lO 
NATURE NOTES. 
will fare better under the new arrangement, and proceed to take 
a brief survey of the all-important section dealing with commons 
and open spaces. 
The numerous inclosures of commons or parts of them, 
hitherto so frequent, by lords of the manor under the Statute 
of Merton and that of Westminster the Second, will now become 
illegal, if it can be proved that common rights are in existence. 
Upon the burden of their proof, however, lies the safety of our 
open spaces, and if this proof is not forthcoming encroachments 
and inclosures similar to those narrated in English Commons 
and Forests cannot be resisted. But among the framers of the 
Local Government Act of 1894 there were ardent friends of 
the open spaces movement wdio foresaw this contingency. 
They consequently provided that all District Councils, urban 
and rural, should have the power to purchase common rights, 
or lands or houses having common rights annexed thereto, and 
that Parish Councils might acquire the same by gift though 
not by purchase. Once obtained, these rights may be defended 
and inclosures prevented. Inclosure by provisional order of the 
Board of Agriculture, in which all persons legally interested 
obtain a portion of the common, certain allotments being set 
out for public purposes, can now only be permitted by a special 
Act confirming the provisional order. Before the Board can 
make this provisional order a local inquiry must be held, and 
should the order eventually be granted, large compensation must 
be made in the way of allotments and recreation grounds. 
Railway companies in future must apply to Parliament for power 
to appropriate common land. They must advertise their 
intention publicly in the month of November, and by the end 
of the month deposit plans of the course of the line to be made, 
and of ihe common land intended to be taken, with the Clerk of 
the Peace of each county affected. In the following month 
(December) a copy of their Bill must be deposited in Parliament. 
This Bill; though a private one, must be read a second time 
during the session, just as if it were a public Bill. 
The regulation of commons, which provides for their pro- 
tection from injury and disfigurement, is now mainly in the 
hands of the London County Council, so far as metropolitan 
commons within the County of London are concerned. Those 
outside the County of London, and in the provinces generally, 
are now to be controlled, subject to certain conditions, by Urban 
and Rural District Councils. Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, in his work 
above- mentioned, gave rather a large list of commons and other 
open spaces, situate in what is known as the Extra-Metropolitan 
District, that were not included in any scheme of regulation 
under the Commons Act of 1876. It is satisfactory to know 
that henceforth they will be provided for, so that encroachments 
like those that took place on Hayes Common, in Kent, not such 
a long time back, will now become impossible. 
Village greens will in future belong to the Parish Council ; 
