Sir,—Lovers of a lake district “secure from rash assault” cannot be too grateful to Lord Bryce for the suggestion that he makes at the end of his letter to you on the Styhead Pass road.  Only those who know how incessant during the past 40 years have been the attacks upon its natural beauty and restful quiet in the name of progressive industrialism, whether by railways or water companies, mining enterprise, county council improvements (so-called) of highways and bridges, will realise the worth of his suggestion and will understand how great a boon it would be to save this 20 square miles of incomparable beauty for the recreation and health of weary town workers, and the inspiration of artist, poet, and author, by the appointment of some such body of commissioners, to whom reference could be made whenever vandalism of any form lifted up its head within the prescribed area.  If we had been Americans, with their quick foresight, we should long ago have bought up the wilder parts, e.g., the Scafell group and its converging valleys, but we have not done this and it remains for us to be wise in time and follow Lord Bryce’s lead.

(Times, 9 June 1919, p. 6)