9
The Commissioners recommended to Parliament
the disafforestation of Hainault Forest, but not of
Epping Forest, on the ground " that it may perhaps
" be doubtful whether in a situation so near to the
" Capital, an inclosure of that part ought to be earnestly
" desired." This was more than 80 years ago, when
the population of London was a tenth of what it is now.
From the date of this Report there is a long interval
until we have another public document, which is
the Report of the Royal New and Waltham Forest
Commission, presented to Parliament in 1850.
This Commission was appointed in pursuance of
the Statute, the 12 and 13 Vic, c. 81, and which was
passed in consequence of the evidence taken by Lord
Duncan's Committee of 1848, on the condition of the
Royal Forests. It will be necessary to refer to this
Report hereafter for another purpose, but it was fol-
lowed so soon by the Report of a Select Committee of
the House of Commons on the Royal Forests in
Essex, presented to that House on the 9th June,
1863, that there is no occasion to dwell upon
its contents now. The Select Committee found
that out of 8,000 acres of open wood and waste
lands which according to the report of 1793, ought
to have existed in Epping Forest, 2,000 had been
lost by enclosures.* They also found that the waste
*For the reasons given in the note in page 6, these figures are not exactly
accurate, but large enclosures had at this time been made.