AESTHETIC CONSIDERATIONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 21 November 1928, Page 3

AESTHETIC CONSIDERATIONS

The annual report of the British Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings records a curious incident in connection with tramway extensions in Hastings, where the old and modern towns are separate and distinct. The tramway company promoted legislation to authorise tramways through the old town. This was opposed hy the Hastings Town Council, which appealed to- the society to assist it in its opposition. The society prepared evidence, but was informed by the Parliamentary Committee which was considering the question, "that aesthetic considerations would carry po weight, and therefore the society's evidence would not be taken." The bill went through.' "The decision of 'the Parliamentary Committee that 'aesthetic considerations would carry no weight' was illogical and outrageous in the extreme," says Mr J. C. Squire, in the "London Mercury." "It is talking the most arrant nonsense to say that aesthetic considerations should be disregarded in any matter in which a town is concerned—for it is exactly there that tliev are most important. A town is a place where thousands of people spend tho greater part of thenlives, and it is of the greatest importance that the aesthetic conditions under which they live, just as ranch as the sanitary and hygienic conditions, should be tolerable, for the effect on their outlook and characters is no less great for being incalculable. After all, if you spoil a village vou are committing a crime against scores, or perhaps hundreds; but if you spoil a town your offence is against thousands."