SPOILING THE NEW FOREST [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Not long ago I visited the New Forest and was shocked to see the vandalism wrought upon it. The trail of the land speculator and jerry builder lies all over what is left of that fair deinesne lib/eh once embraced nearly half the county of Hampshire.
Lobster-pink bungalows, many of them with metal roofs, have sprung up everywhere ; extensive tracts of land have been denuded of trees, and the bare terrain is rendered more un- sightly by a network of tar-faced roads laid out with geometrical precision. The New Forest has begun to assume the aspect of a " Garden City."
It is true that certain disforested areas have been replanted, but with trees of a species alien to the New Forest, and there- fore quite out of harmony with its scenic amenities. The trees are set in regular order, which means that a " forest " is being created on the lines of a County Council Park. The Society which has for its object the preservation of places of historic interest seems to be indifferent to the mischief, or powerless to intervene.
Irreparable damage has already been done, and unless Parliament, backed by public opinion, takes timely action, the New Forest will cease to exist, or—like Epping, Hainault, Savernake, Sherwood, and worst case of all, Windsor Great Park—be reduced to a mere remnant. The situation brooks no delay in view of the fact that the London and Hampshire newspapers are full of house-agents' advertisements, inviting attention to newly erected houses and bungalows of " labour- saving " design in the " favourite New Forest district."
I lived for several years in Denmark, and in that country, the glorious forests, the admiration of travellers from all parts of the world, are zealously preserved intact for the enjoyment of the public. Can we not do the same ?—I am, Sir,
HERMAN ERSKINE.
Hillman, Park Road, S. Hayling Island.
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