viii FIVE YEARS' RETROSPECT 



departments, or to other institutions more directly concerned than the 

 Association. Some, however, were matters to which the mechanism of the 

 Association itself could be more closely applied, and by way of example 

 the procedure followed in connection with the first six subjects in the pre- 

 ceding list will now be briefly outlined. 



The interest of the Association in a survey of the inland water resources 

 of the country was awakened (or rather reawakened, for in earlier years 

 committees of the Association had done work on certain aspects of this 

 question) by a discussion at the York Meeting in 1932, after which a com- 

 mittee was appointed to inquire into the position of inland water survey in 

 Britain, and the possible organisation and control of such a survey by central 

 authority. Its reports will be found in the Annual Reports of the Associa- 

 tion for 1933 (p. 358), 1934 (p. 239), and 1935 (p. 324). Following upon the 

 issue of the first of these reports, the co-operation of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers was secured, and a letter and memorandum on the desirability 

 of a complete and systematic survey of the water resources of the country 

 were addressed by the Presidents of the Association and the Institution 

 to the Prime Minister. A representative deputation subsequently waited 

 upon the Minister of Health to discuss the matter, and in February, 1935, 

 it was announced that the Government had appointed a committee to advise 

 on the inland water survey for Great Britain, on the progress of the measures 

 undertaken , and on further measures required . The Council of the Associa- 

 tion later appointed a watching committee in case occasion should arise for 

 further intervention. Meanwhile (1934), in the same connection, a resolu- 

 tion forwarded to H.M. Government had urged the compulsory registration 

 of wells, borings and excavations exceeding 100 ft. in depth. 



Questions relating to the preservation of the countryside, national parks, 

 and nature reserves have been brought before the Association more than 

 once during the period under review, both in sectional meetings and in the 

 appropriate setting of the annual conference of delegates from the corre- 

 sponding societies (local scientific societies affiliated to or associated with 

 the Association). As mentioned above, resolutions have been put forward 

 urging, among other matters, more systematic instruction in schools con- 

 cerning the preservation of natural vegetation, the protection of bird life 

 by the avoidance of hedge- cutting during the nesting season, the more 

 adequate provision of nature reserves, and the protection from building 

 development of areas which might become national parks. In 1934 the 

 Ministry of Health began to inform the Association of the progress of 

 planning all over England and Wales under the Town and Country Planning 

 Act, in order that the Council, if they thought fit, might call attention to the 

 desirability of protecting any area or site of scientific interest. The Council 

 informed the corresponding societies of this, and also appointed a panel of 

 persons from whom expert advice might be invited in case of necessity. 

 The Association, at the invitation of the Council for the Preservation of 

 Rural England, was represented on a deputation which urged upon the 

 Air Ministry the protection of Chesil Beach and the Abbotsbury Swannery 

 from the effects of aerial bombing practice. 



The subject of noise, principally of motor vehicles and aircraft, has 

 engaged the attention of the Engineering Section (G) and that of Mathe- 

 matical and Physical Sciences (A) at more than one meeting. Resolutions 



