ai4 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1797. 
_ On the preceding table your 
Committee beg leave to remark, 
that no aéts of inclofure have taken 
place in the counties cf Devon and 
Cornwall; and a very few in pro- 
portion to its extent in the princi- 
pality of Wales. Indeed there is 
every reafon to imagine that coun- 
ties at a diftance from the metro- 
polis are deterred from making ap- 
plications to parliament, by - the 
_.dificulty in obtaining fuch acts, and 
the expence attending them; and 
that no extenfive plan of improve- 
ment can be expected in the more 
remote parts of the kingdom whilft 
the prefent fyftem continues. 
Your Committee have alfo 
thought proper to draw up a table 
~of the acts, according to the reigns 
of the different fovereigns, toge- 
ther with a calculation of the ex- 
tent of land inclofed in each reign. 
General Table of Acs of Inchjfures, 
according to the Reigns of the different 
Sovereigns. 
Re'gn. Number = Extent of Land 
of A&s. inclofed. 
‘Queen Anne - 2 - 1,438 
Georgel. - 16 - 17,660 
George ll. - 226 - 318,778 
George III. - 1,532 - 2,804,197 
—--———~ 
1,776 2,837,873 
Tt would alfo have been defire- 
able to have diftinguifhed the ex- 
tent of wafte land inclofed, com- 
ared to that of common fields or 
lands of an arable nature; but to 
have afcertained the fame with 
any tolerable accuracy, would have 
required fo much time, and been 
attended with fo many difficulties, 
that your Committee were under 
the neceflity of giving up the idea, 
II. 
On the Extent of Land remaining un~ 
inclofed, and the Means which might 
be adopted for more effedtually pro- 
moting the Inclofure thereof. 
HAVING endeavoured to afcer- 
tain the quantity of land, already 
inclofed, it would have been ex- 
tremely defireable, in the next 
place, to have laid before the Houfe 
an accurate ftatement of the extent 
ofiland {till remaining uninclofed, 
reitricting the eftimate to England, 
as the waites and commons of Scot- 
land do not come within the {cope 
of this report. Your Committee, 
however, on this head, have been 
under the necefiity of being fatif- 
fied with very general calculations, 
of which the following is_ the 
refult :— 
It is fuppofed that England’ a- 
lone contains about. 46,000,000 of 
acres, of which about 7,800,000 
remain wafte in common or uncul- 
tivated; and on the fuppofition that 
only 1,200,000. acres are in a ftate 
of common fields, or, from various 
circumftances, as from Lammas te- 
nure, &c. cannot be inclofed with- 
out the authority of parliament, it 
would appear that at leait one-fifth 
part of the fouthern part of the 
ifland remains fubjeét to the opera- 
tions of a general bill of inclofure. 
The progrefs in dividing and 
improving this extent of territory 
muft be extremely flow; and ex- 
perience has already fatally proved, 
that, as the law now ftands, it is © 
extremely inadequate to the ins 
creafing population and confump- 
tion of the country. On the fup- 
pofition indeed that 50,000 acres 
are annually inclofed under the pre- 
fent fyftem, if there are 10,000,000 
acres uninclofed, it would re- 
quire 
