Statement of Facts, on the Injurious Treatment of J. Elsee, Esq. / Late Tenant of a Considerable Portion of Havering Park Farm, in the Forest of Hainault, in Certain Transactions with the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, and Their Agents; To Which Are Added Notes in Illustration of the Gross Abuses of the Forest Laws.

by John Elsee

Supposed Expences of this 132 Acres, sold to Mr. Ellis and the Crown, in Three Stacks.

				£	s.	d.
To bush harrowing, rolling, fencing, &c.at 5s. per acre				33	0	0
Mowing, making, carting, stacking, thatching,&c. at 20s.				132	0	0
Taxes, interest of capital, and labour				66	0	0
Forty-six acres fallowed in 1813, ploughingfour times, harrowing, rolling, picking, &c. at 60s.per acre				138	0	0
Twenty five acres of it dunged with good spitdung, 20 load per acre, at 10s. per load				250	0	0
Rent and taxes in 1818 upon forty-fouracres				46	0	0
Seed for one hundred acres, 250 bushels at8s.				100	0	0
Ploughing, sowing, harrowing, preparing seed,&c. at 20s.				100	0	0
Hoeing, weeding, and fencing, at 10s.per acre				50	0	0
Reaping, harvesting, carting, stacking,thatching, &c. 20s.				100	0	0
Housing, threshing, dressing, and carryingout, at 20s.				100	0	0
Taxes at 10s. per acre				50	0	0
Expences				1165	0	0
Mr. Mee’s valuation	279	18	0
159 quarters of wheat	580	11	0
Produce				860	9	0
Total Loss				£304	11	0

An Account of the Hay stacked at Windmill Hill.

				£	s.	d.
Eighty-one acres of meadow, supposed toproduce one load and a quarter per acre, bush harrowing, rolling,fencing, &c. at 5s. per acre				20	5	0
Mowing, making, stacking, thatching, andfencing, at 20s.				81	0	0
Eleven load cut from stack in Havering Park inSeptember, at 25s.				13	15	0
Sixty-five acres not worth ploughing, whichhad lain two or three years, and from which Mr. Elsee meant toget a crop of oats the last year, but Mr. Driver and Mr. Ellisboth requested him not to plough it; to oblige them, therefore,Mr. Elsee mowed it, and got perhaps half a load an acre, hardlyworth the labour, it being chiefly water grass and bracken. Cost of getting in				50	0	0
Taxes upon this 146 acres at 10s. peracre				73	0	0
From the above produce 119 loads were sold,the charges on which were as follows:—cart hire 13s.binding 3s. market hire 4s. 1d. extraexpences and turnpikes 6d. truss of hay and feed whileloading 3s. making together 23s. 7d. perload				140	6	6
				£378	6	6
Proceeds, highest price 3l. 18s. per load,lowest price 2l. 6d.—119 loads	472	6	0
Waste hay, say worth	46	0	0
Total produce	518	6	0
Deduct expences	378	6	6
Net produce	£139	19	6

Expences upon the 20 Acres of wheat carried to Chigwell.

Fallowing in 1818, ploughing four times,harrowing, rolling, picking, &c				60	0	0
Seed wheat, fifty bushels, at 8s. perbushel				20	0	0
Ploughing, sowing, &c.				20	0	0
Rent and taxes in 1818				20	0	0
Hoeing, weeding, &c. at 10s. peracre				10	0	0
Cutting, carting, and harvesting				20	0	0
Threshing, dressing, and delivery				20	0	0
Taxes in 1819, at 10s.				10	0	0
				£180	0	0
Produce, 30 quarters 1 bushel of wheat	146	0	0
13 load of straw, at 40s. per load	26	0	0
Loss upon this twenty acres	8	0	0
	£180	0	0
Loss upon 232 acres valued to Mr. Ellis	304	1	10
Loss upon the twenty acres of wheat	8	0	0
	312	11	0
Profit upon 146 acres of grass	139	19	6
Net Loss of 398 acres	£172	11	6

Mr. Elsee’s statement of the land mowed is in strict corroboration of the printed particular, as given in to the arbitrator, in the following document.

Hay stacked atWindmill Hill, and disposed of by Mr. Elsee.				Hay stacked atHavering Park, and taken by the Crown and Mr.Ellis.
No. I.				No. I.
		Acres.				Acres.
14	Bourne Bridge	12		5	Barn mead	12
26	Long Mead	32		7	Forebury	20
27	New Mead	14		11	Brook bottom	6
38	Part of twenty acres	4		40	Part of Williper hill	28
40	Part of Williper Hill	16				—	66
44	Collier row hoppet	3
		—	81
No. II. Waste Land.				No. II.
Windmill hill		16		41	Collier row	20
Great sand hill		16		42	Ditto	10
Little sand hill		7		43	Part of twenty acres	18
Sixteen acres		16		45	Collier row	29
Lodge Pen		4				77
Collier row		6	65		Deduct cut of	11	66
			146				132

Yet it was calculated by one Harding, who was a jobbing carpenter, that 256 loads were to be accounted for, besides the 123 valued to Mr. Ellis, which makes 379 loads, that is 108 loads more than the land could produce. The question here is, how came this carpenter employed? The arbitrators and umpire, one would think, might have measured a hay-stack, without his aid, as they knew so well how to charge for doing it.—But they perhaps wanted some one to bear out their statements, and the following anecdote will shew that Harding was finely adapted for their purpose.

This Harding 20 years ago lived in Hertfordshire, where he failed as a farmer, and travelling into Essex, he followed his original business of a carpenter. Mr. Elsee was building a new house near Romford, and employed him as one of the carpenters. At the same time a bricklayer named Jervis was engaged to do the plastering by the yard, and his work to a certain extent had been measured and paid for.—But some time after Jervis informed Mr. Elsee he had made a great mistake, as the work came to three times as much as was made of it. After some enquiry it turned out that one of the carpenters, this very Harding, had been measuring it for him. On this it was remeasured, and it was found to be less than he had been paid for; and then Harding found out that he had measured his feet by 3 instead of 9 to the square yard. They were both discharged for this, but Harding took care to measure the haystack by himself!