WOODS AND FORESTS COMMITTEE.

LETTER VI.

This letter will relate to the proceedings of the Board of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, and will terminate my remarks on the evidence given before the Committee of the House of Commons. In 1832 (2 Will. IV. c. 1) the present constitution and powers of the Board of Woods and .Forest were organized. The old departments of Woods and Land Re- venue are now united together with the office of Surveyor-General of Works and Public Buildings; and concurrently with these changes, the Co.nmissioners were charged with the execution of improvements in various parts of the Metropolis. The act of the 2d William IV. c. 1 abolished the office of Auditor of the Land Revenue, compensation being given to the grantees of the office; and it directed that the accounts should be transferred to the Commissioners for auditing the public accounts. An office was at the same time created, and directed to be called " The Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments"; and leases, conveyances,

are enrolled in this office; but this enrolment is merely made of such deeds as the Crown or Commissioners are parties to, and does not extend to all transac- tions relating to the Crown lands; nor is it accompanied with those legal conse- quences which are ordinarily implied when we speak of "registration," though. enrolment is itself a limited and imperfect system of registration.

These arrangements were expected to produce efficiency in the proceedings of

other public lands. railway, and their remaining pasturage ought therefore to be improved. Mr. Milne states that he apprehends it was the wish of the Navy Board to re- The whole proceeding invites the gravest censure.

of Woods. Mr. Milne also thinks that land in the New Forest would not be very valuable Sir W. Symonds states, that unless timber could be obtained from abroad, ship- for building, as villa property there has changed hands very frequently. But it building in this country would be stopped. (3,131.) The evidence given before is in the very nature of villa property to be constantly changing hands. Persons the Committee on the Naval Estimates was to the same effect. The mercantile retire to Lyndhurst, and on their death the property is sold. Small properties are marine in no way depends on the supply of British timber. A war that should rarely kept long in any family. But it does not therefore follow that much land destroy the mercantile marine, would leave but a small and limited supply of tim- in the New Forest might not be most advantageously built on, and a very large her for the Navy. Is this an event ever to be anticipated? If it occurred, all portion of it sold, especially near the stations of Christchurch and Lyndhurst. the timber in England would of course be in demand; but as compared with all The only recommendations made by Mr. Milne on any of the subjects I have the timber in England, that in the public forests would be but a small proportion. noticed in these letters is, that the duties of the Wardens should be transferred to Is this proportion of the whole supply deserving of the annual coat it occasions? the Office of the Woods, and that the Courts of the Verderers of the Forests

The Board of Woods and Forests does not appear to be in possession of any es- should be made more efficient. Enough has already been said to prove how need- timate of the amount of timber in the public forests—of that which is going back leas is the office of Verderer. " What did the gentleman say," said an eminent and ought to be cut—of that which is coming on and is in a sound state—or of Judge; " did he say he was a murderers " No proposal short of sweeping away the amount of timber the new plantations may afford, and the time that must the Verderers, their courts, and all the forest laws, ought to be listened to. The elapse before it can be available for naval purposes. To any such estimate ought Verderers are not " the guardians of the rights of common," (4,646,) excepting to be added an estimate of the timber on private lands in England; for the growth so far as their own pretensions have made them such.

of timber on public lands is excused on account of a great emergency—greater Sixty-eight years have passed since Mr. Burke, in his speech on Economical than the world has ever witnessed—and which implies the necessity of makuig use Reform, recommended the abolition of the office of Chief Justice in Eyre. The of all the timber in England. office has at least ceased to exist; but the statute abolishing it preserves the It may be accounted a great heresy to question the policy of growing timber for duties of the office. It now remains to abolish the duties by sweeping away, ab- public purpoees, and its complete examination requires more facts than are at solutely and finally, the Forest-laws. band; but if it is necessary it should be done: none of the public land ought to Secondly, Mr. Burke recommended that the forest rights which extend over the have been parted with; even more should be bought; and every portion of what lands and possessions of others should be extinguished, without charge to the pro- has been sold ought to be repurchased and covered with new plants. At present, prietors. The Attorney-General of 1848 has enforced them by the most expen- however, the necessity of growing any timber on the public lands has not been sive litigation. The Committee should recommend the extinction of these rights.

proved. Thirdly, Mr. Burke recommended the extinction of certain rights of venison. The Committee in its report applauds the Commissioners of Woods, and espe- All such rights, n unenclosed forests, should be abolished. The reasons for it are daily the late Lord Glenbervie, for attending "in many instances" to the re- more urgent than ever. The deer in such forests have become a great public commendations made in former reports; and adds, that enclosures have been ef- nuisance and are most enormously costly. fected and allotments in severalty made to the Crown in the forests of Windsor, Fourthly, he recommended the sale of a large portion of the public lands; add- Bere, Woolmer, Alice Holt, Delamere, Parkhurst, and Salcey. Excepting as re- big this wise remark—" The principal revenue I propose to draw from these un- spects Parkhurst, the Committee did not hear a word of evidence relating to these cultivated wastes, is to spring from the improvement and population of the king- forests: what the recommendations which "in many instances" have been at- dm- which can never happen without producing an improvement more ad- tended to, and what are the instances excepted, there is not a line in the evidence vantligeous to the revenues of the Crown than the rents of the best, landed estate to show. This will need explanation. On Parkhurst Forest there is very ins- it can hold." "These lands," said he, "are already given up to Parliament, and portent evidence. It consists of 1,100 acres, and was enclosed about the year the gift is not of great value."

-1.815 or 1816. Between 200 and 300 acres were under the management of the The first of the bills introduced by Mr. Burke was "for the sale of the forest military department, and were given up to the Commissioners about fifteen years and other common lands and hereditaments, with certain exceptions; and for ap- ago. Since 1815 the receipts have amounted to 18,346/, and the expenditure to plying the produce thereof to the public service; and for securing, ascertaining, 32,1561.; leaving a deficiency of 13,8091. The land immediately adjoining is and satisfying tenant rights, and common and other rights."

cultivated for wheat, and is as good as other land in the Isle of Wight. The re- The Royal Forests are now treated as the private parks of a few private per- venue may exceed the expenditure in ten or twelve years—no rent being ac- sons; there is no efficient Government control over them; and they are a source of counted for. The oldest trees are under twenty years' growth; and it will be 120 wasteful expenditure. The poorer classes within their limits are demoralized and years before they will be serviceable as Navy timber. No plantation which has uneducated; and if a Bishop of the Royal Forests were created, he might be called been planted in the last forty years will yield timber within less than forty years " Episcopus in partibtos Infidelium." to come, "and not much then." (Mr. Milne, 2,079-92.) The annual expendi- I have now concluded; and I can sincerely say that my pen would have run tare is about 9001. a year; and the present sources of income are unexplained, with greater freedom and ease if I could have written six letters Of commends- The expenses of the "nurseries" in Bore, Alice Holt, Delamere, Woolmer, tion instead of censure of the proceedings of the Board of Woods and Forests. I &key Forests, and at Hazleborongh, and their probable returns, peculiarly re- have mentioned the name of Mr. Milne several times, because he was the chief quire investigation in order to ascertain the advantages to be derived from their witness on the part of the Board.

present system of management. The present Earl of Carlisle has only lately taken a part in the business of the Part of the land in the New Forest was to be sold to the Southampton and Office. He has so much generosity, that he would no doubt volunteer to share in Dorchester Railway Company, and the particulars of the negotiation and sale are the blame which attaches to some of the proceedings of the Board. If be does, curious. The first application to the Commissioners for the sale of forest land it will not prevent the belief that before he leaves the Office the character of its was made in March 1844. Two objections were made: first, they most strangely acts will be changed by his influence; and that he will put an end to abuses, the wished to keep the railway on the margin of the forest, which would have made accumulation of many reigns, and the fruits of institutions no longer sanctioned it three or four miles longer, and would have doubled the quantity of earth-work by the habits and opinions of English society. It is necessary also that he should for the whole line; and secondly, they complained that the line passed through a for some time, rule in the Office with a heavy hand. valuable part of the forest. For the land taken 12,0001. was paid, the price asked The Committee has not completed one-fifth of the inquiries it has to make; being 751. an acre for unenelosed land, and 1001. an acre for land enclosed and and hitherto those inquiries have been deficient in pursuing distinct objects, W- under timber I The land taken is, with a very small exception, the worst in the fo- rected to final conclusions, and have been defective in many material points.

rest, and may rank with the most inferior land in England. The highest price paid T. F.

the Board; and if the permanent Commissioners had been capable of exercising to private persons was 40/ an acre, and for land very similar to the chief part of administrative functions, none of the abuses revealed to the Committee would have the forest land 201. an acre. For a piece of irreclaimable mud land on the shore existed. of the Southampton Water, the Commissioners charged at the rate of 105/ an It appears that the accounts of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests de- acre; while for the reclaimable mud lands on which the docks at Southampton are livered at the Audit Office have been examined by the auditors to March 1842, built 251. an acre was paid. The Directors were put into possession of the last

bat not finally audited beyond 31st March 1839. The last account, to the 31st portion of the forest land in July 1846, just twelve months after the act passed;

of March 1843, has only been recently delivered at the Audit Office, leaving five and they were compelled to make a new contract with Mr. Peto, who had agreed years' arrears of account not delivered for audit. Mr. Anderson reports, that the to complete the line in eighteen months, by which they gave him another twelve

present state of the accounts is as follows—" The ledgers of the department have months, which was reduced to six months on paying 5,0001. for expedition. only been completely posted and balanced to the 31st of March 1839; all the They had also to pay the Crown expenses of survey, superintendence, and law.. ledgers subsequent to that date are deficient, in consequence of the entire omission charges ,• making not less than 20,0001., including the 12,0001. paid for the land. of the accounts of the agents or sub-accountants of the department; and such It is the duty of a government to promote all measures of undoubted public 0111i138i0118 affect the whole results of the books for the last nine years." "Capital utility, and roads and railroads which facilitate communication are among the has been blended with income, and the books do not show how far the payments principal of such measures. Either the railroad ought not to have been formed,

to the Exchequer are justified by surplus income." and then no assent under any circumstances should have been given to it, or it There are bfteen persons employed in keeping the accounts, and the expenses was of public advantage it should be formed. The Commissioners gave their as- of this branch of the department amount to 4,1001. (5,601.) Yet Mr. .der- sent to it. This is decisive that the measure was proper. It then became the son proves how easily the Board could have prevented the arrears. " If the Board duty of the Commissioners, who had public duties to perform, to make such ar-

shall be disposed to sanetion the course recommended by him, he will take steps rangements as should give them a control which, after the experience of some to carry the measure into effect; and he hopes before this time next year to years, they might exercise for the benefit of the public. They did not do this,

complete the books for the current year, and to have cleared off the arrears in the but asked a most enormous price for the land, quite out of all proportion to its books of the last nine years." (P. 312.) Surely it was the first duty of the per- value. If it had been private land, the law passed for the settlement of disputes manent Commissioners to have prevented their accounts from being in arrear; for relating to the Value of land taken by railway corn les could have been resorted it is clear the arrears could have been prevented. to. It was public land, and the influence of the I ■.ce was exerted against the Annual reports are made to Parliament by the Commissioners, (4,670,) re- Company, and the progress of their works delayed. The price demanded was not lating to the forests, &c.; and from these reports it might have been inferred that the value of the land, but the price the Commissioners set on their Parliamentary the management of the public lands was satisfactory. It now appears that those or official influence. They sold the power and authority they possessed on terms reports have been misleading. injurious to the Company; and as the Verderers fight from behind a starved cow,

Alanwood, writing in 1598, said—" The want of great wood and timber, as well as the Commissioners flourish at all comers a piece of naval timber, and the Warden in the present time as in the time to come, shall appear in the Navy of this realm." is called out as the protector of a herd of lean deer and the defender of the Royal He thought the Navy depended on the supply of British timber. The same opin- prerogative established by the Norman Conqueror, so the fencing of the railway, ion seems to have been and to be still entertained by the Commissioners of Woods which is a high wire park-fencing, was made on account of the deer and with and Forests. In 1793, the Commissioners recommended the adjustment of the extra works, cost 88,000/. more than the Company estimated; the Woods and rights of the Crown in Waltham Forest in order to make a portion of it available Forests justified their demand on account of the damage done to " buzzle-headed for naval timber; and Mr. Milne states that Hainault Forest might be made oaks "; and the whole sum of 12,0001. was agreed to be expended in the forest, available as a nursery for naval timber (587); " and that it would be the most partly on the pretence that the already starved cows of the commoners might lose useful purpose to which it could be applied." The same opinion is entertained of the opportunity of grazing on the heath of the few barren acres occupied by the

serve the timber in the public forests in case of war rather than to use it up now. Mr. Milne was asked if the railway had been of any advantage to the forest?

(740.) Sir J. Barrow, in a letter dated 18th Jane 1833, writes—" It is also a He replied—"None that he knew of." (1,814-2,124.) The fact is' that the Corn- national object, that in time of peace no timber should be cut in the Royal Fe- missioners have as far as possible prevented its being advantageous. They rests which is not going back, so that on a sudden emergency a large supply at a should have asked the Directors to have carried the railway as direct as they low price might be available for the use of the Navy." By a note appended to his could through the forest, and, as it is unsettled, through its best land. They letter, it appears the cost of oak per load supplied by the Board of Woods was would thus have insured its usefulness to the forest, and, in case it were settled, 81. 12s. 7d., and by the contractor 61. Gs.; leaving a difference in favour of the to its future inhabitants. At present the cost of carrying timber, by carriage contractor's prices of V. 6s. 7c1 per load. In 1843, the price at which timber from the timber districts of the forest to Redbridge, the head of the navigation of was offered to the Navy Board by the Board of Woods was 61. a load, making the Southampton Water, is little more than to any one of the three stations of 8/ 5s. a load on delivery; while the contractor's price was 61. 10s. In 1809, the Christchurch, Brockenhurst, or Lyndhurst. If the railway had been more direct, sum agreed to be given to the Board of Woods was 51. a load, (the same as in timber could have cheaply been taken by rail to the docks of Southampton and 1843,) but the costs of purveyance and delivery are not mentioned; while in 1810, hence to Portsmouth. But the feelings and affections of the Commissioners were the contract price was 91. a load; so that even in the time of war the contractors in their " nurseries," and they exhibited no forecast or knowledge of what they could supply timber not much short and probably at the same price as the Board were about.