6
" My Association, therefore, beg respectfully and earnestly to ask that
the Conservators' meeting at Guildhall be adjourned, and a further meet-
ing be held in the Forest parishes, at some place and time convenient to
the Conservators, at which the Commoners may be able to submit their
claims."
This letter, it is needless to say, produced no result.
The City Solicitor's Contradictions.
But a question was raised in the Court of Common Council with a result
so extraordinary, that it is worth quoting from The Evening News, in
which it appeared :—
the city solicitor at guildhall.
"Mr. Brookman asked the City
Solicitor whether his attention had
been called to an article in The
Evening News and Post, headed
" Epping Forest Scandal," and
whether it was true, as stated there,
that the Corporation, as Conser-
vators, had been persistently en-
deavouring to take away from the
smaller Commoners the right of
Pasturage, which was alleged to be
theirs by immemorial right, and
sanctioned by the Epping Forest
Act, 1878. Mr. Brookman asked
further whether the assertion in
the same paper was true, that
orders had been given to the
superintendent, Major McKenzie,
to refuse to mark the cattle of Cot-
tagers who had less than half-an-acre
of ground attached to their cottages.
The City Solicitor, in reply, de-
scribed the charges as wholly
groundless."
THE CITY SOLICITOR, IN HIS OFFICIAL
NOTICE TO THE EPPING FOREST
COMMONERS.
"To prevent unnecessary claims
being sent in, the Conservators give
notice that they will not consider any
person entitled to a right of Common
who owns or occupies less than half-
an-acre of old enclosure not covered
with buildings."
The City Solicitor's contradiction of plain facts did not end here. He
said:—
" The assertion that orders have been given to the Superintendent, Mr.
McKenzie, to refuse to mark the cattle of Cottagers who have less than
half-an-acre of ground attached to their cottages is not true; Mr. McKenzie
has nothing to do with the marking of cattle. The marking is done by the
Beeves, who are officers appointed by the Forest parishes."
That statement is perfectly clear, and absolutely misleading. For when
the Loughton Reeve, Mr. Dean, was asked at a Vestry meeting whose cattle
he marked, he said it was from a list furnished him by Mr. McKenzie.
The City Solicitor's Illegal Ruling.
At the last revision of the List or Register of Commoners at Guildhall,
Mr. Crawford, the City Solicitor, disqualified Commoners on grounds which
the Commoners' Defence Association submit are wholly illegal.
Dating from Feudal times there existed a Forest regulation known as
the Fence month, i.e., a month in the year when the Commoners' cattle
were removed from the Forest to give the deer quiet during fawning time.
This Fence month has long ceased to exist, and is altogether ignored by the