28 THE NEW FOREST 



the Forest, had become very infirm, had in 

 fact tendered his resignation, and only consented 

 to carry on his duties in view of the awkward 

 position in which I found myself placed ; for 

 though I often got excellent advice from him he 

 was not able to get about the Forest with me 

 to any extent, and he lived eight miles away. 

 In short, I had to set to work to find out every- 

 thing for myself, and very hard work it was 

 for I found it too dangerous to go outside my 

 staff for information, after I made the discovery 

 that there were among the principal residents 

 some who were not at all above taking advan- 

 tage of the difficulties of my position in order 

 to gain for themselves small concessions, and en- 

 deavoured to persuade me that it was in accord- 

 ance with Forest customs that they should thus 

 profit by my ignorance. 



Altogether I found that in the disturbed 

 state of local feeling it was better to trust 

 nobody, and the first two or three years in the 

 Forest were hard ones for me. In addition to 

 this I had hardly reorganised my staff and got 

 it into working order when my chief Mr. James 

 Kenneth Howard died, and I lost a most 

 kindly amiable friend, as well as a good guide. 

 He was succeeded by Sir Henry afterwards 

 Lord Loch, a most able administrator, who came 



