SELBORNIANA 223 
of thinking, the matter cannot come before Parliament before 
the Session of 1906. 
“ Tlie Croydon Antiquities’ Protection Committee (inaugu- 
rated by the Selborne Society a few years ago) has laid before 
the Corporation seven alternative schemes, l)y which widening 
of the existing thoroughfare could be brought about without 
interfering with the Hospital ; and there is little doubt that if 
these schemes can be shown to be less costly than, or even only 
as costly as, that which now holds the field, involving as it does 
the removal of the Hospital, a number of the members of the 
Corporation would be willing that the buildings should not be 
interfered with. This the Committee will have no difficulty in 
showing. Some of us doubt whether, in the present condition 
of Croydon’s rates, the spending of many thousands of pounds 
on the improvement of the centre of the town is at all justified, 
and no doubt there will be opposition on this ground alone, when 
the ‘ Omnibus ’ Bill comes to be introduced into the House 
of Commons. The question of the widening of North Pmd, 
Croydon, has only become acute during recent years, and this 
chiefly in consequence of the ‘ through ’ traffic, which is of no 
use whatever to Croydon as a town, and which has increased 
with the growth of the use of bicycles and motor-cars. It is 
needless to say that if the widening project were abandoned the 
Hospital would not be threatened. The Committee, as a Com- 
mittee, does not oppose widening, but it desires that it should be 
intelligently carried out. If the matter be included in a Corpora- 
tion Bill for the Session of 1906, it will be possible to oppose it 
at every stage in Committee, even supposing the Bill proceeds 
so far ; but it will have first to survive a meeting of Croydon 
burgesses, and a poll of the town. Lord Midleton warned the 
Corporation in the spring that he could not encourage them to 
think that the Bill would pass through Parliament without the 
strongest opposition, and it is quite safe to promise that the 
movement for the removal of the Hospital will meet with the 
strongest opposition at every stage in the proceedings.” 
The Conservation of Tintern. — “ The eastern end of the 
beautiful Abbey of Tintern is at the present time bristling with 
scaffold poles. The ruin, which was until recently the property 
of the Duke of Beaufort, was, with a great deal of the surround- 
ing country, purchased a year or so ago by the Crown. The 
ruin, which for a period of over 600 years had withstood the 
rigour of the elements, was in many places in a crumbling state. 
Stones often fell from the ivy-irantled walls and parapets, and 
the mullions of many of the windows, most of which are of the 
Decorated period of architecture, had suffered sadly from the 
ravages of time. It was evident that something would have 
to be done if the ruin was to be preserved, and the Crown 
authorities decided to take immediate action with a view to 
prevent further decay. 
“Thus it comes about that at the present time the scaffolding 
well-nigh hides the famous east window, which is generally 
