194 BANSTEAD COMMONS. 
Common by cutting it in two, but it was the cause of 
great danger to it, by affording the opportunity of 
ascertaining the exact limit of the persons entitled to 
common rights. Under the provisions of the Lands 
Clauses Act, the compensation payable in respect of 
the land, thus taken from the Common for the pur- 
poses of the railway, was paid into Court, and it was 
referred to the Inclosure Commissioners to apportion 
this sum between the Lord of the Manor and the 
persons who could maintain their claim to it as 
Commoners. 
_ For this purpose an inquiry was held at Banstead 
by Mr. Wetherell, an Assistant Inclosure Commis- 
sioner, and an award was made by him specifying the 
persons who, in his opinion, had rights over the Com- 
mon, and were entitled to compensation. This deter- 
mination was not in law a final one, in the sense that it 
precluded any claim in future legal proceedings, on 
behalf of. persons not recognised by him as Commoners ; 
and, as the result showed, the conclusions of the Com- 
missioner proved to be wholly untrustworthy. But 
such an inquiry by an independent official, with ex- 
perience in such matters, confirmed to some extent by 
the rolls of the manor and by some old surveys, 
appeared doubtless to Sir John Hartopp’s advisers to 
be of very high authority, and it was, perhaps, not to 
be wondered at that he should think it conclusive as to 
the rights affecting the Commons. He was, no doubt, 
advised that if he could, by purchase or otherwise, get 
rid of the rights of the persons thus designated as. 
