CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF 

 CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 



The Conference was devoted to the subject of scenic beauty and its 

 preservation. 



The first session, September 6, dealt with the scenic amenity of town 

 and country in the United Kingdom, and a resolution was proposed and 

 carried which subsequently received the endorsement of the General 

 Committee of the Association and was referred to the Council for action. 



The second, and concluding, session, September 11, dealt with the 

 scenery of the English Lake District and its preservation. 



Session of September &Ji. 



THE PRESERVATION OF SCENIC BEAUTY 

 IN TOWN AND COUNTRY. 



ADDRESS BY 



VAUGHAN CORNISH, D.Sc, 



PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERENCE. 



1. Great Britain's heritage op Scenic Beauty. 



This introductory address on the Preservation of Scenic Beauty in Town 

 and Country leads up to a resolution which will be proposed by the 

 delegate of a society situate in Scotland and seconded by the delegate of 

 one situate in Northern England. The types of scenery on which I shall 

 draw for illustration will therefore be selected mainly from the Southern 

 and Midland Counties of England and from Wales, adjacent on the West. 



Scenery, the outdoor view, is the aspect of the world which all men 

 have in common. Its true beauties, the aspects more than pleasing which 

 fill the mind with joy, result from combinations which produce mutual 

 enhancement of the parts, harmonies in the full sense of the word. 



The scenery of a country is artificially modified from generation to 

 generation, and it is necessary therefore that we of the academic world 

 should discover and define the combinations which result in scenic beauty 

 if we are to take the responsibility of advising on measures for its 

 preservation. We have, in fact, to lay sure foundations for an aesthetic 

 of scenery. 



Great Britain's heritage in scenery is of town and suburb, village and 

 farm, wild waste places, and the splendid setting of the sea, all under the 

 canopy of soft skies given by oceanic climate. 



2. Scenic Harmonies of the Town. 



Th^ characteristic beauty of the street is the effect of a vista, the 

 pleasant path by which the eye follows converging lines to a point of rest 

 in the far distance. Piecemeal reconstruction of streets is necessary in a 

 progressive era, and, in order to preserve the dignity of the street, uniformity 



