THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPING FOREST.
77
same is true, even in a more marked degree, of Lord's Bushes. We believe that,
if the gentlemen who have appeared as critics of your management were to judge
of it by the appearance of the portions thinned three or four years after thinning,
instead of immediately after, when they necessarily have a bare and unattractive
effect, they would themselves be of a different opinion.
In conclusion, we beg to assure you that the view that the action of the
Committee has been destructive is not entertained by those living on the spot, who
are most qualified to judge.
The first of the above Memorials was signed by a number of noblemen and
gentlemen, including the following :—
The Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh (Lord-Lieutenant of Essex), the Right Hon.
the Earl of Gainsborough, the Right Hon. Viscount Powerscourt, K.P., the Right
Hon. Lord Northbourne, the Right Hon. Lord Walsingham, F.R.S., the Right
Hon. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., M.P., the Right Hon. James Bryce, MP.,
the Honourable Mr. Justice Wills, the Right Hon. Geo. Shaw Lefevre, M.P.,
Colonel Lockwood, M.P., Professor J. B. Farmer, Sir W. H. Flower, K.C.B.,
F.R.S., Professor W. R. Fisher, J. E. Harting, Esquire, F.L.S., Walter F. Forbes,
Esquire (Agent to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon), Professor E. B. Poulton,
F.R.S., Mr. Briton Riviere, R.A., Dr. Masters (Editor of the "Gardener's
Chronicle"), David Howard, Esquire (President of the Essex Field Club), T. V.
Holmes, Esquire, F.G.S., M. C. Cooke, Esquire, M.A., LL.D., F. Kemble, Esquire,
J.P. (Chairman of Essex Ouarter Sessions), A. Savill, Esquire, of Chigwell,
William White, Esquire (Curator of the Ruskin Museum, Sheffield) ; and also
the Members of the Deputation whose names are specified above.
The second Memorial was signed by forty-four influential residents in the
Forest Parishes, many of whom have been intimately acquainted with the Forest
for a very long period of time, extending over sixty years.
Professor Meldola also read to us many letters he had received from the
signatories to the first Memorial, and from other persons competent to express an
opinion, commending the work of the Conservators.
It will be obvious to your Honourable Court that a considerable divergence of
opinion exists upon the subject, and that if the action of your Committee were judged
alone by the weight of authority attaching to those who have expressed themselves
to be so entirely in accord with the past management of the Forest, a complete
answer to the charges has already been made ; but we prefer to await and present
to your Honourable Court the Report of the eminent Experts in Forestry whom
we consulted last year, and by whose opinion and decision we are perfectly
prepared to be judged and bound.
All which we submit to the judgment of this Honourable Court. Dated this
thirteenth day of June 1895.
[Signed.] R. C. Halse, Oliver Henry Davis, Francis McCarthy, James
Salmon, Richard Adam Ellis, Graham King, Reginald Hanson, E. North Buxton,
J. Snowden, P. Gellatly, Frederick Cox.
Appended to this Report were statements and correspondence
called forth by an article in the "Daily Chronicle" of May 4th,
1895 illustrated by pictures professing to be copies of actual
photographs of spots where thinning had taken place ; and the
appendix also contained photographs of the same spots for com-
parison. These compared pictures may be seen in the Forest Museum