SELBORNIANA. 
113 
SELBORNIANA. 
Brentford Aits saved. — It has been an open secret for some time that 
the two islands above Kew Bridge, known locally as the Brentford Aits, but of 
which the true name appears, from a departmental document, to be Mattingshaw 
Twig, have been in the market. There is no need to enlarge upon the natural 
beauties of these islands, as readers of Nature Notes, and those acquainted 
with the river, are fully aware of the priceless value from a scenic point of view 
of their richly wooded surfaces. Formed originally in the bed of the Thames by 
the silt brought down by the river Brent, which enters the larger river just above, 
they appear to have gained in extent more than they have lost during the last 
hundred years. The length is about a quarter of a mile, and they comprise about 
four and a-half acres. The ceaseless wash of the tides has, however, endangered 
the safety of many of the lofty trees which now overhang the stream, and made 
some steps imperative to safeguard them, and the public using the stream. The 
Government have been unwilling to incur the considerable expense which would 
have been necessary before long if they had kept possession. 
Offers by the Brentford Gas Works and a local boat builder to take over 
the land, and root up the trees, in the one case to use it as a storage depot, and in 
the other for the erection of yards, have been entertained by the Government. 
Such a step would have been disastrous in every way. The Richmond Corpora- 
tion is to be congratulated upon the public spirit which has led them to purchase 
and undertake the preservation of the islands and the trees upon them. We 
understand that the Government originally purchased them for ;^2,ooo. The 
first offer to the Corporation was for the sum of ^^1,500, which has been reduced 
to the terms accepted at the Council meeting held May 9th, for the sum of 
^^400, payable by instalments within the next ten years, and subject to stipula- 
tions, the insertion of which will gratify every Selbornian, that no buildings be 
erected, and that the islands and the trees growing thereon be preserved from 
damage. There is no reasonable doubt that although not concerned in the 
immediate negotiations which have led to this happy result, the Selborne Society, 
through its magazine, and the local branch has formulated and directed the public 
opinion in the neighbourhood, through which alone corporate action could be 
taken. All this would have been ineffective, but for the recent inclusion of the 
royal village of Kew in the larger borough, by which Richmond became imme- 
diately interested in the fate of the Aits ; for although known as the Brentford 
Ails they are in the parish of Kew, and were consequently transferred with it 
to Richmond. It is fitting that the names of the pre.sent Mayor of Richmond, 
Mr. Charles Burk, of the ex-Mayor, Mr. Skewes-Cox, and of Sir Richard 
Temple, Bart., M.P. , all of them connected with the local branch of the Selborne 
Society, should be associated with this enterprising action of Richmond. That 
the islands will be safe under the control of the Corporation, the care that body 
takes of the smaller islands below Richmond Bridge, and the action taken by 
them, almost unanimously, to prevent the spoiling of Richmond by refusing 
permission to erect over-head wires, are sufficient guarantee. All Selbornians 
will unite in expressing gratitude for the preservation of one of the most beautiful 
spots on the Thames. 
John Ai.i.en. 
[An article on the Aits, with an illustration, will be found in Nature Notes 
for 1891, p. 130 . — Kd. W.W.] 
A New Abomination.— About three hundred acres of arable land in the 
neighbourhood of Hampton Hill and Feltham, and between those places and 
Twickenham, have recently been acquired by a London firm for the formation of 
a fruit farm and jam factory. Such an enterprise, except as it promotes the 
welfare of a rural neighbourhood, in no way concerns us, but for the desolating 
action taken by the promoters. A district of pleasant lanes and by-ways, hedges 
and foot-paths, by the felling of all the trees, the levelling of the hedge-rows, and 
the erection of interminable rows of corrugated iron fences, about seven feet high 
above the foot-ways, as level and regular as man can make them, has become a 
hideous blot on the country side. Not one road, but many, are affected by this 
thoughtless and cruel step. The residents, gentle and simple alike, have been 
