THE NEW FOREST. 243 



opposition, and became law under the title of the 

 "New Forest Act, 1877." The result was a victory 

 both for the Commoners and the public. Under the 

 Act of 1851, about 8,000 acres had been inclosed in 

 addition to the 10,000 under the Act of 1698, and 

 of these 18,000 acres 8,000 had been thrown open, 

 and 10,000 remained inclosed. The Act of 1877 

 provides that the power of inclosure enjoyed by the 

 Crown should be confined to these 18,000 acres, which 

 comprise the best land in the Forest, and which may 

 be thrown out and re-inclosed at will, provided that 

 not more than 16,000 acres are actually inclosed at 

 one time. The Commoners are thus secured in the 

 remainder of the 63,000 acres, or 45,000, of which about 

 6,000 are partially covered with old timber. It is laid 

 down by the Act as a matter of principle that the 

 natural beauties of the Forest are to be preserved, and 

 the right of the public to the enjoyment of it is fully 

 recognised and perpetuated. 



At the first election of the Verderers, Mr. Briscoe 

 Eyre, who had done so much to preserve the Forest, 

 and to protect the interests of the Commoners, was 

 returned at the head of the poll. Owing to his exer- 

 tions a serious blot in the Act was remedied in 1879. 

 A large number of owners and occupiers of land in 

 the neighbourhood of the Forest, but not on the 

 authorised Register of Commoners, through various 

 causes, had been allowed by the Verderers to turn 

 out cattle in the Forest ; but on account of the fact 

 that registered Commoners were taxed under the Act of 

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