36 REPORT—1899. 
beauty, and to hold the lands, houses, and other property thus acquired, 
in trust for the use and enjoyment of the nation.’ The Memorandum of 
Association also declares that no property thus acquired shall be dealt 
with, in the event of the dissolution of the Trust, in a manner inconsistent 
with the objects of the Trust. 
Mr. Blakiston then touched upon the wealth of the British Isles in 
buildings of historic interest, and on the non-existence here of a Minister of 
State one of whose functions was their preservation, though a Minister 
for this purpose existed in Austria, France, and Italy. The extraordinary 
growth in size of our towns during the reign of Queen Victoria had made 
the last fifty years a peculiarly disastrous period as regards the destruction 
of ancient monuments, apart from such destruction as altered circum- 
stances had made inevitable. And our larger cities tended more and 
more to be divided into a central more ancient part, made up chiefly of 
shops, offices, and eating-houses, thronged only by day, and monotonous 
modern suburbs in which the bulk of the inhabitants slept and passed 
their leisure time. Children, therefore, to a much greater degree than in 
earlier periods, were brought up with little or nothing around them to 
stimulate their imaginations, or to help them to realise the history of the 
past. And these islands were looked upon as ‘home’ by millions of 
people scattered over the face of the earth, who might fairly expect to 
find that the ancient monuments existing only in the centre of the British 
Empire were carefully preserved by those dwelling around them. 
Mr. Blakiston then referred to some of the work already done by the 
National Trust during its short life. It had purchased Barras Head 
opposite Tintagel Castle, and a most beautiful cliff overlooking Barmouth 
had been presented by a lady to the Trust. Toys’ Hill near Oxted, 
Kent, and Ide Hill in the same district had also been acquired. The 
purchase and restoration of the old Clergy House at Alfriston, Sussex, 
and of Joiner’s Hall, Salisbury, had secured to the nation two fine speci- 
mens of medieval domestic architecture. The Falkland monument on the 
battlefield at Newbury was also under the care of the Trust. And it had 
recently purchased in Wicker Fen, Cambridgeshire, a piece of the primi- 
tive fenland, which will remain for ever undrained and untouched, with 
its original plant and animal life. 
Turning to the question of further developments, he remarked that 
the task before them was one which could not be achieved either by a 
national society acting by itself or by local societies acting by themselves. 
No central society could possess the full and complete information in a 
given case which some local society possessed, nor could it influence local 
feeling to the same degree. On the other hand, no local society is so 
fully in touch with Parliament, or can appeal to so large a public as a 
great central society. Coming to practical details, the two important 
points were the creation of local committees to watch over the ancient 
monuments of each county or district, and the formation of a central 
fund. The Trust experienced much difficulty in obtaining timely informa- 
tion, and thought that a federation of local. societies would provide 
machinery to obviate this difficulty. The creation of a central fund 
would enormously strengthen the hands of the federated societies, by 
enabling their representatives to purchase, or make grants towards the 
purchase of properties of national interest. With a small subscription 
and a large membership a very considerable sum might be raised, from 
which erants could be made in local cases as occasion arose, The details 
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