322 REGULATION OF COMMONS. 



had been properly supported. It was also a bad pre- 

 cedent for other cases. It followed, when some years 

 later, in 1893, it became necessary to deal with 

 Hackney Marshes, and to propound a scheme for placing 

 this other important space under proper regulation, 

 that Lord Amherst again put forward a claim for 

 compensation on a scale commensurate with the pre- 

 cedent of 1872 ; and the London County Council, 

 hampered doubtless by the bad policy of its predecessor, 

 refused to give its support to the scheme, unless an 

 arrangement were come to with the Lord of the Manor. 

 Negotiations were entered into with him, and the other 

 persons interested in the Common, and it was ultimately 

 arranged that 75,000 should be paid for all the interests 

 in the land, of which 50,000 was to be provided by 

 the London Council, 15,000 by the Hackney Local 

 Board, 5,000 by a private contribution from Lord 

 Amherst, and the remaining 5,000 by public sub- 

 scription. 



The scheme thus matured was later confirmed by 

 Parliament. It was, however, in the opinion of those 

 who had conducted the movement, contrary to the 

 spirit and intention of the Act of 1866, in so far as it 

 provided for the payment of so great a sum to the 

 owners of the soil and the Commoners. Fortunately it 

 is the last transaction where the ratepayers' money in 

 London will be drawn upon for such a purchase, as 

 no other Common now remains undealt with within the 

 district of the London Council. 



Clapham, Plumstead, Streatham, Barnes, and 



