The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-22 00:00:00

WOODS, FORESTS, AND LAND

REVENUES.

The following is an extract from a Report of the
Liverpool Financial Association:
Attached to each of the forests now under consider-
ation is an important personage called a Lord Warden,
with a nominal salary of " 5/. a-year, and no perquisites
except of venison." (Mr. A. Milne, 430.) What there
duties ought to be the association do not find clearly de-
scribed in the evidence, and it is remarkable that not
cne of the four was summoned to give any account of
his stewardship.
In the new forest the warden is his Royal Highness
the Duke of Cambridge ; Waltham, Lord Mornington:
Whittlewood, Duke of Grafton; Whychwood, Lord
Churchill; the last three being all hereditary offices, and
a very curious example they furnish of the peculiar ad-
vantages which the public derives from being saddled
with offices of that description. "In Hainault Forest
[Mr. Milne becomes ambiguous here; Waltham Forest
comprehends Epping, which is common land, subject to
rights (and wrongs also, we find) of lords of manors,
freeholders,. &c., and Hainault, belonging to the Crown
in fee simple; surely, Mr. Milne cannot mean that Lord
Mornington, or his steward, attempted to cut timber
there?] the warden claimed to cut timber upon the wastes
of the forest, but has been stopped recently by injunc-
tion." In Whychwood Forest, the late Lord Churchill,
whose duties were " the preservation of the deer and
game, and the royalties," not satisfied with " 621.
lls. Bd., yearly payment," " deer and game, to an un-
limited extent " for his own use, " heath, firs (query
furze?) ferns, bushes, and shrubs (not saplings), and
timber fur certain specified repairs," set up a claim to
all the timber in the forest, and put the public to an ex-
pense of 7,013/. in a lawsuit, which was another eleven
years' affair, having been instituted by the diligent
Mesrs. Pemberton, Crawley, and Gardiner, in April,
1834, and not brought to trial when Lord Churchill died
in 1845; whereby the suit was abated, and the question
is undecided to this hour. The present Lord Churchill,
however, has made proposals for an amicable settle-
ment, which may possibly save further litigation and
another of Messrs. Pemberton and Co's little bills. In
this forest the warden appoints all the officers, so
that the Commissioners have practically no control
over the property which they nominally take care
of. In Whittlewood Forest the Duke of Grafton re-
ceives 37/. 10s. salary, has all the underwood, which
is cut every twenty-one years, Wakefield-lodge, and
the pasturage of Wakefield lawn, consisting of 200 to
300 acres, besides venison and game ad libitum; but his
Grace claims all the deer as his own, while the Com-
missioners say they belong to the Crown. The parties,
fortunately, have ;not got to law yet, and if the deer
were once killed off, possibly that catastrophe might yet
be avoided.

The revenue derived from the forests is precisely what
might be expected, and is of itself a sufficient evidence
of the kind of management which has afflicted these
fine estates so long. In New Forest the income in six-
years-18356 to 1840-I—was 59,5431., and the expen-
diture in the same period 54,8241. ; in six years, 1841-2
to 1846.7, the income had fallen to 53,2961., and the
expenditure had risen to 66,472/., showing an actual loss
by the property of about 2,2001. yearly ; in 1804, the
total expenditure was 3,1521., and the income 7,0691. ; in
1847 the expenditure was 10,2371., and the income
6,971/. Even the New-park Farm, on which no
rent is charged, is carried on at a loss ; and
Mr. Milne's attempt to explain this state of
things will not have much weight with any one who has
read the evidence, or even the foregoing short extracts.
The total income from all the forests for the year
ended sth of January, 1847, is stated in a return dated
17th of March, 1848, to have been 44,2451., and the ex-
penditure 35,8391., credit being taken for large sales of
timber and bark, or equal to about 8,4001. per annum.
Mr. Downes says of Whittlewood Forest, the net income
from which, last year, was 11. 3s. old., that, "in a pe-
cuniary sense, nothing can be worse than the manage-
ment; (1,592). Whittlewood Forest is at present paying
literally nothing, and I should be very glad to give
5,0001. a year for it," and be at the cost of inclosing and
Forest2o,o 001.
cultivating it; or "allowing me 3f per cent. upon the
to 1,671.) 1,
168. 17.
7d.;)
Mr,Whyc h
Downesw o o d
value of the timber, I would give from 18,000/. to
produced a
year2'
last (l;ea69r
values it at 4,6254 a year, besides 280,0001. to 300,0001.
worth of timber. (1,643 and 1,653.) The New Forest
cost the country last year 3,2661.; Mr. Downes estimates
the land of the forest " in its present state" to be worth
21,3921., after allowing for rights of commonage, feed-
ing, &c.; the timber and plantations he values at
942,000/., equal, at 3i per cent., to 32,9701. per annum.
(3,318 et seq,) Waltham Forest produced last year 3521.
7s. 6d., but unfortunately the evidence does not contain
any estimate of its real value.