442 CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 



feeling about it of the heightening of interest such as one experiences in 

 a private park in the country, which is not amiss ; ' Domain,' however, 

 used as it is in Ireland for a private park, also possesses this significance. 

 It is important to remember that a National Park is or should be something 

 more than a simple stretch of English country, however normally beautiful. 

 To say that all England, except its towns, should be one great National 

 Park is a mere rhetorical expression. The National Park or Domain should 

 have a certain heightened interest, a quickening of the pulses in apprecia- 

 tion, and it will chiefly be found to coincide with areas of wild scenery. 

 In America, it is true, the greatest National Parks have consisted of wild 

 tracts untouched by man (except for his use as a National Park). In this 

 country such unmitigated wildness can hardly be said to exist, except over 

 very limited areas. The size necessary for a National Park will therefore 

 generally be found to include a certain amount of sophisticated scenery 

 and cultivated country ; indeed, it will be necessary to include villages 

 and even towns if there are not to be a number of lacunae, which would 

 become danger spots, unless they were controlled in order to be in keeping 

 with the surrounding wildness. It is even rare to find English wild 

 scenery entirely free from human additions or intrusions : the stone walls, 

 so frequent in the Lake District and North Wales, quarries in use or 

 abandoned, tracks and footpaths. 



§2- 

 It might be suggested that a National Park should combine a threefold 

 use ; first the preservation of scenery, second the maintenance of flora 

 & fauna, and third the provision of recreation. Of these it might be 

 suggested that the scenic aspect would involve as far as possible the 

 preservation of the status quo, with the provision, however, of increased 

 access in order that it may be enjoyed more fully. The flora and fauna 

 object suggests preservation of the status quo without access at all (if 

 possible) ; and the third, normal recreational use, calls for a definite 

 j)rovision for change and growth. Are these three objects incom])atible ? 

 Provided the area is sufficiently large they need not be ; but it is clear 

 that to satisfy and adjust the requirements of each requires the nicest 

 sense of proportion and delicacy of touch. To over-emphasise the scenery 

 and flora & fauna aspect would defeat the whole object of the human 

 use of these glorious open spaces ; while, on the contrary, to allow them 

 to be overrun or exploited and especially to cater for a type of amusement 

 which might be just as easily satisfied in less beautiful surroundings, 

 would be equally to destroy the first two objects. The economic use of 

 wild country, generally so rich in minerals, at once comes into conflict 

 with scenic preservation. It requires a most careful and broadminded 

 study in order to determine in certain cases which is in the real national 

 interest, namely, to exploit a certain mineral or stone or to preserve 

 untouched a certain piece of scenery or object of historic interest. At 

 present the first is almost invariably given an overriding importance, 

 which has to be upset very often at great expense ; but the best interests 

 of the country may quite possibly be served by obtaining the same product 

 elsewhere. On the other hand, nothing could be more short-sighted than 

 to prohibit all quarrying, &c., in certain districts. For example, in the 



