THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
No. 188.] JANUARY, MDCCCLXXYV. [Price 6d. 
Recovery of E’'pping Forest. 
AT a late meeting of the Coal, Corn and Finance 
Committee of the Corporation of London, Mr. R. Cox, 
Chairman of the Committee, presented a report of the 
judgment of the Master of the Rolls in the suit instituted by 
the City Commissioners of Sewers against all the lords of 
manors of Epping Forest. It was received with cheers. 
Mr. J.T. Bedford, a leading member of the Court, addressing 
the Lord Mayor, said, as he had been looking forward to 
that day for the last two years, he might be allowed to inform 
the Court what the Corporation had actually done in this 
matter. In May, 1871, the Corporation, on his motion, 
unanimously agreed, at any cost, to try by all legal means 
to preserve Epping Forest for ever as a recreation ground for 
the people. His committee had an interview with the 
Government, and were referred to Mr. Ayrton, who showed 
them a Bill he had prepared, appointing a Commission to 
prepare a scheme for preserving the Forest. He [Mr. Bed- 
ford] suggested the propriety of introducing a clause 
preventing further enclosures or waste until the commission 
had reported. This Mr. Ayrton flatly refused to do. The 
_ Bill was passed, and Parliament rose for the recess. Mean- 
while, in August, the Corporation filed their first Bill in 
Chancery, and then the vacation stopped further progress. 
Directly it was discovered that the Bill contained no clause 
preventing further enclosures, the lords of the manor went to 
work with a will, and recommenced felling timber, building 
houses, cutting turf, and even ploughing up some of the most 
beautiful parts of the Forest. ‘Then the Corporation set to work 
with its customary vigour, and, although it was vacation time, 
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