30 APRIL 1932, Page 14

A BRECKLAND SANCTUARY.

The effects of afforestation at the Norfolk centre are curious and in some places a cause of natural regret. No bit of England —not even Wicken Fen—is more peculiar in its plants, insects and birds than Breekland. A great part will vanish under fir trees and its rarities be for ever exiled. The beneficent cause of afforestation, the bringing into productive use of else barren lands cannot be arrested by Government depart- ments for the sake of natural history, and no one would wish it ; but there is no reason why a reserve and a sanctuary of moderate proportion should not be secured to immortalize this strange, indeed, this unique country ; and it is no secret that the endeavour to procure it is the ambition of a number of the leading naturalists of that county of naturalists, and of the Trust that they have founded.