A clause was introduced into the Act of the 55th year of his present Majesty, relative to Crown Lands, whereby the Commissioners of Woods and Forests were enabled to sell the Rights of the Crown in any small parcels of land, within any of the Royal Forests, which adjoined or lay contiguous, or convenient to the lands of individuals, and were of little value for the growth of timber, or to sell the Rights of the Crown in and over lands belonging to any of his Majesty’s subjects, lying within the limits aforesaid;—but the difficulties attending the procuring grants of land under this power were so great that it has been very little acted upon.
Whatever useful alterations or amendments in the proposed plan can be suggested, I have no doubt will meet with a fair and candid investigation by the Commissioners, and be made the subject of corrections, or additional clauses, when the Bill is before a Committee of the House of Commons.
I have heard the question asked by a proprietor of land, in allusion to the proposed plan, what do the Crown give us in lieu of the 9-32d parts, or 2810 acres we are to give up? The answer is plain; in the first place, you give the Crown nothing but what it had a right to before, and the Commissioners give up all the Rights of the Crown, over the remainder of the 9000 acres; and one may compare it to the common case of an agreement between the lord of a manor and the copyholders for an inclosure and enfranchisement of the whole, would not the lord be fairly entitled to one-third part, as a satisfaction for the rights he gave up, and would not the copyholders be remunerated by getting their copyholds converted to freeholds, and their commons to valuable inclosures; and, in this case, the remaining 23-32d parts, or 6190 acres, being discharged from the Rights of the Crown, may either be enjoyed as common, or may be inclosed at any future time, if the proprietors of land should agree in such a measure.—At present, the majority appear to be against a general inclosure; and, as far as the beauty of the country is at stake, I think they are right, for that certainly is an object of no small importance in a district so near the metropolis; but that will not be affected by an inclosure to the extent only proposed by the intended Bill.
APPENDIX.
Office of Woods, &c.
Whitehall-Place,
30th March, 1818.
Sir,
I am directed by the Commissioners of His Majesty’s Woods, &c. to acquaint you, that since the date of my Circular Letter, in November last, stating the outlines of the measure then proposed for vesting in his Majesty certain parts of Hainault, Waltham, or Epping Forests, they have received various Memorials and Representations from, or on behalf of, the Lords of Manors, Freeholders, and others, having or claiming Rights over those Forests;—from those communications, it appears that an opinion has been very generally entertained, that it was in contemplation to COMPEL a Division and Inclosure in severalty of the whole of the Wastes within the boundaries of the said Forests, and that the greatest part of the objections, which have been stated to the proposals of the Commissioners, are founded upon misapprehension;—the Commissioners are, therefore, desirous that it should be distinctly understood, that it never was their intention to urge the measure of a general Inclosure of those Wastes contrary to the wishes of the majority of the Freeholders, and that their only object will be, to obtain for His Majesty separate Allotments of such extent in the whole, as shall be equivalent to his Rights and Interests in that Property; leaving the residue to be occupied by the Proprietors as they may think fit, freed and discharged from the Jurisdiction of the Forest Courts, from the Controul of Forest Officers, from the pasturage of the King’s Deer, and from all other Forestal Rights of the Crown.
The Commissioners have, therefore, determined to confine their Proceedings to this Object, and having given the best Consideration in their power to the Communications and Suggestions contained in the Memorials and Representations above referred to, I have received their Commands to send, for your information, the inclosed Heads of the Bill now intended to be proposed to Parliament, in which the Commissioners have modified their former Proposals, with a view to the interests and local convenience of the owners of Property in and adjoining those Forests, as far as they deem to be compatible with their public Duty.
It having been mentioned, in my former Letter, that a Public Meeting would probably be convened for the purpose of considering any details or matters of local convenience which it might have been desirable to settle, previous to the introduction of the Bill into Parliament, I am directed to state, that as the Measure is now intended to be confined to a separation of the Rights and Interests of the Crown from those of the Proprietors, it seems to the Commissioners, that any question which may arise respecting those Rights and Interests may be better discussed by Communications with them, or with their Solicitor, than they could be at any Public Meeting.
I have the honour to be,