they had great hopes , and as the years have gone by they have had a certain feeling of disappointment . I shall touch upon some of the reasons for that disappointment and enquire what we should do to make improvement in the general conduct of this branch of our affairs . the noble Lord , Lord Strang , has done splendid work - and I gladly add my tribute to those paid by others - as Chairman for so long of the national parks commission ; and he has had a hard row to hoe . he has done that in those intervals allowed to him while composing his important work , recently published , which I confess I have not yet read , but fully intend to read , laying out the historical permanence of British foreign policy over a long period . in addition to all that scholarly use of his leisure he has found time for the daily handling of the problems of our national parks , and I am sure that we are all grateful to him . as has been said by my noble friend beside me , the noble Lord , Lord Strang , has had some splendid colleagues . my noble friend Lord Lawson , whose political life was much intertwined with mine , asks me to say that he is very sorry he can not be here to-day to listen to , and take part in , our debate . the reason is his wife &apos;s ill-health , and I am sure the sympathy of all of us will go out to both of them . my noble friend Lord Lawson acted as deputy Chairman of the national parks commission in the early years , and I remember that some of us thought it a good tactical move to have an ex-Secretary of state for war in that important position ; because we felt it might be possible for him to chase away generals from certain areas of which I am thinking , in County Durham and Teesdale where , it seemed to us - and this was apprehended elsewhere - that they had requisitioned rather more land for use as artillery ranges than was reasonably justifiable . indeed , there were rumours at that time , in that area on the Pennine Way , that there might be a clash between the troops and the embattled contingents of ramblers from Durham and Yorkshire . but all that was avoided , and I believe that the diplomatic gifts as well as the military experience of my noble friend Lord Lawson contributed both to the maintenance of order and good will and to the opening of the Pennine Way throughout its length , which was something we were then very keen should be done . may I say a word or two now on some of the points which arise out of the work of the national parks commission ? to some extent I shall be touching on points already made by previous speakers ; but the first and primary point is , of course , finance . the national parks commission have been left practically destitute by the Treasury under successive governments , and I agree very much with what was said in some detail by the noble Earl who preceded me . we thought ( and I am one of those who were thinking , talking and planning how all this should be organised ) that the national parks commission were a sufficiently important body , endowed with sufficiently important powers , to deserve to receive a direct annual grant from the Treasury , to be administered by the Chairman of the commission and his colleagues in accordance with the requirements of the act ; and it was very disappointing to find that the Hobhouse committee , to which the noble Earl referred in detail , fully agreed about not naming any special figure . the figure need not be a large one but a direct annual grant from the Treasury would help a great deal . I am quite sure that , so long as such a grant is lacking , the framework at the foundation will not be right . therefore I hope that before long the present Minister of housing and local government who , as we have heard , will be receiving many recommendations , will settle this point , in particular , so that the noble Lord , Lord Strang , and his successors will have something to distribute , at their discretion and , as the noble Earl suggested , between different national park areas . I think this a very important though essentially a simple matter . I once threw out a hint which has occasionally troubled the waters since . in my budget speech of 1946 , when I was Chancellor of the exchequer ( though we had no national parks at that time , for it was more than three years before the act was passed ) , I spoke well of national parks , as I have done on other occasions . I threw out a hint ( my idea would have required further legislation , which in the result was not forthcoming ) that some financial assistance might be given from the national land fund , which was set up in that year , to national parks . I had in mind a certain once-for-all contribution of a capital nature that might probably be made . but all that , I regret to say , came to nothing . although enthusiasts of national parks in another place , and perhaps here too , have from time to time returned to that charge , I regret to say that neither from that source nor from any other so far have national parks been reasonably financed . this is so simple a point that I hope very much that this defect may soon be remedied . I wish now to say a word about the long-distance routes . when I was younger I used to be what is now called a keen hiker . I like walking considerable distances in beautiful country and in agreeable company , and I was very keen on this concept of the long-distance routes . they began , as your lordships know , with the Pennine Way , which happened to run right through the constituency I then had the honour to represent , and also through a very beautiful area full of wild fell country and many lovely waterfalls and other natural beauties . it is a matter of regret - and those are the actual words of the commission themselves , and I think a very moderate form of words - that those routes are not yet completely open . after the approval , if I remember the figure rightly , of some seven proposed long-distance routes ( it was six or seven , or something of that order ) , which meant a great deal of hard work for the commission and in surveying on the spot , even now , more than ten years after this work began , none of these long-distance routes is yet completely open to walkers or to horsemen in these beautiful areas . I understand that the reason for this very slow advance is simple : it is that there are no effective powers vested in the commission for compulsory purchase , where necessary , of rights of way or rights of access at given points along these routes where access and rights of way do not now exist . I understand that there is a lot of detail that could be talked about here - I am not going to talk about it - concerning the relative powers of different local authorities and whether the commission should have such powers vested in them , or whether they should be distributed among various local authorities . on that matter I do not express an opinion . I merely say that the remedy should be very simple , and it can be covered , I think , by the general formula used just now : there should be effective powers of compulsory purchase operated under the authority of the commission in all cases where we still have not cleared the road , whether along the Pennine Way or Offa &apos;s Dyke or any of these long-distance routes . I am sure that there are great numbers of the younger and healthier and fitter citizens of this country who would appreciate very much the opportunity of extending their journeys by foot or on horseback - because these routes are for riders on horseback , too - along the bridle paths and quiet ways and well away from roads heavily crowded with motor and other vehicles . I hope that here , too , early action can be taken to amend the law in this regard and give the commission power to carry out what was always regarded as a central and essential part of their mandate . it is sometimes said - indeed , the noble Lord , Lord Strang , himself said it in a speech which was quite properly publicised in the report of the commission - that there is perhaps a certain conflict in the act setting up the commission : two conflicting aims . it is often said that the duty of the commission is , on the one hand , to preserve and enhance natural beauty , and on the other , to provide and improve facilities for public enjoyment of the parks . I do not myself believe that there is any serious or deep conflict there . I think we can achieve both aims by an application of reasonable give and take and , where necessary , consultation . I will touch upon that point again in a moment . I will say , first , a word ( this point has been mentioned before ) about the first aim : the preservation and enhancement of natural beauty . I am glad to hear it said - and I have no reason to doubt the truth of what is said - that there is here no real conflict between the forestry commission , of which I have been for many years a strong supporter , and others . I think that the forestry commission have done a grand job which was never done until they were set up , but I will not develop that point now , although on another occasion I may be tempted to . but there has , I think , occasionally been a little potential ill-will between the forestry commission and those associated with the open air societies and the national parks . there has been a certain emotion in the background about cone-bearing trees ; and I will return to that in a moment . I am very glad to hear , however , that , in terms of practical politics now ( my noble friend said so and I think that the noble Earl also repeated it ) , consultation proceeds agreeably between the various interests concerned : the park authorities , whether the central parks commission or the planning authorities for particular parks , with the forestry commission and also with timber growers and the landowners &apos; association . there are three or four bodies concerned . I am delighted to hear that these bodies are getting on well together and can settle agreeably any disputes that arise with regard to the general problem of the preservation and enhancement of natural beauty , with particular reference to all this debatable afforestation . I will say a word or two , but not more , about afforestation . I am a great devotee of afforestation , and I often recall the great saying of Robert Louis Stevenson , that trees are the most civil society . in many moods and in many places that great thought is borne in upon me . I personally have had great pleasure through my life in passing very happy hours and days among beautiful woodlands and trees , both in this country and overseas . but Robert Louis Stevenson did not discriminate . he said , trees and he made no qualification or classification . trees , he said , are the most civil society . he did not say , trees other than whatever it may be you are suspicious of when you see it growing ; he did not say , all trees other than conifers . I am always recalling that when I was a little boy I learnt that to plant a tree and , still more , to care for it when you have planted it , was a good deed which would leave your heritage better than when you found it . I learnt that then and I have believed it ever since , and I think it is still true . we in this country have , as is well known , a smaller percentage of our national area under trees of any kind than has any other country in Europe - barely 6 per cent , if I remember the figure aright - and I am very anxious , as a matter of national policy and national interest , to see the afforestation of this country carried further , with appropriate regard being had to soils and other matters , to what will grow and what will not , and so on . 