PLANNING THE LAND OF BRITAIN 491 



the agricultural region of Britain ; and agriculture tails for consideration 

 later in this discussion. But this belt is also important as furnishing our 

 great reservoirs of underground water, particularly in the Triassic Sand- 

 stones, the limestones of the Oolites, and the Chalk. Water supply is a 

 basic consideration in connection with the location of industry, which is at 

 present the subject of an inquiry by a Royal Commission. The extension 

 of housing and road-development incidentally increases the waterproofing 

 of the land surface and prevents rain from being received into natural under- 

 ground storage. The local loss is material, as is obvious if it be remembered 

 that consumption per head is rising to thirty or thirty-five gallons per day, 

 and bids fair to increase, and that large works with extensive washing plants 

 consume as much water daily as a city of one or two hundred thousand 

 inhabitants. The disposal of waste products — sewage — and the location 

 of cemeteries also necessitate due regard being paid to the geology of the 

 neighbourhood if the water supply is not to be contaminated. It is unfor- 

 tunate that the type of sandy or gravelly well-drained country best suited 

 for the location of cemeteries and sewage-farms is that on which we are 

 dependent for the absorption of rain and the renewal of the underground 

 water supply. The appointment recently of a Committee by the Ministry 

 of Health, arising out of discussions and recommendations of the British 

 Association, recalls that the methods of recording overground and under- 

 ground supplies of water throughout the kingdom are being systematised. 

 It is to be hoped that, when the distribution of the available supplies is 

 known in detail, there may emerge some agreed allocation which will lead 

 to the reduction of opposed Water Bills in Parliament, 



Dr. Julian Huxley said he proposed to deal with the preservation of 

 animals in Britain. Anyone who has seen wild and beautiful country such 

 as the great game plains of Central Africa with their original fauna, and the 

 less extensive wild country of certain parts of North America lacking in so 

 much of its original fauna, knows how much richer and more fascinating is 

 the former. To exterminate species is to do something irreparable, and with 

 all our knowledge we cannot produce species which have been exterminated 

 in this country. There was probably justification for exterminating wolves 

 and bears (though a few of the latter might, without difficulty, have been 

 preserved in remote parts of the Highlands), but with less justification the 

 countryside has been impoverished in recent times by the extermination of 

 the great bustard, the avocet and many other rare and beautiful birds, and 

 by the almost complete extermination of the white horse, the great eagle, the 

 pine marten and the beech marten. In planning the land we must see what 

 can be done in a busy and crowded countryside like ours to preserve such 

 animals partly for their scientific interest and also for their value as objects 

 of general interest to increase the amenity value of the country. 



With regard to mammals, the position has gone so far that there is little 

 to be done except by setting aside in remote districts certain largish areas as 

 sanctuaries or national parks. With regard to birds and rare insects, the 

 best thing in a country like ours is to set aside comparatively small areas for 

 groups of species having the same habitat. That has been done in quite 

 a wide way at various places like the Faroe Islands, Dungeness, and Wicken 

 Fen. One important thing we should do is to draw up a list of all the 

 existing sanctuaries and of all the species deserving protection, and of places 

 that might be set aside as sanctuaries for them. 



Planning of breeding places for introduced animals of a commercial value 

 is a matter which needs attention. A certain amount of land utilisation 

 should be reserved for the breeding of foxes, nutria, etc., and in planning 



