FARMING AND FOXHUNTING 



At the same time I recall an occasion when I 

 think the better judgment of the one was over-ruled 

 by the other. The occasion I have in mind was 

 during the discussion which took place over the 

 building of our new County Council offices. The 

 voting was a very near thing : the point at issue was 

 whether we should erect them at Devizes or Trow- 

 bridge, and, as is now well known, the lot fell to 

 Trowbridge, but I am not sure the voting would 

 have gone this way had Lord Bath expressed his 

 leaning for the Devizes site in language a little more 

 definite. At the time I had a feeling he had that 

 leaning, but then Lord Bath is born and bred into 

 an atmosphere of autocracy, and one must admire 

 his effort on all occasions to allow that atmosphere 

 to be penetrated by democratic opinion. 



Mr. Withy, a very clever debater, was too pre- 

 ponderant in his arguments in favour of the Trow- 

 bridge site. To me his argument of the railway 

 serving the Swindon and Salisbury members in 

 particular was a weak one : even most of these men 

 come by car to-day ; also the suggestion that the 

 staff would be ruthlessly uprooted was really of 

 little importance when we take into consideration 

 the benefits to future generations who will be called 

 upon to serve the County, whether as members of 

 the Council or the staff. Surely radiating from the 

 centre must save time and expense, and perhaps more 

 important than all these facts is the one of invigorat- 

 ing air which is so natural to Devizes. Can the 

 same be said of Trowbridge, a low-lying district ? 

 I hardly think so. The question of transport does 



120 



