ATTACKS BY RAILWAY COMPANIES. 339 
fells surrounding Lake Thirlmere shall not be in any 
manner restricted or interfered with by the Corporation.” 
In 1892 a similar proposal was made by the 
Corporation of Birmingham, on even a larger scale, in 
connection with the supply of water to their town. 
They introduced a Bill to enable them to purchase, in 
the mountain regions of South Wales, the sources of the 
rivers Elan and Clairwen, with a very great area of 
adjoining land, and with no less than fifty square miles 
of open and uninclosed land subject to.common rights. 
It proposed to buy up all the rights over this immense 
district, and to convert it into the private property of 
the Corporation. The rights of common were enjoyed 
by a great number of small farmers to whose occu- 
pation they were essentially necessary as a means of 
existence; the public also had largely resorted to these 
hills for the sake of their fine air and scenery. 
It appeared to the Commons Society that though it 
might be requisite that the Corporation, for the sake 
of securing the purity of its water supply, should have 
large powers over the collecting ground, yet it was 
quite. unnecessary to deprive the small farmers of their 
rights of common, or to convert the land into private 
property. The scheme, in fact, was in this respect a 
great inclosure, without any of the securities afforded to 
the public, the commoners, and the labouring people of 
the district by an ordinary Inclosure award, which 
would have to be submitted to local inquiry, approved 
by the Agricultural Department, and confirmed by the 
Standing Committee of the House of Commons. 
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