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CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES 4Il 
NATIONAL PARKS 
By P. THomsen, M.A. 
The paper which I am to have the honour of reading to you will deal with 
the question of National Parks in Scotland as part of the larger question 
of National Parks in Britain; in my opinion no other treatment can be 
satisfactory. Further, all my conclusions will rest on the assumption that 
contact with beauty, on a large scale, such as Nature, untouched by man, 
can alone supply, is of the greatest importance for the development of 
the highest human qualities. If this be granted, as I think it will, it follows 
that we have no right to deprive posterity of the means of such contact, 
but that natural beauty, the slow growth of thousands of years of geological 
and botanic action, must be jealously guarded as an irreplaceable national 
asset. It follows, in short, that we must set aside areas, to be called National 
Parks, in which the preservation of natural beauty and its free enjoyment 
by all as a matter of right, shall be the dominating principle of adminis- 
tration. 
If the need of such action be admitted, it will also be admitted that there 
is need of haste. The forces which, in the name of progress, tend to the 
destruction of natural beauty, are relentless, and, thanks to the enormous 
concentrations of capital which they can now command, work with ever- 
increasing speed and power. And if practical difficulties debar us from 
the immediate execution of our whole plans, we can at least see to it that 
these plans are ample enough to bear some relation to the importance of 
their object and the greatness of the nation for which they are designed, 
and that machinery which will ensure their ultimate accomplishment is 
brought into being. 
Such plans I shall endeavour to lay Bufore you. 
EXTENT OF NATIONAL PARKS. 
The method by which National Parks should be secured, and the 
machinery for their development and administration depend largely on 
their extent. Before proceeding to these other matters therefore, it is 
necessary to decide, at least tentatively, what is the total area of National 
Park land which Britain should endeavour ultimately to possess. 
The principal factor to be considered is the magnitude of the population 
which the National Parks are intended to serve. Looking to other countries 
in which a National Park policy has been long established and approved, 
we find as follows :— 
1. U.S.A. (1932): 
Area of National Parks (not including 
State Parks or Forest Reserves) . . 20,247 sq. miles. 
Population . é : 126 millions. 
Park land per million inhabitants 5 : 161 sq. miles. 
2. Canada: 
Area of National Parks ve including : 
Provincial Parks) : . . 12,000 sq. miles. 
Population . ; f 10 millions. 
Park land per million inhabitants . . 1,200 sq. miles. 
