20 THE NEW FOREST 



do it, as servants of the public, if so instructed, 

 far better than by having their hands tied to 

 prevent economical management, and leave all 

 other policy to drift. However, the Parliamen- 

 tary Committee of 1875 was appointed, and con- 

 sidered the question ; and although the preservation 

 of the amenities of the Forest for the use of the 

 public was the underlying principle, yet on the 

 whole their report, and the Act of 1877 which 

 followed thereon, were a great victory for the 

 commoners, whose case was far more ably pre- 

 sented than was that for the Crown. 



The net result was that the extensive powers 

 of planting for the sake of perpetuating and in- 

 creasing the national stock of timber which had 

 been conferred by the Act of 1851, were alto- 

 gether surrendered. Not an acre, beyond what 

 has been already dealt with, was ever to be 

 taken in and planted, and of the land already 

 taken in (some 17,600 acres) only 16,000 were 

 ever to be enclosed at one time. 



