ago is a most valuable contribution to the study of the subject, showing how keenly he felt the evils of existing conditions, and how carefully he had thought out the methods for improving them. It is an admirable statement of the case for a movement to which he devoted years of self-sacrificing labour, giving it the benefit of his wise guidance and energetic support. He was con- vinced by the evidence before him that " whatever other causes may be at work, the principal cause of physical deterioration is the congestion of population in our great towns." He worked with his whole heart to combat the evil he saw so clearly, devoting time and money and thought to the scheme by which he believed a remedy could be found. Now more than ever we shall need such a combination of absolute sincerity and of knowledge and practical common-sense, with intense earnestness guiding and inspiring action, as was seen in Sir Ralph Neville's work in connexion with the Garden City. He was a pioneer in that movement. Would it not now be a most appropriate thing to place at Letchworth some special memorial of him, inscribed perhaps with his own words: " We have to find the right conditions of social life and establish them.' Circumspice "1—I am, Sir„ AC., ALFRED HOPKINSON.
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