FOREST OF DEAN. 255 
and be subjected to forestal law; but that this 
should not in future apply to the lands in private 
ownership, not waste of the Forest; that no more 
than 800 deer should be maintained by the Crown; 
and that all grants of the waste lands should be re- 
sumed and made void. 
These proposals were agreed to by the Committee 
of the House of Commons, and were recommended to 
the Government. A Bill was introduced to carry them 
into effect, but Parliament was prorogued before it 
became law, and it was not till 1668, that an Act 
was passed substantially embodying these terms. 
In the meantime Sir John Winter, under the powers 
of his lease, played havoc with the timber in the Forest. 
The Committee, in 1663, had already reported to the 
House “ that Winter had 500 cutters of wood employed 
on the Forest, and that all the timber would be 
destroyed if care should not be speedily taken to 
prevent it.” In vain the House of Commons made 
recommendations for the preservation of the timber. 
Winter still kept on his cutting; and in 1667, it was 
reported to the Government that of 30,233 trees sold 
to Winter, only about 200 remained standing, and that 
from 7,000 to 8,000 loads of timber suitable for the 
Navy were found wanting. 
The Act of 1668 embodied the proposals of the 
people of the Forest, as approved by the Committee, 
with little variation. It maintained all the rights of 
miners of the district. Strangely enough, after all the 
complaints of Winter’s conduct, the Act saved his rights 
