A Conservator's Troubles The work of the wardens would not,
of course, be confined to reporting abuses or making private pleas, they would give information that would result in direct action. It is really very difficult to know what one can do, and what the law will allow one to do and what exact steps to take. May I make a personal confession ? I hold the proud position of Chairman of Conservators in regard to a particular Common which as to the greater part of its area is under the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. They are Lords of the Manor. The Common is continually being desecrated. Cot- lagers throw out rubbish and nettles grow in an evil-smelling swamp that was once fine sweet grass. A resident suddenly levels oaks and thorns (with trunks more than 1/ inches in diameter). Motorists park anywhere and leave unlovely rubbish in their wake. Roads are made promiscuously. Last year the linnet's nest in the junipers was systematically raided for a particular object. The Commissioners themselves are apt to reply to any definite question in the words of a famous Belgian doctor in the War. Faced by an outbreak of typhoid he wound up a crucial meeting of experts with the phrase, c'est tine question fres difficile a resoudre—and nothing whatever was done.
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