ROADSIDE ADVERTISEMENTS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SrzczATolt."3 Sin,—I need not attempt to recount the sorrows of the English roadside. Mr. Thornely is the votes saver, and those who have not learned already how lightly he can touch the tragic chord will be grateful to me for referring them to p. 1072 of the Spectator of June 25th. He treated the motorist as the appointed, inevitable instrument of fate. My purpose is to claim sympathy for him as one who suffers himself in bringing suffering on others, and to praise him as rising manfully in revolt against his persecutors. Mr. Thornely is not the only worm. The motorist writhes just as be does under the torment of the puffs in blue and yellow, black and white, scarlet and green. Both are the victims of a common fate. The story is simple enough. Certain firms want to sell their cars or petrol, and, taking note of what other firms who want to sell other wares have been doing, they spend money in getting plates and placards made, and spend yet more money in getting them set up along the track of the automobilist. All that is the usual process of what is absurdly called business enterprise.. In this case it ceases to pay as soon as the class to whose sight the deformities are addressed treat them as the things they are—eyesores and affronts—and determine that they will have no dealings with the people who spoil their delight in travel.
The special organs of the trade and of the pastime show themselves timely wise by advising those who enjoy the fresh open country and the charm of the villages to adopt this policy of discrimination. The manufacturers and dealers being sagacious persons, also will in turn give suitable instructions to their advertising manager, who, as an expert, will have no difficulty at all in employing other methods of securing publicity. Persistence in the present course would argue indifference to business principle, for the industry which depends for custom on the attractiveness of touring on wheels is plainly prejudicing itself by making touring on wheels less pleasant than it might be. Every one else will gain, chiefly the modest pedestrian who thinks scenery worth looking at,—nay, finds in the contemplation of landscape one of the great joys of life.
It is not easy to forgive the.want of consideration shown by the great firms which have resorted to the practice, but I have reason to know that in many cases the immediate agents are not aware of the harm they are doing. The world as they see it is a place in which a hungry generation scrambles for custom; and it does not occur to them that any particular phase of the game can give offence. Thus the owners of the Michelin tyre, being asked to remove their erections from a tract in the Lake District, courteously complied, explaining that they did not suppose that any one would mind them. This is, I fear, no uncommon frame of mind.
There are unfortunately other countryside advertisers who are not of the household of motoring, and are less amenable to entreaty. Thanks.to your friendly reference, I have had very many inquiries as to the applicability of the provisions of the Advertisements Regulation Act of 1907 to such cases. I should forfeit all claim on your indulgence if I attempted to elucidate a subject which is technical and intricate. Full information is always at the disposal of those who are willing to give the necessary measure of time and thought. But here I may briefly say that, for districts or spots of exceptional beauty, the local authority (County Council or Borough, or District, Council) can frame by-laws prohibiting the exhibition of any advertisement, visible from a public thoroughfare, which would impair the beauty of the land- scape. The sanction of the Home Office is necessary to the validity of the regulation; but that sanction has already been given to by-laws in the sense indicated by which the Lake District (in three counties), various tracts in Somerset, and Oulton Broad in Suffolk are now protected. But the pro- hibition does not apply to notices which were in existence at the time the by-law was made. They have five years' grace, subject, of course, to the use of moral pressure or negotiations on a more material basis.
Let me append one caution. Let no one suppose that the Act will come into play automatically. Local authorities are (for reasons which by no means reflect on the earnestness and devotion of the members or officers) immobile in such matters. The condition for remedial action is that in each locality a few residents, who feel that the grace of our English country is a valuable asset, should combine to induce their representa- tives to avail themselves of the Act of 1907. They will be told, no doubt, that " it is no use, that the other members don't care for such fiddle-faddle.'" Experience rebukes that fear_ In some cases where we were warned to expect nothing but failure a by-law far more sweeping than the Home Office could allow was, at the first appeal, carried unanimously.
No superstition dies harder than the notion that our cause is one that interests only people of fine taste and delicate sensibility. The defacer has few friends.—I am, Sir, &c.,
RICHaRDSON' EVANS The _Weir, Wimbledon. (Hon. Sec. Scapa).
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