WOODS AND FORESTS COMMITTEE.

LEITER IV.

In my last letter the ancient and modern system of administering the Forest Laws was illustrated, and the powers and duties of the judges and officers of the Forest Courts explained.

The Commissioners of Woods and Forests are responsible for the care of the wood and timber of the forests (469); and it will be most convenient to reserve any general remarks on their proceedings after noticing the management and present state of particular forests. The deer and all matters relating to the chace, hunting, and preservation of wild animals, are under the direction of the Warden or Ranger of each forest. As there is considerable difference in the extent of his establishment in each forest, it will be the clearest course to exhibit, in the first instance, particular examples of domains under his control.

I shall first take-

WHITTLEWOOD FOREST. It is situated in the county of Northampton, on the road to Buckingham, eight miles North of Blisworth. It extends over 4,010 acres of land, exclusive of Ilazleborough Walk, which has been disafforested. The soil is very good; and it is admitted that "if the land were either sold or appro- priated to agricultural purposes, it would be more beneficial to the Crown than the forest in its present state." (Mr. Milne, 786.) It is entirely exempt from tithes. It is divided into four walks-Sholebrook, Wakefield, Hanger, and Shrobb Walks; the last detached from the main part of the forest, lying near Stoney Stastford, and not subject to any rights of common.

The office of Ranger is held by the Duke of Grafton; to whose ancestor and his heirs male it was granted by Charles the Second; and the grant was confirmed by letters patent in the reign of Queen Anne. He receives 371. 10s. a year as Master Forester, the perquisites of the venison, the right of shooting over the fo- rest; and he has the use of Wakefield Lodge, the pasturage of Wakefield Lawn, containing 200 to 300 acres, to which the deer and the cattle of his Grace are alone admitted, (671,) and the undexwood of sixty-two coppices. In 1823, the Duke of Grafton proposed that Wakefield Lawn should be disaf- forested, but not the other part of the forest; a proposal not very complimentary to the intelligence of the Commissioners. (806.) In 1841, the Commissioners proposed a division of the forest, by which the Crown and the Duke of Grafton should have separate shares; or that the Crown's interest over the whole should be sold to the Duke of Grafton, on paying an annual rent, or supplying a certain quantity of timber, or allowing portions to be enclosed for planting, to be subse- quently thrown open, and removing the deer. (802.) None of these alternative offers appear to have been satisfactory to his Grace. In 1842, the Dike of Graf- ton stated that he would not object to receive, as an equivalent for certain rights, "such separate portion of the whole forget as is proportionate to his present pos- sessions, provided it should commence on the East side of the forest, and be al- lotted round Wakefield Lodge." (805.) The correspondence containing this offer is stated by the Commissioners to have removed the difficulty which prevented "a complete division in the forest "; and the offer certainly appears to be one of very great simplicity. The office of Ranger, now held in fee tail, will probably be abolished, on the conveyance of the Lodge, Lawn, and allotments to his Grace ! Mr. Roberts, Lieutenant of the forest, has Sholebrook Lodge, (sometimes re- paired by the Crown,) some enclosed land, and receives 60/. a year.

The number of deer in the forest is about 1,800. A Royal warrant, under the sign manual, for about 90 is issued, (649,) and from 110 to 120 are killed; the Duke of Grafton having a right to kill deer. The principal Keeper receives 261. a year and buck-fees, and he has a house and six acres of land, underwood, &c. He has seven deputies; of whom two keepers receive 251. 68. 8d. a year, and five page-keepers 12/. 13s. 4d. Their lodges are repaired by the Crown; the salaries, amounting to 1981. 16s. SsL, (791,) are paid by the Woods and Forests; and the appointments are made by the Duke of Grafton. These particulars are important, in order to contrast them with similar payments made in other forests.

The Duke of Grafton made representations to the office of the Woods and Fo- rests to abolish the deer, (699,) which he claims, (753); and as he has no right to exclude them from any part of the forest, or to enclose any part of the forest, they no doubt cause great annoyance to him. The Commissioners would not remove the deer unless other measures were coupled with it. (701.) About 18,617 trees are lopped to feed them. The Deputy Surveyor, appointed by the Chief Commissioner, receives 2301. a year. He resides in Salcey Forest, which he also superintends. There are two woodmen also appointed by the Board. The Verderers, appointed by the freeholders of Northamptonshire, are Colonel Hutchinson and Mr. Fitzroy; but Courts are not held. (763.)

When Hazelborough Walk was disafforested, (5th Geo. IV. c. 99,) 499 acres were allotted to the Crown. They have since been planted, chiefly with oak, at an ex- pense of 71. 5s. 2d. an acre; but as the planting occupied fifteen years, there is a

loss of rent to be added to this amount. Very good crops of wheat grow on land then enclosed [belonging to private parties ? ] (848); though Hatleborough Walk is the least good land " of the forest.

It is to be regretted that the opportunity was not taken by the Committee to ascertain particulars of the coat of cultivation, rent, and produce of the laud al- lotted to private persons, in order to compare the profits with those of the 499 acres under the management of the Commissioners.

In 1847, the income of the Forest was 8571. lls., and the expenditure 8561. 73. 11d.; leaving a balance for the year on the management of 4,010 acres of twenty-four shillings in favour of the public: but the average profit tor the last twenty-three years has been about 4s. 6d. an acre.

Mr. William Downes, a most intelligent laud-agent, states that the soil is re- markably well adapted for agricultural purposes; that there is a want of roads; that the damage done by the deer, or on account of them, is enormous (1,630); that hundreds of fine trees have been topped to feed them, averaging from tifty feet upwards; and that nothing can be worse in a pecuniary point of view than the present management. He estimates the land alone to be worth 5,500/. a year, if it were cleared, at an expense of about 51. an acre; which might be paid by the sale of small timbers. He recommends the clearing of the ground, leaving the healthy timber standing in order to give a park-like appearance to the country, and the land to be used for agricultural purposes. The value of the timber he esti- mates at upwards of 350,0001.

WHYCHWOOD FOREST its situated near Burford, in Oxfordshire: it extends over 3,741 acres, and is divided into five walks.

The office of Ranger was originally grunted by Charles the Second to Lord Cla- rendon in fee. It was purchased by the Duke of Marlborough in 1751, and was transferred to Lord Churchill. The Ranger is paid by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests a salary of 621. 118. 8d. a year. His ditties are to preserve the deer, game, and royalties: he appoints the bailiffs, launder, keepers, and wood- ward.

The number of deer in the forest is from 1,500 to 1,600; and a Royal warrant is issued for 75 (649.) They do much damage to the young covers of oak and ash trees, (1,134,) and are destructive of the property. (1,666.) A witness reck- oned that fur every deer two sheep could be kept, and that there are four changes of sheep while one deer is coming to perfection. (1,668.) There are two Verderers appointed by the freeholders of Oxfordshire; but they do not appear to bold Court", nor did the witnesses seem to know their names.

Mr. Commieseiouer Milne thinks the soil of the forest to be rather poor land in general, but that there is some good land in the lower part, (1,030,) and that the quantity of good timber is considerable. (1,031.) Mr. Morris, the Woodward, states that it is generally very good land (1,199); Mr. Rawlinsoo, the Steward, that it is nearly all of it capable ot cultivation, and if cleared would be worth from 25s. to 26s. an acre (1,268-69); and Mr. Downes states, that if 51. an acre were expended on it, he estimates its value to let at 25s. an acre, or 4,6251. a year for the whole.

The timber is valued at from 70,0001. to 100,0001.

The average annual income of the forest from 1803 to 1806 averaged about 500/. a year, or two shillings and twopence an acre. The net receipt from 1885 to 1846 was about sixpence halfpenny an acre. There was a decrease in the last twelve years as compared with the preceding twelve years of 6,2451.; and as this arose from the pendency of the lawsuit with Lord Churchill, noticed in my second letter, which stopped the sale of timber, the loss of receipts and the coats of that suit caused a diminution (not a total loss as the timber remains) of public in- come of 13,2581., or twenty-six years' income of the whole forest. There is no doubt whatever that the claims of the late Lord Churchill to the timber, launds, (open spaces without wood,) and deer of the forest, were prepos- terous, and that the Crown officers acted correctly in contesting them; but it is not clear that the cause could not have been brought to a hearing between 1834, when the information was filed, and the death of Lord Churchill in 1845, when the snit necessarily abated. WALTHAM FOREST, called formerly the Great Forest of Essex, includes Helmuth and Epping Forests. In Hainault Forest, the Crown has the right of soil, and it includes 2,939 acres. Epping Forest contains by computation about 9,000 acres, the soil belonging to private proprietors. (5,444.) In both the Crown has an unlimited right to keep deer, and different estates and parishes have rights of common.

It is the custom of certain manors-for instance, of the manors of Woodford, Leytonstone, Wanstead, Walthamstow, and Waltham Abbey-for grants ot the waste of the manors within Epping Forest to be made at a Court Baron, with the consent of the homage, and such grants are binding on the tenants of the manors; but there can be no question, however much it may have been disputed in the evidence, that such custom cannot bind or affect the forest rights of the Crown. (5,275, 5,408.) At the same time it is clear, that as the Crown has no right to the soil of these wastes, the payment of a very moderate sum ought to be accepted, to discharge the forest claims of the Crown, and that the forest rights ought not to be used to prevent the cultivation of private property. The Crown ia entitled to the value of the pasturage in its wild state, and to nothing more.

The office of Ranger is held in fee by Lord Mernington, having originally been granted to the family of Sir James Tylney Long. He appoints the keepers of the forest, ten in number, (557,) HIIO are paid 201. a year each by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests (6,038); of whom about three or four are alone efficient. (5,033.) At the beginning of the year, Mr. Commissioner Milne was informed that there were not above twenty deer in the forest, and that the deer had been destroyed by persons making the railway. (556.) The total sum paid for keepers' salaries is 2101. a year. (601.) Mr. Conyers repreeented the deer to have been half starred, and to have been knocked on the head by poachers. (4,915.) The Queen, nevertheless, signs a warrant for killing twenty-nine in the forest. (649.) Lord Mornington claimed the right to cut timber in Ilainault Forest, but was stopped by an injunction. (496.) In Epping Forest, the Forest law as respects persons cutting timber on their own laud is very properly treated as obsolete. (5,393.) There are four Verderers, elected by the freeholders of the county of ESSPE ; but no Court was held for seventeen years previously to the year 1843. Tne Lord Warden "took the chair," and "acted as chairman in all our Verderers' Csurts," (4,958); which he had as much right to do as the Minter of her Majesty'. Buck- hounds. Mr. Cutts states, that "the Verderers' Court is a pack of moonshine AS it has hitherto been conducted; and, as the superior [Forest] Courts are gone, it must remain so." (5,426.) Several witnesses were earnestly in favour of the reestablishment of the Forest Courts- and Mr. Allsup, a solicitor, recommended that the Court of the Justice Seat of the Forest should be held by the Chief Justice in Eyre " twice a year at least': which Lord Morpeth will no doubt assent lode if the Court of Wards and Liveries, and all other similar institutions of the days of the Tudors and Flan- tagenets, are revived. One gentleman was grieved at the refusal of the Verderers to enrol a forest licence to shoot, granted to him by the Right Honourable Mr. Grenville, then Chief Justice in Eyre. He actually applied to the Queen's Bench for a mandamus to the Verderers to enrol it, and was graciously referred to the Forest Court of the Justice Seat. It does not appear that his licence was un- available without the unattainable assistance which he was advised to seek; and, at all events, lie might have been satisfied in expressing his grateful obligations to the Chiet Justice for a favour which was intended at least to contribute to his recreation and to urge him to bodily exercise. Foolish man 1-to have gone sporting with his licence in the Queen's Bench! Another witness took the trouble to memoriatze the Board against what he calls the sacrifice of the Crown's rights in Mr. Halletea case, mentioned in my former letters, whose land was his

own freehold anfl cots grant o waste (5,431); a case which Mr. Cutts alone, of many witnesses, seems to have correctly understood, and which the Committee even appears to have misapprehended.

There is one case mentioned by Mr. Commissioner Milne, (549,) of a lease of laud to Thomas Briggs, for fourteen years, paying 105L a year, which he says "must have been freehold land as no forest land could be let on lease." Is this a rent demanded from a private person for the cultivation of his own freehold es- tate? 1 so, any further claim ought to he immediately released. The soil of Hainault Forest, 2,939 acres, is very good. Lord Duncan asked if land in the immediate neighbourhood did not let as high as 41 an acre; but Mr. Milne could not say. Tt.e income of Waltham Forest in 1846-7 was 8861., and the expenditure 534L; the surplus income of the last twenty-three years has been 15,8581.: this income and expenditure relates to 3,200 acres. (605.) The Crown rights in the Epping portion fit is represented by Mr. Milne to be of no great value. (585.)

Mr. Maslin is the Crown's Deputy Surveyor of this, and of Windsor and Whychwood Forests.

It is perfectly evident, that an act to disafforest Waltham Forest should be passed, though the propinquity of Hainault Forest to London may not make it advisable to enclose any Very large portion of it. The enclosures in Epping Forest cannot be prevented, and the Crown's forestal rights over it ought to be dis- charged.

The last forest to which the inquiries of the Committee have extended is the New Forest; and it must be reserved for another letter.

In the estimated value of land of the forests mentioned in this letter, the reader must not infer that the whole amount, even if the land were cultivated or sold, would be received by the public. There are private rights, for the loss of