THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF RURAL SCOTLAND. 

MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETING 

held at 15 Rutland Square, Edinburgh, on Wednesday, 1st February, 1939, at 4 p.m.

PRESENT: 

The Master of Polwarth – Chairman, 

Mrs. Hedderwick, 

The Marquess of Ailsa; 

Professor F. G. Baily, 

Mr. E. S. Bell, 

Mr. B. Hall Blyth, 

Mr. C. H. Dodds, 

Mr. K. C. Ferguson, 

Mr. W. J. Gibson, 

The Earl of Haddington, Mr. W. H. Johnson, 

Mr. Ian Lindsay, 

Mr. T. Mackintosh, 

Mr. A. G. Miller, 

Mr. G. Ogilvy, 

Mr. B. N. H. Orphoot, 

Mr. J. M. Rusk, 

Mr. A. R. Sturrock, 

Sir John Sutherland, 

Mr. P. Thomsen, 

Mr. William Walker, 

Mr. G. P. H. Watson, 

Mr. F. C. Mears, Honorary Secretary, 

and the Organising Secretary, Mr. Edward McGegan. 

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were read. 

THE MINUTES OF LAST MEETING having been circulated were taken as read and approved. 

OBITUARY. 

The Chairman referred with great regret to the sudden death of the Rev. A. B. Robb, who had been a member of the Council for many years, and had attended the last meeting of the Council. The Organising Secretary was instructed to send a message of sympathy to Mr. Robb’s relatives. 

REGULATION OF ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Lord Haddington stated that the Home Office Committee would meet again on 9th February, and that he would be present at the meeting. Nearly all the various bodies represented on the Committee, with the exception of the Poster Advertising Associations, had come to an agreement on the draft Report which was drawn up by the Committee last July. It was impossible to forecast the result of the meeting to be held on 9th February. The Government had committed themselves to take some action with regard to Advertisement Regulation in Scotland as well as in England and Wales. He did not think that the Home Office Committee would break down, but if it did break down Lord Polwarth’s Bill would again be introduced in the House of Lords. That Bill had passed its Second Reading on 30th March, 1938, but further proceedings with regard to it had been postponed until the Home Office Committee had concluded its enquiry. 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS. 

Professor Baily stated that a further meeting of the Hydro- Electric Committee had been held on 26th January and had given further consideration to the Report of the Highlands and Islands Committee. Some members of the Hydro-Electric Committee had sent in to the Organising Secretary statements of their views on various points in the Report. When further statements of members views had been received the Hydro-Electric Committee would draft a report based upon them. Copies of the Hydro-Electric Committee’s report would be sent to members of the Council as soon as it was ready. 

The Chairman stated that he had spoken to the Secretary of State for Scotland on the subject of the Report of the Highlands and Islands Committee, and had informed him that the Council of the Association were studying it and would send him a statement of their views as soon as possible. 

The Chairman drew the attention of the Council to a report which had appeared in a recent issue of the “Times” to the effect that a Calcium Carbide factory employing 1500 men was to be established in Flintshire. 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXTERNAL RENDERED FINISHES. 

Mr. Mears briefly summarised the pamphlet recently issued by the Building Research Board on “External Rendered Finishes: a Survey of Continental Practice”, and stated that as arranged at the January meeting of the Council the Architect members of the Council had met and drafted a letter on the subject to be sent to County and Town Clerks, the Press, etc. yet to be put into final form, but its substance had been agreed. 

The letter had Mr. Bell suggested that as the matter was a technical one a copy of the letter should be sent to the Royal Incoporation of Architects in Scotland. 

Mr. Rusk referred to a block of flats being built in Bruntsfield. Mr. Mears stated that this was a matter for the Cockburn Association, and Professor Baily promised to look at the flats. 

TAXATION OF COUNTRY MANSIONS. 

The Organising Secretary reported that he had written to Mr. Erskine Jackson, Secretary of the Scottish Land and Property Federation on the matter. Mr. Jackson had informed him that a Committee of the Federation had considered the letter from the A.P.R.S. and that as the Committee had very little definite information on the subject it had been decided that the A.P.R.S.’s letter should be printed in the next issue of the Federation’s Notes to Members with a view to eliciting some definite facts. The next issue of Notes to Members was now in the Printer’s hands.

Mr. Jackson stated that he had reason to believe that most of the houses in Scotland which had had their roofs stripped off had been built in the fifties or sixties of the last century. 

The Organising Secretary also reported that he had written to the Secretary of the C.P.R.D., who had replied that, so far as he was aware, no similar problem existed in England, where, so long as a house was not furnished, rates were not payable, and there was therefore no necessity to strip off the roof. The C.P.R.E. had communicated with the Royal Institute of British Architects on the matter, and the Secretary of the Institute had replied in similar terms to the C.P.R.E. The letter from the Institute further stated that the practise of stripping roofs in Scotland arose from the fact that there was both owner’s and occupier’s rate in Scotland, whereas there was only an occupier’s rate in London. 

The L.C.C. at the moment were endeavouring to get powers to levy an owner’s rate. 

Mr. Walker referred to the stripping off of a roof of a house at Tillicoultry which might have been of practical use to the country in time of war. Mr. Mears referred to a house at Haddington. The Chairman expressed the view that the Association should keep in touch with the Scottish Land and Property Federation. 

AMENITIES OF IONA. 

The Chairman reminded the Council that the subject of the Amenities of Iona had been discussed at their nesting held on 4th January. 

The Organising Secretary reported that he had discussed the matter with H.M. Office of Works. The Office of Works were fully aware of everything that was happening at Iona in connection with Dr. MacLeod’s scheme. Three temporary huts had been built near the Cathedral and were now in occupation. These huts were put up before the ruins of the Abbey were scheduled by the office of Works, but the Office of Works had had the plans submitted to them, and they had made suggestions as to a better site for the huts than had been contemplated by Dr. MacLeod, and these suggestions had been carried out. As the Abbey ruins had been scheduled, the Office of Works would insist that any plans for further buildings or for the utilisation of existing parts of the Abbey buildings would be submitted to them for their approval before any work was done. This situation was clearly understood both by the Iona Trustees and by Dr. MacLeod. It was unlikely that any work of this kind would be carried out in the very near future. 

The Office of Works had laid down that any parts of old buildings or other archaeological finds which were discovered in any excavations carried out on the site would be reported to them. The Office of Works would faithfully carry out their statutory obligations with regard to the existing buildings. 

The Organising Secretary also reported that he had discussed the matter with the Secretary of the Iona Trust. He had been informed that Dr. MacLeod’s scheme had received the blessing of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and that the Trustees were deeply interested in it. The Trustees fully realised that it was vitally important that nothing should be done to affect injuriously the amenities of the Abbey ruins, but they believed that there was no reason why the ruins should not be incorporated in such buildings as might be necessary to the effective carrying on of Dr. MacLeod’s work. All plans for any buildings which Dr. MacLeod might propose to erect would be submitted in the first instance to the Trustees, who would then forward them to H.M. Office of Works for their approval.

No buildings of any kind could be erected by Dr. MacLeod without the consent of the Trustees and of the Office of Works. Plans for buildings were now being prepared, but if the scheme went forward work would probably be undertaken in successive sections. The Secretary of the Trust stated that if the Council of the A.P.R.S. would care to present a written statement of their views on the matter the letter would be brought before the next meeting of the Trust, which would be held in April. 

The Organising Secretary further drew attention to a report in the “Glasgow Herald” of 30th January of a sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. George F. MacLeod in Glasgow Cathedral on 29th January, in which Dr. MacLeod was reported to have said: 

“He felt it was a reproach that the most precious material possession of the Church of Scotland had its walls in ruins, and it was a good thing to build it up; but the only justification of such an act would be that it should be used again as a vital centre of missionary study.” 

Mr. McGegan also stated that Professor Baily had written to Dr. David Russell on the matter. Dr. Russell had replied that he had had many opportunities of discussing the problems with Dr. MacLeod, and that no one was more anxious than Dr. MacLeod that the historic interest and amenities of the Abbey buildings should be preserved. 

The building contemplated would consist almost entirely of the restoration of walls now in a condition of ruin, and would be carried out by skilled masons. Much careful thought had been given, and would continue to be given, to these matters. 

The Chairman suggested that in view of the statements which the Organising Secretary had made there was no cause for alarm. Mr. Walker said that while the Office of Works had the most admirable service, their skilled officers could not always be present on any particular job. It had been found in other places that local people had given their services. Mr. Watson said that under the Act the building owner could apply for a specially trained forman, and if the application were granted all work would subsequently be reported to the Office of Works. 

Mr. Bell stated that he thought that the matter was one essentially concerned with the Architects design. He understood that money which had been left for the restoration of Holyrood Abbey had not been eventually granted because the Architect’s design for the restoration had not been approved. The result was that the Thistle Chapel in St. Giles Cathedral had been built instead. Every Abbey in the country had been more or less restored or added to at different times – these restorations and additions were always done in the style of the architecture of their periods, not necessarily the style of the original building. In the case of Iona, it was not a matter of coping what existed – but of designing the new in keeping with the old. 

Professor Baily stated that the point at issue was really whether the ruins should be left as they were or incorporated in any new building. The Church of Scotland had taken the view that the ruins might fittingly be incorporated in a new building, the function of which would be to preserve and continue the purpose for which the old buildings had been intended. 

Mr. Ferguson said that he thought it was a pity that the peaceful aspect of the island should be interferred with, and he also referred to the danger of allowing unskilled persons to sift excavated soil in which objects of archaeological interest might be contained. Lord Haddington suggested that the Association should ask to see the plans, and also that more information might be procured as to the exact use of the proposed buildings and to the way in which those buildings and their use might affect the amenities near the Cathedral. Mr. Thomson expressed regret that the Ionn site should have been chosen for Dr. MacLeod’s work. been found. The Chairman expressed the view that it would be a He thought that a much more appropriate site could easily have mistake to oppose the scheme and that the Association should keep in close touch with the Iona Trust and with H.M. Office of Works. 

PROPOSED FEDERATION OF OUT-OF-DOORS ORGANISATIONS. 

The Organising Secretary reported that he had attended on 7th January a meeting of the Provisional Committee which had recently been set up by various bodies to consider the formation of a National Federation of hikers, cyclists, campers and kindred organisations as the first stop in a nation-wide drive to obtain more, bigger and better sites for camping purposes. The Committee had drafted a Constitution and also a national camping Code by which all members and affiliated bodies would have to abide. A further meeting of the Provisional Committee would be held on 4th February to give further consideration to the draft Constitution, and the camping Code. 

COUNTRYSIDE WARDENS. 

The Organising Secretary reminded the Council that the subject of Countryside Wardens

had been brought up at the Annual Meeting of the Association held on 17th May, 1938, and that it had been decided at the July meeting of the Council that the matter should be brought up again for consideration in the Spring. He suggested that in view of the many difficulties in the way of the A.P.R.S. establishing an adequate system of Countryside Wardens it would be better to delay action by the A.P.R.S. until the proposed Federation of Scottish Out-of-Doors Organisations had been definitely formed. If it was desirable that a system of Countryside Wardens should be established the Federation appeared to be the appropriate body. The Council agreed with this view. 

Mr. Dodds suggested that the Automobile Association should be invited to join the Federation, and Professor Baily supported him. 

SCOTTISH YOUTH HOSTELS ASSOCIATION. 

The Organising Secretary reported that he had attended the Annual Meeting of the Scottish Youth Hostels Association on 28th January. There was no business at the Conference which directly concerned the A.P.R.S. 

ANNUAL MEETING. 

The Chairman stated that he had spoken to Mr. Colville about the Annual Meeting and that Mr. Colville had promised to let him know as soon as possible if he could attend it. 

NATIONAL PARKS. 

Professor Baily stated that though the National Parks Committee had not met for some little time they were giving their attention to the subject. The members of the Committee were preparing maps showing areas which should be recommended for scheduling. It seemed to the Committee that it was not advisable at the present time to press for National Parks as the attention of the country was drawn to different and more urgent matters. They were however of opinion that it was urgent that certain areas should be protected by scheduling and they felt that much larger areas could be protected in this way than could be allocated for National Parks. 

Walter Scott