THE ANNUAL MEETING 
27 
foliage, will do something to mitigate the assertiveness to the 
eye of the staring red-brick pile alluded to. 
Digging for Treasure. — In view of the craze which the 
hunt for money, at the instigation of certain newspapers, ulti- 
mately assumed, your Council would remark that the Society 
was probably the first body of the kind to appeal to the public 
authorities to do what they could to repress a practice which 
could not fail to be very injurious to open spaces generally. A 
communication was addressed to the London County Council, 
and elicited the reply that everything possible was being done to 
stop the digging mentioned. 
Cottages at Stratford-on-Avon. — All who were present 
at last year’s Annual Meeting and Conversazione will remember 
the spirited address delivered by ^liss Marie Corelli upon the great 
historic interest of Henley Street, Stratford-on-Avon, certain old 
cottages in which, close to Shakespeare's birth-place, the local 
authorities proposed to demolish or to include in a scheme for 
a Carnegie Library. Your Council subsequently appointed a 
delegate to inv^estigate matters on the spot, and in due course he 
proceeded to Stratford-on-Avon in company with representatives 
of the British Archaeological Association. The site of the sug- 
gested Carnegie Library was inspected, and interviews were 
sought and obtained with Mr. Flower, Chairman of the Library 
Committee, and with Miss Corelli, in order further to ascertain 
their respective views. Our delegate’s opinion was that the 
cottages should be allowed to remain, an opinion since ratified 
by the trustees of the birthplace, who, it was subsequently 
announced, had decided to restore and preserve them. 
Windermere. — Last July the Council’s attention was called 
to this, the longest and perhaps not the least beautiful of the 
English Lakes, which, it was stated, was suffering pollution 
from two sources — from the bad quality of the sewerage effluent 
into the lake, and from the large quantities of ashes cast into it 
by passing steamers. To remedy the first cause the Society 
could do little or nothing, as it was essentially a matter for 
adjustment between the places concerned, Windermere and 
Bowness, and the Local Government Board. But as to the 
second cause of pollution, representations addressed by the 
Society to the Windermere Urban District Council, under 
whose jurisdiction the lake lies, elicited the gratifying reply that 
that body had called upon the owners of the steamers to stop 
the nuisance. 
Marble Hill. — Your Council was represented at the public 
function when Lord Monksw^ell, on behalf of the London County 
Council, opened this newly acquired space on May 30, 1903. 
Its acquisition protects an important part of the view from the 
Terrace, Richmond. 
