280 BUBAL COMMONS. 



promises made by the Home Secretary. They held that 

 it was deficient in the following respects, that it left too 

 much to the discretion of the Inclosure Commissioners ; 

 that it did not forbid Parliamentary inclosure in the 

 neighbourhood of towns ; that it did nothing to put a 

 stop to arbitrary appropriation of Commons without the 

 sanction of Parliament, which had only been checked 

 by the expensive and dilatory litigation of the previous 

 few years; and that the regulation clauses would be 

 little used owing to the veto of the Lord of the Manor. 

 I moved a resolution to this effect, and was supported 

 by Fawcett, who contended that the Bill would promote 

 mclosures. Mr. Cross, in reply, denied that the Bill 

 was intended to have this result. " The object of the 

 Bill, he said, was as far as possible to prevent the 

 inclosure of Commons, and to give facilities for keeping 

 them open for the benefit of the people ; so that not 

 only those having rights of common should enjoy 

 them, but that the public themselves might enjoy the 

 use of these free spaces of land improved, drained, and 

 levelled." * After this assurance the motion was not 

 pressed to a division. 



On the Committee stage of the Bill, Fawcett returned 

 to the charge, and moved a resolution to the effect that 

 the Bill did not sufficiently protect agricultural labourers, 

 nor provide adequate security against the inclosure of 

 Commons required for recreation. He supported this 

 with a vigorous speech, but was defeated on a division 

 by 234 to 98. In Committee on the Bill, the representa- 



* Parliamentary Debates, vol. 227, p. 543. 



