Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland 

(A.P.R.S.) 

ANNUAL REPORT 

1938 

44 QUEEN STREET . . EDINBURGH, 2 

Telephone, 30317 

ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF RURAL SCOTLAND 

OFFICE BEARERS 

Honorary President 

The Rt. Hon. THE EARL OF CRAWFORD & BALCARRES, K.T. 

President 

The Rt. Hon. THE EARL OF HADDINGTON, M.C. 

Joint Vice-Presidents 

Sir JOHN STIRLING MAXWELL, Bt., K.T. Sir IAIN COLQUHOUN, Bt., K.T., D.S.O. 

Chairman of Council 

Hon. W. T. H. SCOTT, MASTER OF POLWARTH 

Joint Hon. Secretaries 

F. C. MEARS, A.R.S.A., F.R.I.B.A. 

LESLIE GRAHAME-THOMSON, A.R.S.A., F.R.I.B.A. 

Hon. Treasurer 

Professor F. G. BAILY, M.A., M.I.E.E., etc. 

Organising Secretary 

EDWARD M’GEGAN 

OFFICE: 44 QUEEN STREET, EDINBURGH 

Telephone 30317 

THE COUNCIL 

Chairman – Hon. W. T. H. SCOTT, MASTER OF POLWARTH 

The Most Hon. THE MARCHIONESS OF ABERDEEN AND TEMAIR. 

The Right Hon. THE COUNTESS OF MINTO. 

The Most Hon. THE MARQUESS OF AILSA. 

Sir HENRY ALEXANDER. 

W. F. ARBUCKLE. 

Prof. F. G. BAILY. 

J. BARTHOLOMEW. 

H. MORTIMER BATTEN. 

B. HALL BLYTH. 

Sir D. Y. CAMERON. 

E. H. COLLIE. 

Mrs COWAN. 

K. C. FERGUSON. 

Miss I. F. GRANT. 

W. GRANT. 

Sir ROBERT GREIG. 

Mrs G. HEDDERWICK.

H. R. G. INGLIS. 

W. H. JOHNSON. 

T. MACKINTOSH. 

G. OGILVY. 

B. N. H. ORPHOOT. 

J. WILSON PATERSON. 

The Right Hon. LORD POLWARTH. 

Rev. A. E. ROBERTSON. 

J. M. RUSK. 

Capt. W. P. M. RUSSELL, M.C. 

Major S. STRANG STEEL. 

Sir JOHN SUTHERLAND. 

P. THOMSEN. 

C. H. THOMSON. 

WM. WALKER. 

Sir W. E. WHYTE. 

Ex-Officio Members 

The Right Hon. THE EARL OF HADDINGTON, Chairman, Border Branch. 

The Lady GEORGE CAMPBELL, President, Cowal Committee.

Sir JOHN BUCHANAN-JARDINE, Bt., President, Dumfriesshire Branch. 

The Right Hon. THE EARL OF GALLOWAY, Chairman, Galloway Branch. 

Major The Hon. EVAN BAILLIE of Dochfour, Chairman, Inverness-shire Branch. 

The Right Hon. THE EARL OF MORAY, President, Moray and Nairn Branch. 

Lt. Col. ARCHIBALD STIRLING, Chairman, Stirling and District Branch. 

Also Branch Secretaries (vide list on pp. 16 and 17). 

REPRESENTATIVES OF CONSTITUENT BODIES 

REPRESENTATIVES OF AFFILIATED SOCIETIES 

The Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland 

ANNUAL REPORT, 1938 

THE Council have pleasure in submitting the Annual Report of the Association, together with a Statement of Finances for the year ended 31st December 1937.

Cordial thanks are again due to the office-bearers of the Association for their personal services during the course of the past year.

The Council also desire to thank the Carnegie United Kingdom Trustees for their support, a sum of £1000 having been granted to the Association for the period 1936-1938. 

The Press has to be warmly thanked for its interest in the objects and work of the Association. 

INTRODUCTION 

4th July 1937 was the tenth anniversary of the formal constitution of the Association. The Council confidently submit that the work which the Association has accomplished during these ten years has more than justified its formation. 

The Association can reasonably claim to have done much towards educating public opinion in Scotland to the vital importance of the preservation of rural scenery and amenities and the welfare of the countryside. During these ten years Scotland has seen many changes and developments which have produced mixed results in both urban and rural areas. Some of these changes and developments have, through foresight and planning, been of undoubted advantage; others have sadly impaired the beauty and the amenities of cherished places. Our ten annual reports show that the Association has always kept in touch with the changing conditions which fall within its scope, and that it has consistently striven, both by education and action, to encourage the progressive elements and to counteract the defacing tendencies which are so rapidly altering the face of rural Scotland. It has had to contend with apathy and with opposition, but it has gratefully to acknowledge the generous and active support which it has always received, not only from its own members, but from Government Departments and local authorities, from Associations with kindred aims, and from many public-spirited men and women throughout the country. 

It is impossible to give here an adequate account of the activities of the Association during these past ten years. These activities have been many and varied. They have included housing, town and country planning, and the preservation and reconditioning of old houses; and, as will be seen from the present annual report, the Association is still dealing with these matters, and with some measure of success. Two other activities which have always occupied the Association are also reaching a hopeful stage – the regulation of advertisements and the prevention of river pollution. It is almost certain that Scotland will shortly be given powers, so long withheld, to deal with the evil of uncontrolled roadside advertising which has done so much to deface the countryside; and the framing of further and improved legislation for the purification of our rivers can hardly be long delayed. The Association has actively promoted the movement for tree-planting, and it has just given proof of its continued interest by publishing a pamphlet on “Trees and Shrubs for Housing Schemes and Roads.” The subject of national parks has frequently been before the Council, and the Association’s National Parks Committee is again giving the matter careful attention, and may shortly issue a pamphlet. The Association has frequently been asked to advise or has itself taken action in regard to road and bridge developments; and the operations under the Trunk Roads Act, 1936, which placed the responsibility for about 4500 miles of trunk roads with the Minister of Transport, will have important effects throughout the country, some of which may call for the observation of the Association. 

These are only a few of the Association’s activities. Two others deserve special mention. First, the initiative of the Association which led to the formation in May 1931 of the National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, which has already accomplished so much. Second, the action which the Association has consistently taken since November 1935 in opposing the three Caledonian Power Bills which have been rejected by the House of Commons. This last activity needs no emphasis here, for it is fully dealt with in pages which follow. 

The Council confidently ask for the help of the members towards making the Association in the opening years of its second decade still more vigorous and successful in its work for the preservation of the amenities of rural Scotland and the welfare of the countryside. 

THE COUNCIL 

The death of Mr Walter Scott, who had long been an active member of the Council, is recorded with deep regret. 

The Council have met regularly on the first Wednesday of each month (August and September excepted), and attendances have been uniformly good. By courtesy of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland the monthly meetings of the Council have been held at 15 Rutland Square. The arrangement has proved convenient to members of the Council, and it is desired to thank the Royal Incorporation very cordially for this facility. 

CALEDONIAN POWER SCHEME 

The activities of the Association have again, as in 1936, been largely occupied with the Caledonian Power Scheme. The Scheme, it will be remembered, was promoted by the British Oxygen Company, and sought to harness the waters of Glengarry and Glenmoriston for the purpose of producing calcium carbide at Corpach. Notwithstanding the fact that within the lifetime of the present Parliament, two Bills embodying the Scheme had already been rejected on Second Reading by the House of Commons, one in March 1936 by 199 votes to 63, the other in March 1937 by 188 votes to 140; the Scheme, with certain small modifications which did not alter its essential objects, was again brought forward, and a Draft Provisional Order was lodged by the promoters in November 1937. On 6th April 1938 the third Caledonian Power Bill was debated on Second Reading in the House of Commons and was rejected by 227 votes to 141. Three Bills have thus been rejected in the short space of two years – an emphatic declaration by the House of Commons that the Scheme is neither desirable from a national point of view nor calculated to be of real benefit to the district concerned. 

Our last annual report stated that after the defeat of the second Caledonian Power Bill in March 1937, the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence announced in the House of Commons, on the 17th of the same month, that he had taken steps, in consultation with other Ministers concerned, to set up a small committee, composed of persons not in the Government service, to advise the Government how best the country could be provided with a supply of calcium carbide and allied products, and where best the supply could be produced. The Council of the Association wrote on 24th March to the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence submitting, as they had done on two previous occasions to the Secretary of State for Scotland, that it was a matter of urgent national and public importance that an enquiry into hydro- electric developments in Scotland should be carried out, and expressed the view that such an enquiry should be included in the terms of reference to the Calcium Carbide Committee. The Council further asked to be given the opportunity to submit evidence to the Committee. A copy of the letter was sent to the Secretary of State for Scotland. The Council’s request for an enquiry was not granted, but on 20th July the Calcium Carbide Committee invited representatives of the Association to appear before the Committee on 27th July “to put their views regarding the establishment of a factory for the manufacture of calcium carbide in the Highlands, with particular reference to the Corpach Scheme.” Professor Baily appeared before the Committee on behalf of the Association, and gave evidence on both the economic and the amenity aspects of the Caledonian Power Scheme. 

There were no further public developments until 18th November, when the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, replying in the House of Commons to a question regarding the report of the Calcium Carbide Committee, stated that 

“the Committee, after full consideration of a number of schemes submitted to them for the production of calcium carbide and allied products in the United Kingdom, recommended the scheme submitted to them by the British Oxygen Company. This scheme provides for the erection of two factories, one at Port Talbot in South Wales, the other at Corpach in the West Highlands. The company have assured me that pending their obtaining the necessary powers for the Corpach factory they intend to proceed at once with the erection of the factory at Port Talbot. On this basis the scheme is regarded by the Government as satisfactory, and I understand that the company are taking the necessary steps to re-introduce the Caledonian Water Power Bill.” 

The Hydro-Electric Committee of the Council were closely watching developments, and when the third Caledonian Power Scheme was brought forward in November, they gave careful and prolonged consideration to the Draft Provisional Order and decided to recommend to the Council that the Association should again oppose the Scheme. The Council unanimously adopted this recommendation on 5th January 1938, and decided to present the necessary petition. A petition, on lines similar to that presented against the 1937 Scheme, was duly prepared and forwarded to the Secretary of State for Scotland. 

As soon as the Parliamentary authorities had decided that the Scheme should proceed as a Private Bill in Parliament the Council of the Association authorised their Hydro-Electric Committee to prepare a book containing photographs of scenes which would be irretrievably injured by the Scheme if it were sanctioned by Parliament and of the effect on scenery of existing hydro-electric undertakings in Scotland, together with a statement of the grounds on which the Council’s opposition to the Caledonian Power Bill was based. A book entitled The Caledonian Power Scheme* was accordingly prepared, and a copy was sent to every Member of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, to a large number of newspapers, and to every member of the Association before the Second Reading of the Bill. The Council have evidence that this book, and also letters which they had published in the Times, the Scotsman, the Glasgow Herald, and many other newspapers, exerted considerable influence. 

Neither of the two previous Caledonian Power Bills excited so much interest in Parliament and in the country as did the third Bill, which, as already stated, was rejected by the House of Commons on its Second Reading on 6th April 1938 by 227 votes to 141. That the Bill should have been defeated by so large a majority, notwithstanding the plea which the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence made on its behalf in the course of the debate, may reasonably be taken as ground for hoping that the Caledonian Power Scheme will not again be brought forward. The Council will, however, continue to watch for further developments, not only in this area, but also in other parts of the Highlands where hydro-electric schemes have been or may be projected. 

The Council express their thanks to the Council for the Preservation of Rural England for their active co-operation in opposing the Caledonian Power Bill. 

The Council take this opportunity to reiterate that in dealing with proposals, such as hydro-electric schemes, which necessitate 

*The entire cost of producing and distributing this book was, as in the case of Scotland’s Heritage of Beauty as Affected by Water Power Schemes issued by the Association in opposition to the Caledonian Power Bill which was rejected by the House of Commons in March 1937, borne by a special fund given specifically for the purpose. 

large changes in the aspect of a particular area of the country, they are not actuated solely by a regard for the preservation of natural beauty. Under the constitution of the Association, which the Council sedulously observe, their attitude towards developments which are undoubtedly beneficial to the district concerned or desirable from a national point of view is directed to ensuring that any harm done to scenery and other amenities is as small as possible. But they claim the right to examine the evidence brought forward in support of any scheme and to form an opinion on its merits. That right they have exercised in regard to the three Caledonian Power Schemes. They have, on each occasion, closely examined all the evidence made public by the promoters and the statements brought out by both supporters and opponents of the Scheme. Their opposition to the Caledonian Power Bills which were rejected by the House of Commons in March 1936 and 1937 was unanimously approved at the annual meetings of the Association held in these years; and they confidently submit that their opposition to the third Caledonian Power Bill has been amply justified. 

It is appropriate, too, that the Council should emphasise that their attitude towards hydro-electric developments in the Highlands is not negative, but essentially constructive. They cannot do this better than by putting on record in this report the concluding paragraphs of the letter, already referred to, which was published on their behalf in the Times of 31st March last over the signatures of the Earl of Haddington, President, Sir Iain Colquhoun, Vice-President, and the Master of Polwarth, Chairman of the Council:- 

“We wish to express a warning against the utilisation of the water-power of the Highlands for electro-chemical and similar manufactures, in which an enormous amount of power is absorbed while the number of men employed is insignificant. Taking together the proposed carbide factory and the existing British Aluminium Works, some 2000 people at most would be employed, while the power would amount to some 800,000,000 units a year. One million units would thus be required for 2.5 workers. In the ordinary manufacturing trades 1,000,000 units give on the average employment to 230 people, nearly one hundred times as many. The power used for industries appropriate to the country-side – such as farming, textiles, woodworking, quarrying, and stone working-taken together does not differ materially from the average figure. 

“The wholesale and exhaustive appropriation of water-power in the Highlands for such extravagant uses as the calcium carbide and aluminium industries will completely prevent development in other more appropriate and more employment-giving occupations, and this policy of the extraction of the utmost possible power must inevitably lead to the devastation of the glens. A moderate amount of power, ample for appropriate local industries and for domestic uses, can be obtained with only a negligible interference with the natural features of the countryside, and the glens thus be repopulated to the limit of their habitable capacity, and yet preserved in all their beauty and grandeur.” 

HOUSING AND THE PRESERVATION OF OLD HOUSES 

The subject of the preservation and reconditioning of old houses has again been frequently before the Council. As in previous years, many reports have been received of the demolition or threatened demolition of such houses, and the Association have taken such action as was possible in certain cases. There are indications, however, that as a result of the publicity given to the subject in Parliament and in the Press, and of a growing conviction on the part of the public that houses which are representative of the historic past of the town or village in which they are situated are worth preserving and reconditioning, the problem is being approached with increasing sympathy by the local authorities concerned. The Council fully recognise the difficulties with which the problem confronts these authorities, but they again urge that as it is a vital part of the larger problem of the preservation of rural Scotland, every effort should be made to give it their full and sympathetic consideration. 

It should be recorded that the references to this matter in our last annual report were later the subject of correspondence with the Secretary of State for Scotland. In a letter, issued to the Press, in which he challenged these statements, Mr Elliot said :- 

“I should very much like to see the Association devoting some of their attention to propaganda for better design in the new houses which local authorities are building. The Department of Health do everything in their power to ensure good quality and respect for the traditional architecture of the district in the new houses, but a very great deal of educative work is still needed and could usefully be done by the branches of the Association or its individual members in the various districts.” 

The Council of the Association cordially accepted this invitation, and at the same time informed Mr Elliot of the educational and other work which the Association had already done towards promoting better design in new houses and also towards drawing attention to such matters as siting and layout. Subsequently Mr Elliot asked the Secretary of the Department of Health for Scotland to arrange to meet representatives of the Association and to discuss with them the questions in which they were interested. On 27th October, Mr W. S. Douglas, the Secretary of the Department, accompanied by officers of the Department and by Mr D. L. MacIntyre, of His Majesty’s Office of Works, met representatives of the A.P.R.S. and of the National Trust for Scotland. There was a full discussion of the problems connected with the preservation of houses of architectural, historic or artistic interest, and the improvement of the layout and design of new houses erected by local authorities. The representatives of the A.P.R.S. and the Trust were informed of the steps which had been taken by the Department in conjunction with the Office of Works, and various suggestions for increasing the interest of local authorities and of the general public in these questions were discussed. Mr Douglas promised that the views which had been expressed by the representatives of the A.P.R.S. and the Trust would be fully reported to the Secretary of State for Scotland. 

As a further indication of the increasing recognition of the need for better housing design it should be recorded that in March, 1938, the Department of Health for Scotland announced a competition, promoted by the Department and the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, for the design of rural cottages. The promoters hope to secure attractive designs to guide landowners, local authorities and others who may build rural houses under the Housing (Agricultural Population) (Scotland) Bill, now before Parliament. The funds for the competition have been provided by a private citizen, and the competition is open to all architects practising in Scotland. There are five sections in the competition, and a premium of £75 is offered for the selected design in each section. The A.P.R.S. were represented at preliminary conferences in connection with the competition, and Mr F. C. Mears, Honorary Secretary of the Association, is one of the jury of three assessors. 

The Council wish to record their thanks to Mr William Walker for attending, as the representative of the Association, the International Housing and Town Planning Congress which was held in Paris in July. The Congress was attended by some 1100 delegates drawn from all over the world. 

THE REGULATION OF ADVERTISEMENTS 

In their last annual report the Council expressed the hope that some progress might shortly be made towards the solution of the problem of the regulation of advertisements. 

There is ground for believing that that hope will soon be realised.

The Council have, throughout the year, kept in close touch with the Scottish Office and the Association of County Councils in Scotland with a view to remedying the condition which deprives Scottish local authorities, with two or three exceptions where special Acts have been obtained, from regulating roadside advertisements. They have also kept in communication with the Scapa Society and the Council for the Preservation of Rural England on the subject of strengthening existing legislation for Great Britain as a whole. 

The developments since our last annual report was issued are briefly as follow:- 

On 26th July, and again on 24th November, 1937, Lord Polwarth introduced in the House of Lords the Licensing of Advertisements (Scotland) Bill, which had been drawn up by the Association of County Councils in Scotland and approved by the A.P.R.S. On 

8th December the preservation of amenities was the subject of an important debate in the House of Commons. The greater part of the debate was devoted to the regulation of advertisements, and most of the speakers emphasised the need for strengthening the existing Acts of 1907 and 1925 (which, though passed as applying to Scotland as well as to England and Wales, have never been operative in Scotland). The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department admitted, in the course of the debate, that the Home Office considered that there was a case for extended powers of control. He suggested that there should be a round-table conference at the Home Office of all the interests concerned, and expressed the hope that such a conference would reach an agreed solution which might be incorporated in a Private Members’ Bill. The suggested round-table conference was held at the Home Office on 25th February. It was attended by representatives of the Home Office, the Scottish Office and other Government Departments, associations of local authorities throughout the country, amenity associations, and associations of trade interests. The A.P.R.S. was represented by Lord Haddington and the Master of Polwarth. The conference was opened by the Home Secretary, who had to leave after delivering his speech, and the Chair was then taken by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland. All the Scottish representatives strongly supported the system of control by licensing, but most of the English representatives were either definitely opposed to licensing or were of opinion that the opposition in certain quarters towards licensing was so strong that regulation of advertisements by that system was not at present practical politics. It was agreed that the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Scotland should be invited to nominate a small committee of the conference to examine the matters which had been under discussion, and to report on them to the full conference. This committee was duly appointed, and held its first meeting on 5th April. Lord Haddington is the representative of the A.P.R.S. on the committee. 

On 30th March, 1938, the Second Reading of Lord Polwarth’s Licensing of Advertisements (Scotland) Bill was taken in the House of Lords. Speeches in support of the Bill were delivered by Lord Polwarth, Lord Haddington, and the Duke of Montrose. The Under-Secretary for War (Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal), replying for the Government, gave the House an assurance that the proposals embodied in the Bill would receive the full consideration of the committee which had been set up as a result of the conference at the Home Office on 25th February. On the suggestion of Lord Crawford and Balcarres, Lord Strathcona agreed that the House of Lords should accept the Second Reading of the Bill and that the Committee Stage should be postponed until the committee referred to had concluded its enquiry. 

PREVENTION OF RIVER POLLUTION 

The Standing Joint Committee on Rivers Pollution Prevention in Scotland, the formation of which in 1936 was due mainly to the initiative of the A.P.R.S., completed a comprehensive memorandum on the need for further legislation. The sixth report of the Scottish Advisory Committee on Rivers Pollution Prevention, published in 1936, made certain recommendations on this subject, and these were carefully examined by the Committee. The proposal of River Boards, one for each large watershed or group of small adjacent watersheds, was completely approved, as the few existing Boards of this kind have been thoroughly successful. Doubts were felt about the view of the Advisory Committee that the representatives of the various local authorities in the area should constitute a majority over all other representatives. In a watershed like that of the Tweed, which contains several local authorities, such a majority might not be harmful; but the Tay watershed is almost wholly contained in Perthshire, so that the county would have excessive influence, and some other rivers are similarly confined to a very small number of authorities. The Committee felt that there was a risk of perpetuating the evils that exist today from the control by individual local authorities of their part of a river. 

The proposal that a Central Authority should exercise control over the River Boards was approved, and the Committee recommended that this control should be in the hands of the Secretary of State for Scotland. They further suggested the formation of an Advisory Commission, somewhat similar to the Commissions of Fine Arts and of Ancient Monuments, containing members appointed for their personal knowledge, and representatives of the various Government Departments concerned. All questions relating to alleged erroneous action on the part of River Boards, and matters of co-ordination of the bye-laws of the Boards, could be referred to this Commission for examination and advice. Committee also recommended that standards of purity should be laid down for all effluents from towns, villages, factories and mines, and further standards of purity should be required for all river waters. 

The Act of 1876 in its general clauses laid down that no polluting matter should be allowed to enter a river, and as this was impossible to enforce, a large number of exceptions were made, which practically nullified the operation of the Act. The Committee recommend that a system of permits or licences should be instituted, whereby the River Board could give a permit allowing an effluent to enter a river, but under specific regulations as to degree and character of impurity. It would be an offence for any person to allow any effluent other than rainwater or natural drainage to enter a river unless a permit had been issued. 

The memorandum has been sent to the Secretary of State for Scotland, and it is hoped that the much-needed legislation will be brought into being. While pressure of public opinion has recently induced improvement in the condition of some rivers, others are growing worse, and the successive reports of the Scottish Advisory Committee on the rivers examined by them form a severe indictment of the efficacy of the law. 

NATIONAL PARKS 

The situation in regard to National Parks has changed considerably in Scotland since the Association’s National Parks Committee last reported on the subject in 1934. The Forestry Commission hold out hopes of the provision of additional parks similar to that opened by them at Ardgarten in 1936. The National Trust for Scotland have acquired lands in Glencoe and Glen Etive. The Scottish Youth Hostels movement, which enables people of small means to see the greater part of Scotland at a very small cost, has developed greatly. Facilities for tourists have steadily increased. All these developments denote a change which requires further investigation. Moreover, the National Parks movement appears, owing partly to the differences which the problem of the provision of National Parks presents in Scotland as compared with England, to be developing on somewhat different lines in the two countries. The Council therefore decided in July that the National Parks Committee of the Association should again investigate the subject. The Committee have held several meetings since that month, and will present a report in due course. Both the Committee and the Council are co-operating to the fullest possible extent with the Councils for the Preservation of Rural England and Wales.

TREE PLANTING 

In continuance of the activities of the Association described in last year’s report, a second pamphlet has been drawn up by Professor Baily on “Trees and Shrubs for Housing Schemes and Roads,” in which the need for systematic planning of spaces for trees and shrubs in all new housing schemes is urged. Suggestions are made as to the various ways in which such spaces may be arranged, and advice is given on the kinds of trees suitable for the several arrangements. The planting of country roads is discussed, both in regard to their present use and in view of possible widening or development of building. The old method of planting trees in the roadside hedges is now found inconvenient, and it results in either ruthless lopping of the trees or their complete abolition. It is recommended that small plots of ground should be taken at intervals on the side of the road, and planted with trees, which would be safe from interference under almost all kinds of future development. 

The pamphlet contains lists of trees and shrubs suitable for the east and north of Scotland and others for the west coast, the lists including those for town streets, for suburbs and villages, for country roads, for large town parks and for seaside places. Copies are being sent to all the County Councils and Burghs in Scotland, and will be sent on application to any member of the Association. 

The Council gladly record their appreciation of the fact that on the initiative of Mr A. M’Cormick, Hon. Secretary of the Galloway branch, 150 trees have been planted in Newton Stewart and district, 700 schools in Scotland have each been supplied with a packet of 150 seeds of trees, and much has been done to promote Coronation Tree Planting in Galloway and in neighbouring areas. 

BRANCHES 

The Council record with pleasure that an active branch of the Association was formed for the County of Inverness in 1937. On 21st July a largely-attended garden party was held, by kind permission of the Right Hon. The Baroness Burton, at Dochfour. Major the Hon. Evan Baillie of Dochfour presided, and speeches were delivered by the Master of Polwarth and Professor Baily. The gathering unanimously decided that a branch for the county be formed, and an interim Convener and Hon. Secretary were appointed. The first business meeting of the branch was held on 23rd September at the Town House, Inverness, under the chairmanship of Captain Grant of Glenmoriston. The speakers included Provost Hugh Mackenzie, Sir Murdoch Macdonald, M.P., Sir Alexander MacEwen, Mr C. I. Fraser of Reelig and the Organising Secretary. The officers and a committee were elected. 

Steps were taken for the formation of branches in the four western counties of Ayr, Dunbarton, Lanark and Renfrew, but owing to the illness and subsequent death of the organiser who had undertaken the work, the matter has been delayed. Renewed efforts to form these branches will be made as soon as possible. 

The Council would again emphasise the importance of the establishment of branches. It is mainly through branches that the Central Office can be adequately informed of matters which beneficially or injuriously affect the amenities of rural Scotland, and branches can contribute very materially towards strengthening the financial position and increasing the effectiveness of the work of the Association. 

The cordial thanks of the Council are tendered to the officers and members of the branches already formed. The following is a list of the branches :- 

Statement of Accounts

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