3 MAY 1924, Page 14

A CIVIC SENSE IN SHEFFIELD. [To the Editor of the

SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have read with unusually keen interest Mrs. Williams- Ellis's articles on a civic sense as they have appeared weekly in the Spectator. I have also read the letters upon the subject from residents in the towns and cities that she has visited and written about. As her article of April 12th deals with Sheffield and Leeds, in both cities of which I have lived several years, I venture a few remarks.

My first thought is that although there are obvious faults in Mrs. Williams-Ellis's observations, in the main her strictures are dictated by a fine sense of justice and citizenship, and calculated to rouse the public to attend more earnestly to their duties and privileges as citizens, especially in all that concerns the noblest science and arts of citizenship. Your contributor has enabled us more clearly than ever to " see ourselves as others see us." I only hope it may " from many a blunder free us and foolish notion."

I feel reluctant to criticise an observer so qualified as Mrs. Williams-Ellis, my sympathies being so much in favour of her persistent plea for nobler ideals in town planning, architecture, housing, hygiene, education, the fine arts, work, recreation, and all that makes life happier and better worth living. Defective as Sheffield is in many of these things, I think this city deserves more credit than she accords it. If the standard of a civic sense is reckoned by the progress that a city is making or has made, say, during the last quarter of a century, in those most essential things, then I think Sheffield's record will not be found nearly so black as Mrs. Williams-Ellis has painted it.

A few days ago the Sheffield Federated Health Association held its 25th annual meeting. The Lord Mayor (Aid. Blanchard), who was President of the Association the first three years, in reviewing its work and influence, declared that the Association had created such a new " civic conscience " throughout Sheffield and the City Council that proposed municipal improvements once frowned upon were now largely effected with unprecedented results. Twenty-five years ago the average death-rate was about 22 per thousand per annum. It has gradually been reduced to 11, just one-half, a saving of a round 5,000 lives, with a corresponding decrease of

sickness and increase in health and efficiency. What other city has a better record ?

During the earlier years of our Health Association the sanitary state of Sheffield was so bad that the City Council found great difficulty in getting Parliament to pass a Bill for the extension of the boundaries of a city so badly adminis- tered. Since then we have got further extensions, and many municipal reforms and amenities, and like " Felix," we are still walking, though our pace is unfortunately slackened through Sheffield being harder hit by unemployment than any industrial centre. Perhaps the greatest blot on our civic character is the vast amount of unnecessary smoke, which, however, has been greatly reduced through the vigi- lance of our most excellent Smoke Inspector, and will, we hope soon, be further cleared away by the Smoke Abatement Bill recommended by Lord Newton's Committee. Then we shall hope to reform smoky Sheffield out of recognition, making it indeed a fair and beautiful picture, as it is sur- rounded by a circular frame of natural landscape surpassing in hills and dales and beauty every other city in England, —I am, Sir, &c., WILLIAM CRAVEN. 129 Whitham Road, Sheffield.