We are delighted to see that the Times has not
only opened its columns to a correspondent who protests against the quarrying for road-metal which, if persisted in, will ruin the gorge of the Avon and the Leigh Woods—among the most beautiful of the many beauties of Somersetshire—but has itself in a leader protested against this wanton piece of desecration. The stone, it appears, is used by the Bristol Corporation for its roads, but it would be quite easy to get the necessary metal elsewhere. It is taken from the splendid cliffs that shut in the Avon on its way to join the Severn Sea merely because a cliff is a convenient place to quarry from. As far as we can judge, the stone can be perfectly well got from other places ; but even if it were necessary to get it in the Leigh Woods, it could be got by tunnelling, and so without spoiling the face of the cliff. There is, it would seem, another project on foot for quarrying stone for the new Avonmouth Docks, but fortunately this cannot be prosecuted unless the Board of Trade will allow the foreshore to be used. We sincerely trust that this leave will not be granted, and that the Bristol Corpora- tion, who have always shown pride in the beautiful surround- ings of their ancient city, will come to a speedy decision to take no part in the desecration of the gorge of the Avon. It is also greatly to be hoped that the road authorities in the Cheddar district will do the same, and will refuse to use stone quarried in the magnificent limestone rocks of the world-famed Cheddar Ravine. Even if it is not possible to place the cliffs in both places entirely beyond the reach of the ravager, public bodies should at least refrain from abetting the evil work of destruction.
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