THE COMMITTEE ON COMMONS. 29 



they could oppose no obstacle to its inclosures under 

 the Statute of Merton ; and that practically the lord 

 could do as he liked with it. In this view there would 

 not be a doubt as to the very generous nature of the 

 offer, or as to the intentions which actuated it. On the 

 other hand, it soon became apparent that the Com- 

 moners of Wimbledon took a very different view of 

 their legal rights, and of their relative position to the 

 lord. They denied his right or power to inclose the 

 waste ; they did not desire to be bought out ; still less 

 did they wish that the area of the Common should be 

 reduced by one-third; they did not approve of the 

 proposal to turn what was to remain of the Common 

 into an inclosed and fenced park. Those who lived in 

 the neighbourhood of Roehampton and Putney objected 

 most strongly to the sale of that portion of the Common 

 which was nearest to them. A committee was conse- 

 quently formed of the commoners and inhabitants of 

 Wimbledon, with Mr. Peek (now Sir Henry Peek) as 

 their chairman, which entered into an investigation as 

 to the legal position of the Lord of the Manor and the 

 commoners, and was prepared to contest that part of 

 the scheme which proposed the sale of Putney Heath, 

 or the impaling and fencing of the residue of the 

 Common. 



Meanwhile, the subject of the London Commons, their 

 neglected condition, the threatened inclosures of them, 

 and the inroads which had been made on them by various 

 Railway Companies, had greatly roused public attention 

 in London. In the session of 18G5, Mr. Doulton, then 



