PETERSFIELD.
Agent—Miss DUPLOCK.
This pretty little town, situated in a lovely valley, the surrounding scenery of which can scarcely be equalled in this or the neighbouring counties, has begun to feel the stimulating effect of the newly-opened railway. Returning to it after a protracted absence, it is pleasant to remark the revived activity of the inhabitants, the landscape dotted here and there with newly-erected dwellings, the omnibus quietly passing to and fro to meet every train, and the general increase of stir and bustle incident to the increased facilities for trade. How invariably do all these tread closely on the spread of railway trains; what a comment it is on the blind and mistaken opposition that a few years since landowners and inhabitants of towns put forth against them. Now the great anxiety is to attract ‟railway directors’” attention to their locality, and loud are the strains of triumph when they are able to announce the probability of a ‟branch” for their accommodation. Of course, improvement here is yet in its infancy, but every thing in the town itself, in the lovely rides and walks around, its lake—a piece of water that few towns can boast of,—the numerous gentlemen’s mansions that surround it, with sites for building innumerable, its convenient distance from London, and equally convenient distance from the South Coast, these and much more combine to justify the prediction that, in a few years, Petersfield will be the centre of a rapidly increasing and prosperous population. The principal landowners, J. B. Carter, Esq., and Sir W. Jolliffe, are believed to be fully alive to their responsibilities; it is not likely they will be unwilling to part with land at rates so amply remunerative as builders and capitalists will be ready to give. Till buildings are erected, tourists should not be deterred from an occasional visit; they will not want a comfortable home, the hotel accommodation is of a very superior kind. Ease and elegance, with moderate charges, are the special characteristics of Messrs. Craft’s establishment, the appointments of which are fully equal to the long and justly celebrated comforts of ‟the English Hotel.”