FORESTRY AND THE NEW FOREST 



largely, while the public did not. In the first place their right of 

 common was practically doubled, inasmuch as by the payment of a 

 nominal acknowledgment they were to become entitled to turn out their 

 animals in the forest for twelve months instead of only (in strict law) 

 for five. Further, the compensation to the Crown for the removal of 

 the deer which by the Act of 1851 was fixed at 10,000 acres (in the 

 first place) to be enclosed for planting and for the production of revenue, 

 and at a further 10,000 acres to be enclosed as soon as the first enclosure 

 was thrown out, and beyond this the rolling power of enclosure amount- 

 ing to the whole of the forest which was recognized by the committee 

 in their report was all of it to be wholly surrendered after only 5,030 

 acres had been enclosed. It was no doubt a matter for discussion as to 

 whether this power need be exercised at once or perhaps at all, but it 

 was a most valuable property vested in the public, as it amounted to 

 a retention (as was doubtless originally intended) of that paramount 

 possession of the whole forest which was vested in the Crown before the 

 removal of the deer. By the powers then existing the Crown had the 

 right to stock the forest to the fullest extent with deer. Under the 

 Deer Removal Act a corresponding power, if it were to be exercised, 

 was vested in the Crown by the right of enclosure. But by the recom- 

 mendations of the committee of 1875 the right of the commoner or 

 private individual became so enhanced that much of the Crown's pos- 

 session, and in its right that of the public, was whittled away. It was 

 an -asy matter for Parliament or for the Treasury in deference to an 

 expression of public opinion to suspend any powers of enclosure that the 

 Crown possessed. It was another matter to surrender them for ever and 

 thus enable a number of private individuals to assert claims equal to 

 those of the State in this great national possession. 



But beyond all this there was one great departure from ancient 

 precedent in the report of the committee of 1875. It was in the clause 

 providing that ' the ancient ornamental woods and trees shall be carefully 

 preserved, and the character of the scenery maintained.' This was the 

 first occasion on which a legislative body had been brought to recognize 

 that there was a distinct value in the New Forest scenery and amenities, 

 as distinguished from the revenue-producing qualities of the woods or 

 the ability of the forest to afford sport for the sovereign or his licensees. 

 It was a novel and to modern ideas a most welcome and suitable change 

 from ancient tradition. The Act of 1877 (vide p. 433), which followed 

 on this report, was intended above all things to embody and legalize this 

 view of the use to which the New Forest might be turned. It will 

 be seen shortly how far it has succeeded in this direction. The clauses 

 by which this system of management was to be legalized and enforced 

 are clauses 5, 6, 7, 8 of the New Forest Act, 1877, and they run as 

 follows : 



5. The right of Her Majesty to enclose any lands in the forest for the growth 

 of timber or trees, in pursuance of the Act of 1698, the Act of 1808, and the Act 

 of 1851, shall be exercised only on such lands as are at the date of the passing of this 



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