2 6 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



inittee was appointed in 1889, /<? inquire into the Administration of 

 the Department of J foods and Forests and Land Revenues of the 

 Crown. The Crown woods and forests were found to then con- 

 sist of Windsor Park and woods (15,175 acres); the New Forest 

 (64,834 acres); the Dean Forest (18,710 acres); other woods 

 and forests in Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, the Isle of 

 Wight, Northamptonshire, Surrey, and other counties (16,574 

 acres), and their status was as follows : — 



Windsor Forest {it^,\']^ acres). — Of this, 5355 acres are domain 

 attached to Windsor Castle, and 9820 acres are not regarded as 

 part of the residential property of the Sovereign. The ranger, 

 appointed under Section 135 of 10 Geo. IV., has sole control of 

 the deer, game, fish, and herbage. 



The New Forest. — The income from this large tract of land is 

 small, but the profitable rights of the Crown are very limited. 

 The open forest is subject to rights of common, timber in recent 

 enclosures is immature, and in the older woods the rights of the 

 Crown are greatly restricted by the Act of 1877. The policy 

 then adopted was that the New Forest should be administered 

 principally with regard to the preservation of its ornamental 

 character, and not with a view to profit. 



The Forest of Dean. — Owing to the rights of commoners and 

 miners, only a comparatively small income is obtained from the 

 surface; whilst, as in the New Forest, regard is paid to the 

 preservation of the natural beauty of the woods. By customs 

 confirmed by Act of Parliament, the coal, ironstone, and quarry 

 stone are "galed " (leased) to free-miners only on perpetuity leases, 

 which are in almost all cases alienated by the original " galees." 



In their Report in 1890, this Committee found the administra- 

 tion by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests satisfactory, 

 but recommended that all the Acts relating to timber production 

 in the Crown woods should be repealed, and that " the allotments 

 .set out and allotted to the Crown in severalty in Alice Holt 

 Forest, Bere Forest, and Parkhurst Forest were by the Acts 

 devoted to the growth of timber for the Royal Navy. As no 

 timber is required by the Admiralty from these properties, the 

 restriction as to their being devoted to the growth of timber, and 

 also any similar enactments affecting the New Forest and the 

 Forest of Dean, should be rei)ealed.'' 



Fortunately, this recommendation was not accepted. Though 

 the New Forest is still being spoiled under the Act of 1877,, 



