Town and county planning, which is the chief subject of
the conference, has arrived. It is a definite part of the privilege of both County and District Councils. The new Act is of more vital influence than most councils or individuals have realized. They must know about it and be busy about it, or confess to inefficiency. Though this conference, where knowledge on the subject will be concentrated, has been arranged by the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, by Lord Crawford and Balcarres and his staff, it is open to all. Incidentally there should be a great collection of foresters and men of the trees. One of the most interesting places in all England is an oak wood on the Surrey-Sussex border. There Sir George Courthope, following the example of his ancestors for some four hundred years or more, converts his trees into rural apparatus, from farm carts to hatchet hafts or beams and rafters for use in buildings as big and old as Westminster Hall or as small and new as the latest cottage or barn. Sir George Courthope will tell his story to the members of the conference and epitomize its lessons.. In addition there will be expeditions to the Thetford afforests- tions, which (as it seems to me, who have just been through them) are among the most notable in Europe.
Previous page
