HIKERS’ LITTER

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 December 1936, Page 8

HIKERS’ LITTER

LORD RECTOR’S PROTEST. Hikers and all who litter the countryside after every week-end were criticised recently by Sir lan Colquhoun, a large landowner on Loch Lomondside, when he was invested as Lord Rector of Glasgow University and capped Doctor of Laws. “I have never yet met the man or woman who does not condemn this barbarous practice, nor have I ever heard of anyone admitting that they were guilty of it,” he said, referring to the desecration of the countryside. “We can only assume that it falls like manna from the skies, and a rough justice would be done if the skies, in their turn, were to fall upon those who defile the country, for apparently nothing else will stop them. “When massed walking or hiking started, the movement which was genuine and had everything to commend it was at once seized upon as an excellent camouflage for amusement in which walking and healthful exercise had no part whatever. “Thus we had the inspiring spectacle of bands of youths and maidens, similar in dress and deportment, with musical accompaniment, setting out on a Sunday morning for a day in the country. “They return in the late evening, having destroyed the Sabbath, the farmers’ crops, the peace of the district, the tempers of everybody, and the belief of the public in the value of the movement.”