Country Life
OXFORD ON ENGLAND.
The conference to be held at Oxford, on January 18th, is not unlikely to mark a stage in the philosophy of rural betterment. It will consider health and housing, the arts and physical culture as " elements in the life of intelligence and sensibility " ; but its first consideration will be the countryside as such ; and the aim of the conference is expressed in a piece of very charming prose : " With skill and care, supported by strong public opinion, the new things called for by the needs of rural life may be, made seemly, and harmonious with the contours and colour of the landscape." It cannot be too strongly insisted that the movement for preservation of rural beauty is both spiritual and material. If beautiful thatched cottages are unhealthy they must go or be reconditioned. To some degree, as the general title of the conference hints, the English countryside must be " new." Roads, motors, posts, pylons, concrete bridges, petrol stations, multiplication of small houses must make a difference ; and our job is to direct the develop- ment aright. No important movement is just negative ; and no one has defined the issue with more insight than Sir Michael Sadler, the Master of University College, who fathers this conference on what we trust, though some Oxford Fellows disagree, is not yet a lost cause.
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