Agricultural Capabilities of the New Forest. 235 
the New Forest, in which he claimed all forcstal rights, notwithstanding; the 
removal of the deer, not only over the wastes of the forests, hut over all the 
private lands within its ambit— a pretension which had been publicly dis- 
claimed by one of his immediate predecessors in oflice. Thus, therefore, it now 
stands. Enormous plantations, in blocks of thousands of acres, have been 
created, through which the Crown claims the power of preventing the passage 
of the public, even along the ancient highways, and this vast extent of land, 
which was valuable in its original state, has become, after an expenditure of some 
101. per acre, worth far less than it was before the outlay, and all ])ossible im- 
provement barred for generations. Tliere may at this moment be about 
30,000 acres of heath-land still open, but of this area the Government surveyor 
speaks as " unfit for cultivation," whilst only a very Umited space of land, 
which is pronounced by the same authority as " profitable," remains unenclosed 
for the use of the Commoners. The safety, too, of the remnants of the ancient 
woods, whose beauty and picturesque value it is beyond my power to describe, 
is threatened, and .so the enjoyment of the public in the glory of the unequalled 
landscape is in the utmost risk of extinction. 
" You will not wonder, then, when you consider the singular laws which bear 
upon the Forest, and the still more remarkable way of using and administering 
those laws of late years, that the owners of land, whether to a great or small 
extent, view with some anxiety the position of their affairs ; or that the public, 
to judge from letters which now so frequently appear in the newspapers, and 
from the speeches made during the last few mouths, look upon the present 
state of the New Forest as that of a perpetual chaos. Still, the remedy is 
neither intricate nor difficult. It requires only to follow out that course which 
has been so often recommended by those who have carefully weighed the subject. 
Let there be a strictly neutral and impartial tribunal constituted, and let such a 
tribunal, after due inquiry, make a division between the Crown and the Com- 
moners, totally excluding each from any rights or power over the share of the 
other. The appointmeut of such a tribunal would silence the complaints of 
the Commoners, or if not, would deprive them of that public sympathy and 
support which they now receive. The effect of the severance of these joint- 
proprietorships would follow in the natural course of events. The nation would 
become possessed of a valuable property, freed from all the restrictive incum- 
brances which now exist, and the House of Commons would take care that it 
was properly administered ; whilst, on the other hand, the Commoners would 
be sure, for the sake of their own financial interests, to carry out such im- 
provements upon their exclusive share as might be capable of proving 
remunerative. 
" I have written at far greater length than I intended, but I found it impos- 
sible to give any fair view of the peculiar laws which affect the New Forest 
without advertmg to the administration of those laws, and, in some little 
degree, to the consequences. But what I have written, still, is but an incom- 
plete sketch, the value and interest of which consist only in the accuracy of the 
lines which 1 have endeavoured to trace." * 
* As these sheets are passing through the press, an important meeting of the 
commoners has been held at Lyudhurst, which may be regarded as the Forest 
metropolis. The meeting was well attended, and presided over by one of the 
members of the county, and appeared to be pretty unanimous in favour of retaining 
as much of the Forest as possible for pastui age. It appears, from what was stated, 
that two Bills were intended to be brought into Parliament during the present 
session, one by the Crown and the other by the commoners, -which were somewhat 
antagonistic to each other, although botli embraced the idea of a division of 
interests between the Crown and the commoners. The Crown, it was intimated, 
wished to exchange timber for laud, but the commoners wanted pasturage, not 
timber ; yet, surely, if a portion of the open forest is given up to the commoners, 
