THE FOREST IN DANGER 17 



It was now considered as a settled thing that 

 the New Forest as a whole was to cease to 

 exist. Not that there would not still have been 

 a very large wild tract, or tracts of heath inter- 

 spersed with woodlands, left for the enjoyment of 

 the public, but large sections would also have 

 been allotted to the commoners in satisfaction of 

 their rights which would have been enclosed and 

 broken up, while the large allotment to the 

 Crown would for the most part have been culti- 

 vated as timber plantations enjoyable enough in 

 the future, but not when first planted. Anyhow, 

 the ancient New Forest, already curtailed as to 

 its amenities, would have ceased to exist from the 

 passing of the necessary Act. 



A certain section of common right owners 

 were at first a good deal attracted by the pro- 

 posal, because of the large additions of freehold 

 lands which they would have gained for their 

 estates, in lieu of common rights, which, to a 

 good many of them, were not worth a great 

 deal. But the smaller commoners, and all the 

 large non-commoner population of the district, 

 were much opposed to the loss of the Forest. 

 The small commoner did not think that the com- 

 pensation he would receive would really make 

 up for the loss of his right. The bulk of the 

 local residents who are not commoners would get 



