April 6, 191 1] 



NATURE 



197 



want for beauty in the fine boulevards to be found in Paris 

 ' or Brussels ; the Unter den Linden is a thing of beauty 

 in spring in Berlin, whilst the famous Ring of Vienna 

 is as tine a piece of city tree decoration as you could wish 

 to see anywhere. 



In these islands we are far behind the Continent so 



far as the beauty of our streets go. Boulevards as under- 



I stood on the Continent are entirely absent from most of 



our big cities. In the exhibition I see on the wall two 



Hue sketches of new proposed roads in Liverpool. These 



are laid out in the proper spirit, and certainly not one of 



the least important parts of town planning is the laying 



, out of spacious tree-bordered roads, or even better, because 



more picturesque, if space is available, with a double line 



trees and a walk down the centre of the road, like the 



ter den Linden in Berlin. Parks and open spaces we 



, have in our great cities, and very beautiful many of them 



: are. In man}' cases they are, however, situated at con- 



' siderable distances from the densely congested poorer parts 



of the town. 



tiere in Edinburgh, a city the natural advantages of the 



nng of which it would be diilRcult to beat, I can picture 



>rge Street as having a very different appearance with 



line green row of trees down each side. I think the 



lition of a row on the shop side of Princes Street 



•aid add beauty to one of the finest streets in Europe, 



ilst, to mention others, Hanover Street, Frederick 



■et, and the other streets running off up the slope would 



ik infinitely more 'picturesque with trees on either side ; 



! i once the trees were up they would break the force and 



< !;iil of the most persistent prevailing wind I have met ! 



Hut it is not only in the wealthier part of the city that 



rk of this nature should be carried out. Trees should 



planted in lines or clumps or as single trees in the 



, arer and more densely populated quarters of the city. 



i L should not be possible for a child to grow up in any 



MI arter of a city without being in daily contact with trees 



<i plant growth. It should be rendered possible for the 



An-bred child to know the changes of seasons, not 



rely by temperature only, but by recognising the early 



Jnnings of life in the year with the first snowdrop, to 



M followed by the crocus, and shortly after by the budding 



<if the earliest trees. It should be possible for him to 



know and, if he will, see for himself the trees and other 



plants flowering and seeding in due season. 



It may be said that this will be dif^cult of realisation 



the densely populated poorer quarters of the town. 



IV I tell one more small story which I think points a 



>ome years ago I was stationed in Darjeeling, in the 



tern Himalaya. Darjeeling is a town of considerable 



, the summer headquarters of the Government of 



iigal, and possesses one of the great views of the world, 



superb snowy giant Kinchin Junga, to see which and 



>unt Etna beyond all devout tourists to India make a 



piigrimage. The town is situated on a ridge and outlying 



spurs, the houses embosomed in Cryptomerias, oaks, and 



other hardwoods. Beautiful as is the place in itself, with 



its incomparable setting of eternal snows, it came to be 



recognised that much could be done with the object of 



•beautifying the station. Some of iln- m.ids were without 

 trees, the banks and slopes betwr. n ili- m overgrown with 

 a tangled jungle growth ; the gardens of the houses left 

 much to be desired in many respects ; the roads of the 

 bazaar were dirty, and the offshoot paths overgrown with 

 a matted mass of undergrowth, the home and breeding 

 grounds of pestilential flies and microbes. At the instance 

 of the Lieutenant-Governor, the late Sir John Woodburn, 

 K.C.S.I., as fine and broad-minded a type of the British 

 official as could be found anywhere, a motion was set on 

 foot which had for its object identical aims with those, or 

 some of them, the present Town Planning Exhibition is 



•setting before the public — the beautifying of the town so 

 as to render it a better dwelling place for those who had 

 to spend their lives, or a portion of their lives, there. The 

 question, once mooted, was taken up with enthusiasm ; 

 and it must be rememl>ered that, as in Quetta, the popula- 

 tion concerned mainly consisted of men who would only 

 pass an uncertain number of years in the station, a 

 transfer or final retirement home ending their connection 

 with it. fn Darjeeling a strong committee was formed, 

 on which the Government, the municipality, the local bar, 



NO. 2162, VOL. 86] 



merchants, house owners, and pVivate individuals, British 

 and Indian alike, were represented. 



The Government recognised, as was pointed out by the 

 Lord Provost at Lord Pentland's speech the other day, 

 that it was not to the municipality (that is, corporation or 

 town council) alone that it should look for the carrying 

 out of the scheme — that the whole responsibility did not 

 rest with the municipality alone. Whilst recognising the 

 necessity of the municipality being the first to move in the 

 matter and promise its support, it was pointed out that 

 every householder in the town had equally a duty to per- 

 form in aiding the scheme, and that no scheme could be 

 complete or effectual unless each householder recognised 

 such duty and was prepared to give solid help to further 

 the ends in view. Donations and aid were asked for by 

 the committee from the Government, municipality, and 

 also from the householders, and were forthcoming from 

 each quarter. The committee then proceeded to lay down 

 in broad general lines its recommendations for giving effect 

 to Sir John Woodburn 's ideas, and these recommendations 

 dealt with the widening of roads, constructing new roads, 

 building up retaining walls to keep up banks and slopes, 

 planting trees either as avenues or in groups or single 

 trees, the pruning of existing trees which required such 

 work, cutting unsightly undergrowth from banks and 

 slopes and grassing such, cleaning up the gardens of such 

 householders as could not afford to do the work, and in 

 making provision for giving out seed or trees and shrubs 

 where necessary. 



The broad principles of the work having been laid 

 down, a strong working committee was appointed, and the 

 whole of the work done in the station in the year I am 

 dealing with was done by that working committee. 

 Householders who were well off were asked to consult 

 personally the working committee as to the details of the 

 improvements to be carried out in their own gardens in 

 so far as they affected the external appearance of the 

 town, and to carry out the recommendations made them- 

 selves. They were also asked to aid the working com- 

 mittee by donating seed and plants to be planted in the 

 gardens of the poorer classes. This work was done by 

 the staff of the working committee, and under the personal 

 superintendence of the latter. It was a common sight 

 during that spring, summer, and autumn to see members 

 of the committee supervising work for a couple of hours 

 before breakfast in the morning, men who would be spend- 

 ing the rest of the day in their offices engaged in their 

 ordinary daily pursuits. As a result, the improvement in 

 the appearance of the station was astounding, and fully 

 repaid the time and labour spent on it. 



I have quoted this example at some length because it 

 shows that the question of the improvement of a town, 

 and more especially the poorer and more squalid parts of 

 a town, is no Utopian scheme. It should be quite possible 

 to institute similar committees in every large city and 

 town of this country. In the case of the larger ones, such 

 as London, for instance, each local district could have its 

 own local working committee once the broad lines of 

 policy had been laid down. 



Here in Edinburgh a working planting subcommittee of 

 the town planning committee might be formed to look 

 after the beautifying of the city so far as such could be 

 advanced by planting work. For the poorer quarters of 

 the town a definite scheme of planting, by which I mean 

 not only the planting of trees and shrubs, but also the 

 formation and upkeep of grass and flowers, should be laid 

 down and worked up too, as funds allowed, it being a 

 sine qua non that only such work should be taken in hand 

 as could be looked after and kept up in years to come. 

 To plant a row or avenue of trees and then leave it to 

 take its chance, usually an extremely poor one, of reach- 

 ing maturity, is to throw away good money. Similarly, 

 to plant areas of grass and leave them to become refuse 

 and rubbish heaps or mud flats is merely to add to the 

 squalor and untidincs. ,.r a nHighbourhoo<l. For the 

 dwellings of the wimIiIiI i inhabitants, advici' wmild be 

 offered when demanded or suggestions made wli.n it was 

 desired to obtain uniformity of treatment in a particular 

 locality or neighbourhood, or when the planting of a 

 group of trees in a garden would afford a pleasinsl amenity 

 for a neighbouring poorer locality. In the public streets 

 the subcommittee should be given a free hand so far as 



