office of the deputy-surveyor without any authority whatever. As an instance of which, I would refer to the case of George Frederick Bowles, the groomkeeper of Boldrewood Walk, against whom three true bills were found at the last October sessions for felony, in taking several large oak-trees from the New Forest, which were conveyed to the premises of his brother-in-law, Coles, a carpenter and wheelwright at Gorely, where they were sawed up, and converted to various uses wholly unconnected with the crown property. Again, in the case of James Hunt, groomkeeper, of Castle Malwood Walk; on visiting his lodge shortly after my arrival, I found two oak-trees lying within the enclosure of his house, which he at once admitted had been given to him by James Reed, an assistant-surveyor; and finding, from the character of the timber, that such a disposal was highly illegal and improper, I immediately forbad their being appropriated; and, in the course of further inquiry, it actually turned out that Hunt, being unable to draw these trees from that part of the forest in which they were lying (little more than a mile from his lodge), with the sanction of James Reed, allowed Jesser, a timber-merchant, to take away two fine large oak-trees, measuring within two feet of three loads, from the same spot, as a remuneration for drawing those found on Hunt's premises for him. Also the case of Thomas Grant, woodman, of Broomy Enclosure, against whom a true bill was found for stealing two oaktrees, and converting them to his own use; the defence set up being, that they were given him by James Reed to make the bed of a cart, for which, in the course of his duty, he could have no occasion; the keeping of horses and carts by the woodmen having, in my opinion, been a fruitful source of evil and fraud.

In the estimated contents of the timber felled in 1848 and on the actual measurement a great difference exists, as before shewn; and on re-lotting two forfeited lots which had been sold at a previous sale, I found the quantities to be as follows:

MANAGEMENT OF FORESTS.

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Lot 22 having been hewed by the purchasers, it became necessary to abate one-fourth, as above, to reduce it to round measurement.

The above circumstances induce a belief that much abuse has existed generally in the measurement of the timber; which is the less easy to account for, in consequence of the presence of some four or five regarders on all occasions when timber is being measured and lotted for sale.

Another ground of complaint is, that large quantities of timber appear to have been actually stolen in the most open manner in broad day, by a class of timber-dealers who were in the habit of purchasing to a considerable extent at the periodical sales, which served as an excuse for them to send their teams to the New Forest, and remove the timber they chose to select without suspicion; and here I should quote the case of one man against whom two true bills were found at the sessions, one for stealing, in April last, nearly fifty fine large oaktrees from a spot where four hundred had been cut; but none were then sold or lotted.

As regards the beech-timber, I would refer particularly to the case of a person employed generally in the service of the crown in connection with the felling and management of timber, against whom five charges were preferred, on all of which true bills were found by the grand jury, although he was actually tried on two only, as it became manifest that some of the jury empanelled had resolved to acquit every prisoner tried before them at those sessions, notwithstanding the summing up of the chairman was conclusively against the prisoner on the evidence, although in his charge to the grand jury he had expressed an opinion upon the face of the depositions adverse to the prosecutions generally; and it has since been stated, that the prisoner has himself admitted his guilt on each indictment preferred against him, and that he fully expected to have been transported; and, according to the evidence of a merchant to whom he had sold, it would appear that, since February 1845, he had purchased of him about 730 loads of beechtimber."

The result of these investigations was a number of trials at Winchester, most of which, however, failed, partly in consequence of the cases being badly got up, partly from some misunderstanding with the attorney-general, and perhaps mainly from the determination of the people in the neighbourhood, from whom the petty juries were chosen, of not finding the prisoners guilty of what they did not consider as crimes. James Reed, who was perhaps the most culpable of all, absconded, and one of the largest purchasers of timber went mad.

What a stigma on government-management, and burlesque on central authority, to find that large forest, made at the expense of so much pain and misery by William the Conqueror, containing some of the finest oaks in England, with a yearly income equal to a German principality, practically managed by a man who, when he went there, ceased to be a clerk to a brewer, and his two sons, born to look on the forest as their own! The official eyes of Downing Street and Whitehall are never sharp; and the Lotus Eaters take their rest while the New Forest is being plundered.

About the same time a number of able and competent surveyors were sent to the various other forests in England to inspect and to make reports; but though they found many things requiring improvement, and many evidences of want of strict attention and care, there were no irregularities like those in the New Forest to be detected.

On October 10, 1851, an act came into operation, again altering the management of the Woods and Forests. Hitherto the Woods and Forests" had charge of all public buildings, the Houses of Parliament for example; but by this act two boards were constituted, one of the Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues, the other of Works and Public Buildings. It, however, is a joint board, the first commissioner having the title of Works, &c., and two others that of Woods.

One of the two commissioners, Mr. Gore, has the management of the following: The land revenues of England and Wales, with certain exceptions; the land revenues in the Isle of Man and the Isle of Alderney; the royal parks at Windsor; the office of conservator to the river Mersey.

To Mr. Kennedy, the other commissioner, is assigned the management of all the forests we have described; of the woods, forests, and land revenues of the crown in Scotland and Ireland; and the office of gaveller of Dean Forest.

Such is the present management of our forests. How long it may last, and how far it may succeed, we will not take upon us even to indicate.

AVING now given a historical, legendary, and descriptive account, as far as our space and materials would allow, of our English forests, we will proceed to another, and to a truly English view of the subject. Do these forests pay? To this question we will answer by giving an abstract of the accounts for the year ending March 31, 1851. We choose that period because it embraces a year; and the last published accounts extend only

from October 10, 1851, to March 31, 1852, a period less than six months.

The following is a list of the royal forests comprised in the state

ment:

1. New Forest (Hampshire), including the new Park Farm in that forest.

2. Dean Forest (Gloucestershire).

3. High Meadow Woods (do).

4. Alice Holt (Hampshire).

5. Woolmer Forest (do).

6. Parkhurst Forest (Isle of Wight).

7. Bere Forest (Hampshire).

8. Whittlebury Forest (Northamptonshire).

9. Salcey Forest (do).

10. Delamere Forest (Cheshire).

11. Wychwood Forest (Oxfordshire).

12. Waltham Forest (Essex). 13. Chopwell Woods (Durham). 14. The various London Parks. 15. Greenwich Park.

16. Richmond Park.

17. Hampton Court and Bushy Parks.

18. Windsor Forest and Parks.

1. The New Forest shews an annual income of 13,521., and an annual expenditure of 10,370l. The whole of this revenue, with the exception of 200l., is derived from the public and private sales of timber. There is a sum of 31. received as forest dues, and on the opposite side of the account appears a payment to "collector of forest dues" of 147.; rather a heavy percentage, one would suppose, on the collection. From rents of land, cottages, &c., only 32l. are received-how much greater must the sum have been before the Norman conquest! On the side of expenditure the first entries are very significant: "The bow-bearer" appears in receipt of a yearly allowance of 21.; not so much as a shilling per week-"how are the mighty fallen!" Again, the compensation given to certain officers for venison-fees is 237, while the receipts from these fees is little more than half, being only 1207. There are about fifty persons employed, either permanently or occasionally, whose salaries in the aggregate amount to 33807. per annum; of these twenty-six are woodmen. The labourers'-work amounts to 54647., of which 38007. are for preparing the produce for sale; the labourers connected with which are paid, not by the day but by the quantity of work done. Among the miscellaneous charges is the exceedingly moderate item of 6l. 9s. 6d. for "trees, plants, seeds, &c., including carriage," and another heavy bill of 2921. 88. 11d. for "costs of criminal prosecutions, recovery of debts, &c." The new Park Farm in the New Forest brings in a revenue of 9027., and incurs an expense of 4831.; of course, in the latter sum rent is not charged. The farmer gets 521. 3s. 4d. per annum, and the annual cost of labour is 2761. On this farm hay, barley, oats, beans, and potatoes are raised, and the sale of the produce realised 3277.; while an additional sum of 2661. was received for supplies to the horses, oxen, and deer in the forest. Live stock are also sold to the extent of 2651. ; and among the items making up this sum appears the rather curious one, giddy sheep, 13s. 6d.”

2. The Forest of Dean shews an annual revenue of 80047., and an expenditure of 79617. This would shew an exceedingly small margin of profit, but the compilers of the accounts have been careful to tell us in a note attached to the table of revenue, that "the sum of 19277. is

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