APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 



85 



Report from the select Committee 

 of the House of Commons on the 

 Expense of and Mode of obtain- 

 ing Bills of Enclosure. 



The select committee appointed 

 to consider of the most effectual 

 means of facilitating, under the au- 

 thority of parliament, the enclosure 

 and improvement of the waste, un- 

 enclosed and unproductive lands, 

 commons, common arable fields, 

 common meadows, and common of 

 pasture in this kingdom, and to re- 

 port the same, with their opinion 

 thereupon, to the house ; — have, 

 pursuant to the order of the house, 

 considered the matter to them re- 

 ferred, and agreed upon the follow- 

 ing report : 



Your committee, in considering 

 the subject referred to them, have 

 principally had in view the impedi- 

 ments to enclosures under the au- 

 thority of parliament, arising from 

 the expenses incurred in such pro- 

 cedure ; and have consequently en- 

 deavoured to trace the nature and 

 amount of those expenses, as far as 

 the various and complicated circum- 

 stances attending them would ad- 

 mit, through the several stages of 

 the transaction ; the result of which 

 they shall, in the first place, proceed 

 to lay before the house. 



Your committee find that a meet- 

 ing is frequently convened, by pub- 

 lic advertisement, for the purpose 

 of considering the propriety of ap- 

 plying to parliament for anintended 

 enclosure, at which it sometimes 

 happens, that persons not interested 

 in the business attend ; and that the 

 expenses of such meetings, usually 

 held at some inn, as well as that 

 of the advertisements, are often 

 charged in the solicitor's bill. 



A petition to parliament is then 

 prepared; the e:Kpense attending 



which rarely exceeds the sura of 

 two guineas. 



Notices of the intended appli- 

 cation are then, in pursuance of the 

 standing orders of this house, to be 

 affixed to the church-door of each 

 parish in which the lands to be en- 

 closed are situated, for three Sun- 

 days in the months of August or 

 September, the expense of which 

 naturally varies according to the 

 number of parishes, and the distance 

 of the churches from the residence of 

 the solicitor or agent concerned ; it 

 being usual for only one person, if 

 possible, to be employed for this 

 purpose, in consequence of the ne- 

 cessity of his attending afterwards 

 in town, to prove the fact before the 

 committee on the petition. The 

 charge in general appears to be 

 from one to three guineas for each 

 parish. 



The draft of the bill itself is either 

 copied by the solicitor in the coun- 

 try from some former act, as far as 

 circumstances will admit, or pre- 

 pared originally by the parliament- 

 ary solicitor ; in both which cases it 

 is obvious that a number of similar 

 clau ses; either required by the orders 

 of the house, or authorized by gene- 

 ral practice, are constantly inserted. 

 The proportion of these general 

 clauses to the provisions of a local 

 and peculiar nature cannot be pre- 

 cisely ascertained ; but your com- 

 mittee have reason to suppose that 

 they may, in some instances, amount 

 to two-thirds, and in others not to 

 more than two-fifths of the whole. 

 The expense of preparing and copy- 

 ing this draft, being charged by the 

 sheet, must depend upon the length 

 of it, which must in all cases be in- 

 creased by these general clauses. 



The practice of the legislature 

 requiring proof of the consent of a 

 certain number of the parties inte^ 



