(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—There is an aesthetic
side to the question of new roads which you have left untouched in your interesting article in the Spectator of January 10th. At present, as the law stands, any one buying an estate may cut roads as he pleases without consulting the local authorities, as he is obliged to do before banding his houses. Why should not plans of roads be sub- mitted to the authorities as well as house plans ? Here in Eastern Dorset we are suffering from this independent action of building societies and syndicates, and consequently a beautiful country is being spoilt; not so much by the builders as by the road-makers who precede them. Hundreds of acres are being 'sacrificed; fir-trees, which have been ad- vertised as possessing the health-giving properties necessary to consumptives, are disappearing; and straight carriage roads are taking the place of winding paths. In the older parts of Bournemouth the roads are curved, and the firs have been left standing between foothpaths and roadways. Now, the only idea is to make a road perfectly straight, and fell all the trees which come in its way. Can it be necessary, even for motors, that a mile of road should be treeless and shadeless ? Surely the local authorities ought to have the legal power to control road-making as well as house-building, so as to retain as much of the beauty of a district as possible. Ruthlessly to massacre all the trees in this part of the country is to kill the goose which lays the golden eggs.—I am, Sir, &e , S. B. [The sensible user of a motor no more likes ugly roads than does the sensible user of a carriage.—En. Spectator.]
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