152 EPPING FOREST. 
into the Forest, what land was to remain attached as 
gardens and curtilages to houses erected before the 
specified time, and what rent-charge should be paid by 
the owners of such houses and curtilages towards the 
funds of the Conservators, in acknowledgment of their 
illegal inclosures. The Act provided that all rights of 
lopping the trees for firewood were to cease in the future. 
The Arbitrator was directed to assess the value of wood 
assignments which was to be paid by the Conservators. 
The Act preserved the other rights of the Commoners, but 
gave power to the Conservators to regulate such rights. 
It provided that in the future the four Verderers were 
to be elected every seven years by the registered 
Commoners, and that they were to be associated with 
a Committee of the Corporation in the future manage- 
ment of the Forest. 
With respect to the customary right of the inhabit- 
ants of Loughton to lop the trees in the Forest during 
the winter months for firewood, the measure, as first 
proposed, contained no power for awarding compensa- 
tion. It simply declared such lopping to be illegal in- 
the future. I endeavoured to rectify this omission by 
moving in Committee on the Bill, in the House of 
Commons, a clause admitting the validity of the 
custom, and directing the Arbitrator to assess the value 
of it in compensation to the inhabitants of Loughton. 
The Corporation of London—very unfairly, as I 
thought—opposed this, and were most unwilling to 
recognise the right or custom in any way, in spite of 
the fact that so great an advantage had been derived 
