328 REGULATION OF COMMONS. 
scheme for the inclosure of Epsom Downs and Epsom 
Common. The subject was carefully inquired into by 
the Committee of 1865. The Steward of the Manor, 
and the promoters of the inclosure, gave strong evidence 
as to the expediency of this course, and as to the exclu- 
sive interest of the Lord of the Manor. On the other 
hand, there was evidence of a powerful local feeling to 
the contrary. The Committee reported against the in- 
closure, and the scheme was defeated. Since then, the 
relations of the Lord of the Manor, the Commoners, and 
the inhabitants of Epsom, have been in a state of tension, 
aggravated by the position of the Grand Stand Asso- 
ciation, who claim certain rights in respect of the 
annual races held on the Downs, by virtue of a lease 
from the Lord of the Manor. 
A course of petty encroachments has been pursued 
by the Lord of the Manor, intended to confirm his claim 
to an absolute ownership of the land. In 1885 a Com- 
mittee of: Commoners, including Lord Rosebery, the 
owner of an adjoining property, commenced a_ suit 
against the Lord of the Manor and the Grand Stand 
Association. This suit was stayed pending an applica- 
tion to the Agricultural Department for a scheme for 
regulating the Common. On their part the Board of 
Agriculture have declined to proceed with a regulating 
scheme so long as the suit is undetermined. A deadiock 
has consequently ensued. It is to be hoped that one 
result of the Banstead scheme will be to remove the 
difficulties respecting a scheme for Epsom Common. 
Under the Act of 1876 there have been schemes 
