COUNTRY LIFE
Saved !
Few men have been so roundly abused (by urban critics) or done so much good to England as the country landowners. They vary, and the demand for feudal deference is not quite extinguished ; but their work on behalf of the charm of rural England is continuous. An avenue for the exercise of this quality is offered (and has been widely taken) by the Regional plan and by the schemes of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England. A standing example is the scheduling of their lovely properties on the Thames by Lord Astor and Lord Desborough. This week Surrey landlords have followed this lead. Without asking any of the com- pensation they might fairly claim they have agreed to • schedule " (blessed word, however pronounced !) some 3,500 acres of the loveliest land in Surrey, and so saved it " in perpetuity " for the benefit of the people. The Surrey County Council and these 14 public spirited landowners deserve national gratitude. If you demand a monument, look round northwards from Leith Hill. Small gifts and offers of land are continually being made to the National Trust which is in a fair way to become the biggest, or at least the greatest, landowner in the country. The progressive nationalization of land approaches by other means than any politician has suggested ; and incidentally it would approach very much more quickly if the Treasury, as the Duke of Montrose has urged, would accept land in lieu of death duties, as it may and it should. But the Treasury thinks more of its bank balance than does the country landowner.
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