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CHAPTER XIX. 
Arracks BY Rai~way ComPANIEs. 
Cuizr among the dangers to which Commons were 
exposed before 1865, were the invasions of them by 
Railway Companies. Already several Commons had been 
seriously disfigured, if not irreparably injured, by railway 
companies having, in a very needless way as it appeared, 
intersected them with their lines, severing one part com- 
pletely from another, interfering with their prospects, 
and destroying that charm, which results from rural 
solitude, and which constitutes, in the case of Commons 
near to towns, so much of their value. This was notably 
the case with Wandsworth, Banstead, Tooting, Mitcham, 
and Barnes Commons. It seemed that neither the local 
authorities of the district, if any, nor the inhabitants 
generally, nor even individual Commoners, were allowed 
a locus standi to appear before Select Committees of 
either House of Parliament for the purpose of objecting, 
in the interest of the public, to private Bills promoted 
by companies, or even of pointing out how the objection- 
able features of the schemes might be avoided or minim- 
ised. TheLords of Manors were generally not concerned 
in protecting their Commons from such invasions ; it was 
rather their interest to invite them; for they realised 
their interest in the portions of Commons taken, 
and the award of the purchase money might necessitate 
