A great many people will regret the failure of the
National Trust to prevent the erection of posts for overhead electricity lines on the Malvern Hills, particularly as litigation which it was undoubtedly right to initiate must have cost the Trust money it can ill afford. But, as Mr. J. F. W. Rathbone, the secretary of the Trust, has pointed out, issues of far-reaching importance have to be faced. The preservation of places of historic interest or national beauty is not an amiable whim of the Trust's ; it is. a statutory duty imposed on it by Act of Parliament. The execution of the duty obviously involves the protection of threatened buildings or places against some would-be despoiler or depredator, who in these days, according to Mr. Rathbone, is more often than not some Government department. To be aware of the origin of the threats is to be to some extent fore- armed. The power of public opinion in such a matter is limited, but at any rate Ministers should be made fully aware that -the eye of the public is on them, and that the National Trust has very many friends. Tribute is paid to the helpfulness of Mr. Philip Noel-Baker, as Minister of Fuel and Power, where ques- tions of injury to amenities were concerned. Conservative Ministers can reasonably be called on not to fall short of the standard thus set.
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