THE FOREST IN DANGER 19 



and Dorchester Railway was made right through 

 the Forest, and was bringing thousands of 

 people to explore it and to discover what it was 

 worth to them. Those thousands of visitors now- 

 a-days, with improved railway facilities and the 

 advent of mechanical traction on the roads, have 

 grown into millions, as all who know the Forest 

 will recognise, and it was well that the force of 

 the movement was realised in good time, and the 

 Forest, as it then existed, was preserved to be so 

 highly appreciated, as undoubtedly it now is. 

 Accordingly, in 1870, Mr. Fawcett induced the 

 House of Commons to pass a resolution prohibit- 

 ing further planting or enclosing pending legisla- 

 tion and until the whole New Forest question 

 had been further inquired into. 



This gave the commoners and local residents 

 time to organise their forces, and especially to 

 combine with their new ally in the shape of 

 altered public opinion, and the movement in 

 favour of open spaces, which was being power- 

 fully worked by the Commons Preservation 

 Society. These adjuncts were organised for all 

 they were worth, and dovetailed into the plea 

 for preservation of local interests ably and well. 

 The Office of Woods missed making the point that 

 if the public desired to maintain the Forest as a 

 great public park, they were there and ready to 



