THE PINK VILLA.
It was very well said by the Ministry of Health in a preamble to the Housing (Rural Workers) Act that " the beauty of the English countryside depends very largely on the general appropriateness of local materials and character of building generally found in the older buildings." As things are the beauty is ruined by garish imports. I walked last week along the South Cornish coast on either side Looe and Pol- perro, a singularly unsophisticated stretch of wild coast. You may still find lonely bays, even lonely views, and some of the villages are as quaint as Clovelly itself. But—just a few villas there are perched in uncomfortable niches in obvious spots, and their blue-pink roofs vulgarize the whole land- scape. You see to-day in its first stages the approach of the canker that has already fouled the natural beauty of a score of lovely bits of England—in the Lakes, on the South Downs, in the New Forest, on the South Welsh coast, along a thousand roads in most counties. The infliction is intolerable ; and the first step to prevention is such knowledge of law and oppor- tunity as is condensed into this and other leaflets and pamphlets issued by the C.P.R.E. from 17 Marlborough Street, W. 1. The Council is presided over by three authori- ties whose qualities are most happily complementary : Lord Crawford and Balcarres, an authority in many branches of aesthetics ; Mr. Guy Dawber, that famous architect ; and Professor Abercrombie, who has made a new art of civics and town and country planning.
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