The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-22 00:00:00

HAMPSHIRE.

A discussion in reference to the cattle plague and
the common rights in the New Forest took place at
the adjourned County Sessions at Winchester, when
the recommendations of Lord Carnarvon's commit-
tee were brought before the magistrates. The dis-
cussion occurred upon the first of the recommenda-
tions, which was proposed as a resolution by Sir W.
Heathcote, M.P. Its object was to prevent the re-
moval of cattle from lan. 22 until March 1 next
from any place within the jurisdiction of the court
into the unenclosed lands of the New Forest, and
from place to place within such unenclosed land or
common, whether on a highway or otherwise, it be-
ing lawful to remove any such animal as aforesaid
under the written license of an inspector along any
highway through such forest or other unenclosed
lands to or from any enclosed lands surrounded by
the same or lying beyond the boundary thereof. To
this resolution objections were urged by Mr. Esdaile
and Mr. W. Smith upon these grounds :—There were
now in the forest, which embraced 90,000 acres,
very large quantities of stock, the whole of which
were healthy in the extreme ; in fact, although it
had been stated in some of the newspapers that there
was now disease in the forest, the contrary was the
fact, and the district was perfectly free from infec-
tion or disease. The forest ought to be cleared in
winter, as there were no rights of common then, but
this had been disregarded by the Crown and its offi-
cers. If the resolution became an order of the court,
the owners of stock must in many cases sell them or
bring them home to indifferent housing, where they
would be half starved. This was a hardship that
would fall on no other part of the county. Mr.
Cumberbatch had expressed an opinion that the con-
fining of these cattle was likely to generate disease.
If this resolution was topass, there should be a longer
time given. There being no disease in the forest, a
cordon drawn round excluding cattle from entering
and preventing others from leaving it would answer
every purpose. Such a course must be carried out
by-and-by to prevent the owners of forest rights in
Dorest and Wilts from entering the unenclosed land
from those counties. Unless the recommendations
of the committee were modified, many of the fami-
lies in the forest would be half ruined at this season
of the year when keep was scarce, and when driving
the stock into different homesteads might tend to
generate disease. Sir W. Heathcote had hoped
that the negligence of the forest officers in not clear-
ing the forest during the winter would receive the
attention of the Crown. He had no objection to
amend the resolution about the notice required, also
about the term highways. Mr. Gale, Lord Evers-
ley, and Mr. Stanley took part in the discussion,
and said that the verderers of the forest were, un-
less the Crown aided them, without any power. At
a recent court of verderers he understood that an
order was given to clear the forest till the 4th May
next, but he had since found that things remained
as before, the order itself not having been put in
force. It had been said, " Let the Crown do it."
Now the Crown did not like to put such a course into
operation, as such a course would be unpopular. There
were persons in the forest who would do a great deal
of damage to the valuable plantations if they were
offended. It was necessary that the verderers should
consent, in order that the unpopularity should fall
on several shoulders. It now seemed inexpedientto
carry out the order, and the Court of Sessions would
only be doing their.duty, in the interest not only of
individuals, but of the entire community, by clear-
ing the forest. They might, in doing so, give a fort-
night's grace in their notice, and thus allow all par-
ties an opportunity for making arrangements for the
removal and housing of their cattle. The resolution
was amended, by altering the date of notice from
Jan. 22 to Feb. 1, and a rider was added to it—
viz., " but such licence, if given for more than one
removal, shall apply to animals which have been
marked by such inspector." The amended resolution
was then agreed to, and the keepers of the forest
walks were appointed "inspectors."