Abstract
SIR NORMAN BIRKETT recently delivered the Rede Lecture at Cambridge and chose for his subject “National Parks and the Countryside” (London: Camb. Univ. Press. Is. Qd. net). During the course of the lecture, a strong appeal was made that steps should be taken immediately to establish national parks in Britain. Of course, nothing on the scale of the Canadian or American parks is possible, but it is suggested that areas as small as 200 acres-though not smaller-would be adequate. The word 'park' is unfortunate as it has an urban connotation for most people. What is envisaged are large districts of wild and cultivated land in beautiful regions where moor and fell, stream and crag can eternally teach man the true values in life. Doubtless such tracts where the jaded town dwellers might roam at will would not be difficult to acquire ; surely one of the main difficulties inherent in the scheme is in the nature of English people themselves. National parks must be open to the public freely, except such areas as are actually under cultivation ; will it ever be possible to train users not to turn any park in a few years into a vast litter bin? Sir Norman Birkett seems to think that untidy people are only a minority ; unfortunately, rubbish such as broken bottles, etc., does not disappear. At the same time as the parks are created, the Ministry of Education should be asked to start a nation-wide drive to inculcate the necessity of tidiness ; then the next generation may be different in this respect.
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National Parks in Britain. Nature 157, 578 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157578b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157578b0