16 AUGUST 1935, Page 15

Common Games On a Common in the Home Counties on

Bank Holiday I sa' a golf ball knock out the middle stump of a cricket game flourishing on the edge of " the pretty " ; on the same common were flourishing lawn tennis; rounders and football, all of which impeded the golfers in some measure, as did the cars parked in places wholly forbidden by regulation. Most of its recognize a Bank Holiday licence. The occasion charters all sorts of happy irregularities ; and this commingling of golfers and other frequenters of the Common is of old standing. It was the cause of the red coats that were once the golfers' uniform. They needed what the entomologists call a warning coloration. It is a good thing for many people of many sorts to enjoy the Commons ; but there is a point or two at law which is worth mention. The public has a right of "air and exercise" (like Sam Weller's wery old donkey) but the lawyers have finally decided that this does not include the right to any organized game. That right is reserved to the Lords of the Manor or their tenants. Since the golfers often rent the Commons and sometimes own them, it follows that the only organized game permitted is golf. Now that most golf clubs have an artisans' branch and, of course, spend much money among the folk that once were copy-holders, this monopoly is usually popular in the neighbourhood, though not always among visitors from the towns who arrive by motor-ear.