KINGSTON VALE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I do not write for the mere sake of thanking you for the kind things you have said about our effort to save Kingston Yale for London, though our deep sense of obligation for the timely service rendered ought to find expression. My imme-
diate purpose is to invite the attention of those interested in open-space movements generally to the practical value of your suggestion as to deferred payments. You say :—
" Could not the Army Council . . . set an excellent example by proposing to contribute £250 a year for, say, ten years, this sum being set aside to pay interest on a mortgage, or to provide for a sinking fund to pay off debt ?"
Many a fine scheme has miscarried which the adoption of this method would have saved. It takes a long time (where the appeal has to be made to a wide public) to educate opinion and to reach the sources of potential support. In one aspect investments in open spaces are the lightest form of charitable sacrifice, for they are made once for all. There is no recurring claim. The good done lasts for ever. But just for this reason it is hard to raise the necessary fund in a limited time.
Many who would gladly give cannot give all they want to give in a single payment, and so it happens too often that just when the value of the undertaking is beginning to be appreciated the options expire, the Council that has laboured zealously but in vain is dissolved, and the great chance is lost for all time. The principle which you commend is already observed in the case of contributions by local authorities. They raise the money by loan, and the payment is spread over a period of perhaps sixty years. Why should not voluntary private benevolence be enlisted on similar lines it'A permanent
Trust Body would, I suppose, be necessary to-give effect to the arrangements made by the local fund committees, and for this the National Trust would, I think, be an inspiring model.
The Keir, Wimbledon Common, S.W.
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