28 THE COMMITTEE ON COMMONS. 
The scheme which he propounded for remedying 
these evils, and which was in the next year embodied 
in a private Bill laid before Parliament, involved the 
sale of about one-third of the area of the Common, con- 
sisting of that portion of it known as Putney Heath, 
lying on the right hand of the London and Kingston 
road. The proceeds of this sale were to be expended in 
buying up and extinguishing any rights, which the 
Commoners might have over the Common, and in 
fencing, draining, and improving the remaining 680 
acres. The public Park thus to be created, as dis- 
tinguished from an open Common, was to be vested in 
trustees, one of whom was to be the Lord of the Manor. 
The trustees were to have powers to make bye-laws for 
the management and regulation of the Park. They 
were also to let the pasturage of it, and to lease or 
work the gravel-pits; the proceeds thus expected to be 
realised, were to be applied, first in payment of a rent- 
charge to the Lord of the Manor, equal to the average 
of his past receipts from gravel and otherwise, and 
secondly to the current expenses of management, and to 
the improvement of the Park. The Lord of the Manor 
was also to be allowed to erect a residence for himself 
in the centre of the Park, and he was to be responsible 
for any expense of maintaining it beyond the income 
derived as above. 
This proposal was stated to be founded on the legal 
opinion that the Lord of the Manor was practically 
owner in fee of the Common; that the Commoners were 
so few in number that they might be disregarded, as 
