42 
IVATURE NOTES 
by the Right Hon. G. Shaw Lefevre, a former Postmaster- 
General, who was followed by Mr. E. North Buxton, Verderer 
of Epping Forest, Lord Farrer, and others. In the unavoidable 
absence of our President, Lord Avebury, who, it had been 
hoped, would have spoken, the Society was represented by 
the Honorary Secretary and the Editor. The Commons and Foot- 
paths Preservation Society, the Kyrle Society, the Metropolitan 
Public Gardens Association, and many local County and District 
Councils were represented. It was urged that in no case should 
poles be erected over commons, and that the Postmaster-General 
should lay it down as a principle that, where alternative routes 
were possible, the presumption should be against the wires being 
carried across any place of natural beauty. 
Lord Farrer said the first case of this kind of any importance 
was in 1875 or 1876, when trees were felled in order to take a 
telegraph wire for political reasons to a residence of the late 
Lord Granville. Shortly afterwards he remembered going for 
a ride with Lord Granville, and in passing the spot his com- 
panion said : “ I wonder whether the peace ot Europe, which was 
to be preserved by that telegraph wire, was worth those beautiful 
beeches.” 
Lord Stanley, in reply, expressed himself in full sympathy 
with the deputation, and assured them that the Commons 
clause would be omitted from his Bill when reintroduced during 
the coming session. He emphasised, however, the necessity the 
Post Office was under of considering economy, and the absence 
of any power to compel private owners to allow the wires over 
their land. He also pointed out that, though telegraph wires 
could be carried underground, trunk telephone wires to any 
considerable distance could not be so conveyed, owing to induc- 
tion. Writing to Mr. Shaw Lefevre on February g, the 
Postmaster-General announces that he will not press the pro- 
posal to carry wires across Epping Forest or along the New 
Epping Road. 
The Point of View. — Tastes certainly differ ; but we have 
been so gratified of late years by the general tone of the daily 
Press on all those matters concerning the amenities of country 
life with which our Society is mainly interested, that any utter- 
ance of a different character comes upon us as a shock. When 
the Daily Graphic for January 26 writes that: “often along a 
country road the telegraph poles are by no means a disagree- 
able object ” ; and when the Standard for February 8 says that 
“edicts against egg-taking .... tend to check the growth 
of that love of natural history among peasant children wliich it 
is so desirable to encourage,” we can only console ourselves with 
the recollection : 
“ ^Juandoque bonus dormitat Homerus.” 
The Avon Gorge. — The Times for February 7 contained so 
admirable an exposition of the whole case as to the preservation 
