152 MY LIFE [Chap. 



among old inhabitants, he finds that at the time nothing 

 whatever was done except to enclose the portions allotted 

 to each landlord with turf banks or other rough fencing ; and 

 that to this day almost all the great boggy moor, with the 

 mountain slopes and summits, have not been improved in any 

 way, either by draining, cultivation, or planting, but is still 

 wild, rough pasture. But about thirty years after the in- 

 closure the railway from Shrewsbury through South Wales 

 passed through the place, and immediately afterwards a few 

 villas and boarding-houses were built, and some of the enclosed 

 land was sold at building prices. This has gone on year by 

 year, and though the resident population is still only about 

 2000, it is said that 10,000 visitors (more or less) come every 

 summer, and the chief increase of houses has been for their 

 accommodation. My friend tells me that, except close to the 

 village and railway, the whole country which was enclosed — 

 many hundreds of acres — is still bare and uncultivated, with 

 hardly any animals to be seen upon it. Milk is scanty and 

 poor, and the only butter is Cornish or Australian, so that 

 the inclosure has not led to the supply of the simplest 

 agricultural needs of the population. Even the piece of 

 common that was reserved for the use of the inhabitants 

 is now used for golf-links ! 



Here, then, as in so many other cases, the express purpose 

 for which alone the legislature permitted the inclosure has 

 not been fulfilled, and in equity the whole of the land, and the 

 whole money proceeds of the sale of such portions as have 

 been built upon, should revert to the public. The prices now 

 realized by this almost worthless land, agriculturally, are enor- 

 mous. In or near the village it sells for £1^00 an acre, or even 

 more, while quite outside these limits it is from ;£"300 to £400. 

 All this value is the creation of the community, and it has 

 only been diverted to the pockets of private persons by false 

 pretences. And to carry out this cruel robbery, how many of 

 the poor have suffered ? how many families have been reduced 

 from comfort to penury, or have been forced to emigrate to 

 the overcrowded towns and cities, while the old have been 

 driven to the workhouse, have become law-created paupers ? 



