People are very much mistaken if they imagine that because
the lords of the manor are now practically powerless to enclose, or indeed may be said to have given up the desire to enclose, the commons are safe and can be left to look after themselves. The worst enemies of the commons at the present moment are railway companies, and public bodies of all kinds. Even Government departments like the Post Office want to make them bristle with telephone posts like porcupines, while local authorities wish to filch them for burial-grounds, or destroy their turf in order to grub flints and gravel. Of the rural highway authorities we can indeed say with Burke that they have " an appetite which is con-
tinually growing for a prey which is continually wasting." Only by maintaining the Commons Preservation Society "in health and wealth long to live," can we save our inheritance. Once more we ask our readers for generous donations.
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