National Parks—Nearly
Considering the report stage of the National Parks Bill on Tuesday the House of Commons gravely decided that it should be a penal offence to put up a " Beware of the BuU" notice on a public footpath where there was no bull (it would probably be an offence under some other head to station a bull there), that ferries and board and lodging should be provided where necessary on through routes at a distance from existing roads and that the upkeep of footpaths should be undertaken by local authorities, with power in some cases to recoup themselves from a private owner on whom the obligation at present falls. All this was interesting, agreeable and uncontentious, if not public business of the first order. The general result is that a very useful measure, establishing a principle which has long been advocated but so far never realised, gocs to the House of Lords, where it may be improved and is unlikely to suffer detriment. The Bill is by no means to be acclaimed as perfect. There is plenty of room for questioning the allocation of powers between the National Parks Commission, the local Parks Committee and the local autho- rities. Toe antagonism of local interests, the apathy of local autho- rities and the predatory temper of Government departments like the War Office and the Air Ministry are all factors menacing the full success of the National Parks idea. The answer is that the Minister, whoever he be, must be trusted to do his utmost to apply the National Parks principle as the House has approved it, and when need be to defend the Parks against his colleagues. Not all the admirable proposals of the Habheuse Committee have been adopted, but quite enough to mark a great advance in the preservation of the countryside and the provision of access to its most attractive areas.
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