DESTRUCTION OF SCENERY. 
207 
scene, and after a time obtained a lease from the conservators 
to play golf on the common for a low rent, which has since been 
doubled on condition that the lease may run for twenty-one 
years. The club, moreover, have purchased the manorial rights 
for ;^2,500, and are said to have handed the same over to the 
conservators, on consideration that they are allowed to use the 
common for their own purposes. But as the correspondent to 
the Daily Graphic of Sept. 18, from whom the above facts are 
mainly quoted, points out, the conservators will have to buy 
the rights for ;^2,5oo, supposing the licence be at any time 
revoked, so that there is very little of “ giving ” or “ handing 
over ” about the matter. For the benefit of those readers who 
may be but slightly informed of the circumstances of the case, 
we may state that the action of the golfers has aroused a lively 
discussion in some of the daily journals, not a few correspond- 
ents and contributors taking the side of the club, and with 
apparent show of reason. The scandalous action of the lords 
of the manor in denuding the common of its turf and gravel is 
largely responsible for this. To suit their own purposes the golf 
club have filled up several of the pits, and re-turfed the bare 
spots. This has gained them a name for philanthropy. But 
furze and thorn interfere with golf drives, so the furze has had to 
go, and has been replaced by young trees surrounded with 
barbed wire — an unnecessary and dangerous adjunct. 
It would be venturing too far to say that golf should not be 
played on any of our open spaces. Some of them — such as 
Wimbledon Common, Blackheath, and Chingford Plain at 
Epping Forest — have areas absolutely devoid of vegetation, 
save the turf, and are old-established golfing grounds. Still, 
considering the stringent limits assigned on our open spaces and 
in our parks to the votaries of cricket, football and lawn tennis, 
golfers cannot complain if the public view with suspicion the 
wide range they claim as their right, wherever they establish 
themselves. 
But at Mitcham the natural objects of the scenery are being 
sacrificed in order to suit the convenience of the players. A 
recent contributor to the Globe newspaper opines that Mitcham 
Common has absolutely nothing picturesque about it, is as flat 
as a pancake and is largely overgrown with furze. He seems to 
hold the beauties of this shrub very cheap. The yellow blossoms 
of the furze bespangle this plain at intervals throughout the 
year ; limited in its area, for it is little if anywhere found out of 
England, it is nevertheless abundant on every common ; no 
plant deserves better of mankind, yet few fare worse, what with 
the burning and cutting to which it is subjected— a process 
that has been going on at Mitcham in full swing. 
It is questionable to the last degree whether the conservators 
had any right to grant a lease for twenty-one years to the 
Prince’s Golf Club, thus allowing the club to get more and more 
power over the common each succeeding year. We can but 
