A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE Air Ministry is dealing very gently with the small vested interest in aerial advertising. No licences are to be extended after October, 1941, so that for three more summers this pestilence has got to be endured. In some parts of London during last summer it was often impossible to conduct an ordinary conversation without closing the windows. The noisiest aeroplanes are naturally the most suitable for the purpose of attracting notice. Their streamers render them slow and presumably dangerous. They must needs fly low if their vile announcements are to be read, in defiance of the regulation which requires all aircraft when flying over cities to maintain a height which will enable them to land outside the city without their engines. That is a matter for the police. But every local authority has power to prevent the exhibition of advertise- ments within its district " so as to injuriously affect the amenities of any place frequented by the public solely or chiefly on account of its beauty or historic interest " ; and an advertisement in this connexion " includes any apparatus intended only for the display of advertisements." There is no reason why this power should not be used to protect the thousands of citizens who use our parks and commons against the vulgar impudence of a few short-sighted advertisers, and against the risk of serious accidents.
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