A SURREY COMMON IN DANGER.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTLTOR.1 SIR,—Milford, in the parish of Witley, is in the position which many parishes have been in. Its burial-ground needs enlarging, but, unlike the majority of other parishes, it has a common, and it proposes to sacrifice a portion of it by enclosing it for burial purposes. The Parish Council first proposed to buy a piece of land near the old burial-ground, but the education authority objected on the ground that it was too near the schools, and then three acres of the common, adjoining the high road, was offered at a nominal sum, and this, unfortunately, they have decided to accept, and an application has been made for the sanction of the Board of Agriculture, without which it cannot be enclosed. It is impossible quietly to contemplate this beautiful common being disfigured by modern gravestones, and it is satisfactory to know that the Commons Preservation Society and the local Society are memorialising the Board of Agriculture in opposition to the scheme. It is largely the common land which makes Surrey so charming, and in these days, when enormous sums of money are being voted by public bodies and given by private individuals to secure open spaces, it seems clear that no existing open apace should be lost, except of necessity,—a necessity which in this case certainly does not
[We are very glad to publish Mr. Thackeray Turner's letter, and sincerely hope that the protests he refers to will be successful. Under no pretext whatever should the area of common land be allowed to he decreased. Unless that principle is rigidly enforced, a thousand specious pleas will be found for robbing the commons. If public authorities like Parish Councils take to depriving the public of the enjoyment of open spaces, as did the railway companies in the past generation, we shall soon have no common land left. For ourselves, we would only allow a piece of common land to be alienated if an equal area of private land were bought and dedicated to public use.—ED. Spectator.]
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