194 BANSTEAD COMMONS. 



Common by cutting it in two, but it was the cause of 

 great danger to it, by affording the opportunity of 

 ascertaining the exact limit of the persons entitled to 

 common rights. Under the provisions of the Lands 

 Clauses Act, the compensation payable in respect of 

 the land, thus taken from the Common for the pur- 

 poses of the railway, was paid into Court, and it was 

 referred to the Inclosure Commissioners to apportion 

 this sum between the Lord of the Manor and the 

 persons who could maintain their claim to it as 

 Commoners. 



For this purpose an inquiry was held at Banstead 

 by Mr. Wetherell, an Assistant Inclosure Commis- 

 sioner, and an award was made by him specifying the 

 persons who, in his opinion, had rights over the Com- 

 mon, and were entitled to compensation. This deter- 

 mination was not in law a final one, in the sense that it 

 precluded any claim in future legal proceedings, on 

 behalf of persons not recognised by him as Commoners ;. 

 and, as the result showed, the conclusions of the Com- 

 missioner proved to be wholly untrustworthy. But 

 such an inquiry by an independent official, with ex- 

 perience in such matters, confirmed to some extent by 

 the rolls of the manor and by some old surveys, 

 appeared doubtless to Sir John Hartopp's advisers to 

 be of very high authority, and it was, perhaps, not to 

 be wondered at that he should think it conclusive as to 

 the rights affecting the Commons. He was, no doubt, 

 advised that if he could, by purchase or otherwise, get 

 rid of the rights of the persons thus designated as 



