6 FEBRUARY 1932, Page 15

THE Orman EXPERIMENT. .

I do not think Oxfordshire has a County Society, but its inhabitants work hard in their owe defence, constructively as well as preservatively. A very practical and suggestive prize scheme has just been launched, and will, I hear, attract many competitors. Substantial cash prizes are offered to owners or occupiers of petrol stations in the county. Nega- tively the absence of ugly advertisements is emphasized, but most of the prize virtues are more positive : such as appro- priateness and neatness in the building, the suitability of signs, the inclusion of gardens and grass plots. It is a good sign that the garden idea has already been very pleasingly carried out at a number of Oxfordshire filling stations. It indicates the nature of the new schemes of defence that the judges in this competition will come from the Regional Planning Advisory Committee as well as from the C.P.R.E., who will, I trust, find many entrants writing to their office at 6 King Edward Street, Oxford.