112 THE NEW FOREST 



they turned out to be and in taking steps to 

 better the offices. 



As to the provision of office accommodation, 

 that was a difficult problem which was long and 

 often discussed between Sir Stafford Howard and 

 myself. The Commissioners were quite willing to 

 buy, or build, a house for the purpose, though 

 that would have been very inconvenient to work. 

 But there was no suitable site, and the only 

 possible house was not available. 



Suddenly the idea struck me of restoring the 

 old rooms over the Verderers' Hall easily 

 providing thereby the accommodation we wanted, 

 and at the same time restoring the old house 

 itself to its original proportions and appearance. 

 There had recently retired from the service of 

 the Office of Woods one who had been my first 

 assistant for many years. Mr Roberts, a qualified 

 and ingenious architect, particularly good, as I 

 often found, in adapting additions to old build- 

 ing. He threw himself into this work as a 

 labour of love, and succeeded admirably. 



The difficulty was that the height of the 

 ceiling of the modern hall had been raised, so 

 that it was very difficult to adjust the new 

 rooms to the levels of the existing building. The 

 height of the building was limited by the height 

 of the house as it stood. However, these troubles 



