FORESTRY AND THE NEW FOREST 



or Chase ' was made punishable with seven years' transportation to America 

 for a second conviction ; and a similar penalty was incurred for beating or 

 wounding forest-keepers and pages (10 Geo. II. cap. xxxii. 1737). 



Slight amendments were made to the game laws in George II. 's reign 

 (anno 26, cap. ii. ; anno 28, cap. xii.), but the Acts more immediately 

 concerning woodlands consisted in making the illegal burning 'of any 

 Goss, Furze or Fern, growing or being in or upon any Forest or Chase, 

 within that part of Great Britain called England' punishable with a fine 

 of 40 j. to 5, and An Act for inclosing by the mutual Consent of the Lards 

 and Tenants , Part of any Common ', for the Purpose of planting and preserving 

 Trees fit for Timber or Underwood; and for more effectually preventing the 

 unlawful Destruction of Trees (29 Geo. II. cap. xxxvi.), which was 

 amended in 1758 (anno 31, cap. xli.). 



Apart from enactments more particularly of the nature of general 

 game laws there has been a considerable amount of legislation regarding 

 forests and woodlands during the last 140 years. The more important of 

 these consist of ( i ) An Act for encouraging the Cultivation, and for the better 

 Preservation of Trees, Roots, Plants, and Shrubs (6 Geo. III. cap. xxxvi. 

 1766), relating to timber-trees (oak, beech, ash, elm, fir, chestnut and 

 aspen) ; (2) An Act for the better Preservation of Timber Trees, and of 

 Woods and Underwoods ; and for the further Preservation of Roots, Shrubs, and 

 Plants (6 Geo. III. cap. xlviii. 1766), which added walnut, cedar, lime, 

 sycamore and birch to the list of timber trees afterwards extended in 

 1773 to poplar, alder, maple, larch and hornbeam) ; (3) An Act for the 

 Increase and Preservation of Timber in Dean and New Forests (48 Geo. 

 III. cap. Ixxii. 1808), confirming, enforcing and rectifying certain 

 irregularities in William III.'s Act of 1698 ; (4) An Act in 1812 (52 

 Geo. III. cap. clxi.) authorizing the sale of Crown lands lying intermixed 

 with private lands within the royal forests ; and (5) An Act to extinguish 

 the Right of the Crown to Deer in the New Forest, and to give Compensation 

 in lieu thereof; and for other purposes relating to the said Forest (14 & 15 

 Vic. cap. Ixxvi. 1851), better known as the Deer Removal Act. Minor 

 Acts dealt with the disafforestation of the forests of South or Bere (1810) 

 and of Parkhurst (1812), and with the enclosure of open commonable 

 land within them, as well as with the better cultivation of navy timber 

 in the forest of Alice Holt (1812), while legislation also made further 

 provisions for disaffbrestation in the Isle of Man (1860, 1865) ; but 

 by far the most important of all these was the Deer Removal Act of 

 1851. 



The Statute Book teems, more especially between the years 1796 

 to 1800, with private Acts 'for dividing, allotting and inclosing' open 

 fields, commons and waste grounds ; but these appear to be less numerous 

 as regards Hants than those relating to many other counties. 



The Timber Preservation Act of 1808 was the outcome of a royal 

 commission appointed by a special Act in 1786 (26 Geo. III. cap. 

 Ixxxvii.) to inquire into the state and condition of the woods, forests, 

 and land revenues of the Crown, which submitted seventeen reports 



