THE EXTENSION OF HAMPSTEAD HEATH: AN APPEAL.
!'To THU BOMA OF TUB "SrscrAroa.1 Si,—It has become necessary to enlarge Hampstead Heath because the "Twopenny Tube" is going to have two stations there,—one on the very edge of the northern boundary. Those of us who know the lives of hundreds of thousands who live "all the weary year round" in places where flowers will not flourish rejoice to know that these town workers will soon be able to pass swiftly and cheaply for a few hours from the noise, the dirt, the stress of the streets, to enjoy the quiet, to listen to the birds, and to see the blue distances, with Harrow- on-the-Hill, the Elstree Ridge, and away behind, the Chiltern Hills. But if these good gifts are to continue to exist the Heath must be increased in size, for it is narrow just where the station is to be built, and the many travellers will spoil the beauty they go out to seek, trampling its verdant loveli- ness into barrenness, or creating in the narrow space a crowd, which, because crowded, often becomes unseemly. Close to the station there lie eighty acres of fields belonging to the Eton College Trustees; and to collect the money to purchase them at the low price of 2600 an acre is the object of the Hampstead Heath Extension Council, which has recently been formed with the Right Hon. G. J. Shaw-Lefevre as president, the Earl of Meath as vice-president, Sir. Robert Hunter and Mr. E. Bond, M.P., as joint treasurers, and your correspondent as hon. secretary. The Council is young, having held its first meeting on June 26th, but already it has received promises of nearly 27,000, besides 23,000 offered con- aitionally. This is encouraging; but 240,000 more has yet to be offered, and now is the time that it is needed, for the Borough Councils and other public bodies pause, and rightly so, before deciding on the amount they will vote, until they see whether the public care to give to save these playing fields and this restful hillside from the builder's hands. Unless they can be purchased and kept as an open space, the plans—already made—by which they will be cut up into small streets of small houses will be carried out, and the opportunity of in- creasing the Heath and saving the far-famed view, painted by Linnell, Murray, and many other artists, will be gone for ever. It is for your readers to use the privilege of helping which your courtesy has given to them ; and to any who care I will gladly send papers with full details, a map, a picture, and forms which conduce to business ease. Holidays amid beauty are generally gladder if one can help stay-at-homes in ugly streets before one starts.—I am, Sir, &c.,
HENRIETTA 0. BARNETT, Hon. Sec., Hampstead Heath Extension Council. Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, E.
[The effort to secure the eighty acres has our warmest sympathy.—ED. Spectator.]
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