446 CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 



before the Committee, gave a comprehensive list to which Dr. Vaughau 

 Cornish has now added an enlarged version of the Northumberland area, 

 which might rank as a central park for Great Britain. 



In selecting suitable areas the threefold use must be always in view, 

 and especially the human recreational one. The relation of the population 

 map to the wild country map must therefore be carefully studied ; it 

 would not do to choose one or two areas, of remote wildness which would 

 leave vast tracts of Britain without any area at a convenient distance. 

 Nature and man, it is true, have not always concentrated their peak 

 developments near the same spots, though in the north and west this has 

 occurred. The Metropolis and East Anglia present the chief problems as 

 to provision at a convenient distance. The South Downs and Norfolk 

 Broads, both fulfilling many of the requirements, may need supplementing 

 in extent. 



§7. 



The finance of the National Parks will doubtless receive full attention 

 from the Committee in their report ; but if for the so-called composite 

 areas control rather than purchase is recommended, there are not really 

 large sums, nationally considered, involved. It is surprising for what a 

 small amount of money large areas even of good building land not far 

 removed from centres of j)opulation could be reserved, to bring in as good 

 a return to the landowner as sales, scattered as they are in distance and 

 time. After all there is only a strictly limited amount of land accessible 

 from existing roads without enormous expenditure on estate development. 

 In wilder country this is intensified ; except for a few feet depth from a 

 few roads and a few valleys that lend themselves to exploitation, the 

 building value in relation to anticipated rate of development is extremely 

 low. Mineral rights are in most cases far more serious, and in some cases 

 (fortunately not many) sporting rights are likely to cause heaviest com- 

 pensation. The Peak and other moorland areas of Derbyshire which, 

 from a purely population point of view, have perhaps first claims of 

 urgency, are extremely highly preserved. The best behaviour in the 

 world on the part of large numbers of users will not consort with the habit.s 

 of stimulated grouse breeding. 



If national purchase is to any degree necessary, a case can be made 

 out for mineral and water power rights. The recent mineral purchase 

 already alluded to was carried out to the satisfaction of both owner and 

 purchaser ; there is by this means an end to the most likely cause of 

 disagreement in the administration of an area. But again it is necessary 

 to state that nationalisation of minerals and water power does not mean 

 the prevention of their working ; it means the adequate consideration of 

 the expediency of working from all points of view. 



The Welsh evidence* contained an interesting financial proposal 

 contributed by Mr. Clough Williams-Ellis, chairman of the executive, for 

 the formation of a Statutory Company or Trust, in which all property 

 owners should be invited to join, being issued with shares to the equivalent 

 value of their holdings. This scheme presupposes no diminution, even an 

 enhancement of values as a result of the establishment of a National Park. 



* Council for the Preservation of Rural Wales : National Parks, pamphlet 4. 



