244 THE NEW FOREST. 



1877, for the maintenance of the Forest, it was held 

 that those, who were not registered, would thence- 

 forward be wholly excluded from the Forest. Such a 

 course would have brought hundreds of families to the 

 workhouse. Fortunately, the Government was induced 

 to pass, in 1879, a short Act authorising the Verderers 

 to allow persons not registered to turn out cattle in the 

 Forest on payment of a small fee. 



In 1891, another, and it is to be hoped a last, 

 attack was made on the New Forest. At the fa<j end 

 of the session, a clause was slipped into a Government 

 measure called " the Ranges Act," empowering the 

 War Department to appropriate any common land for 

 rifle ranges, in spite of any prohibition or restriction 

 contained in any local or personal Act, and notwith- 

 standing any common or other rights or easements over 

 such lands. This clause, though not mentioning the 

 New Forest, virtually applied to it, and doubtless was 

 intended to do so without alarming the Commoners. 



Had any public explanation been given as to the 

 effect that this clause would have in linking together 

 various other Acts, such as the Volunteer Act of 1803, 

 the Artillery and Ranges Act, 1885, and the Drill 

 Grounds Act, 1886, there can be no doubt that the 

 measure would have been most strongly opposed, for it- 

 placed every Common in the country at the mercy of 

 the War Department, and would have enabled them to 

 extinguish common rights over them, and afterwards to 

 sell the land, when no longer wanted for ranges, as 

 private property. 



