Appendix No. 1. xxxi
The conditions requisite for transforming the Forest into a " people's
park " are fatal to its preservation as a natural-history resort. Any piece
of waste land can be made into a park, but a tract of wild forest once
destroyed can never be restored. I would once more urge, and most
emphatically, that there is not the slightest desire on the part of
naturalists to exclude the " toiling million," or to prevent their full
enjoyment of the Forest. I wish only to point out that my present con-
tention is that in the long run the wants, both of the naturalist and of the
ordinary excursionist, wiil be found to be absolutely coincident. If the
neighbourhood of a railway terminus, with its concomitant evils, leads to
the destruction of the "natural aspect" of any portion of the Forest,
that portion is ruined not only for the naturalist, but likewise for the
general public who come to enjoy a day in the country far from "the
busy hum of men." By judicious management the requirements of both
classes can be met, and it rests entirely with the Conservators to determine
whether the attitude of the respective parties is to be pacific or the
reverse. It must be remembered that long before the Forest was rescued
hy the Corporation this district was a favourite resort of multitudes of
holiday-folk, and, not being interfered with to any considerable extent,
was at the same time available to the naturalist. The note of alarm
must be sounded, or we may find ourselves worse off than in pre-
Conservatorial times. The constitution of the Epping Forest Committee
is apparently prejudicial to our interests, if we may judge by the standard
of past and present actions. Of this Committee the Verderers, who, as
representing the. Commoners, and as residents in the Forest district,
are best qualified to advise with respect to the management of the Forest,
form but four of a Committee of sixteen. However enlightened the
views of these gentlemen may be—and I only wish I could say that the
present Verderers were unanimously of our way of thinking—they are
thus liable to be out-voted. Another evil, and a most serious one so far
as we are concerned, is that the Committee is practically a secret one—
its proceedings are conducted with closed doors, and the people at large,
whether naturalists or excursionists, have no means of making their
voices heard. Whether this action is just in a case where the funds
are derived from a public source it does not enter into my province to
consider.
The views which I have now put forward are offered with the best of
intentions with respect to the body Conservatorial. We cannot be
unmindful of our obligation to the Corporation for having saved the
Forest, but we appeal to them to assist in exalting the ideas of those who
frequent this place as a holiday resort instead of pandering solely to the
more degraded aspect of human nature. A day spent amid the natural
beauties of our sylvan glades is the beau-ideal of a holiday, intellectually,
morally, and physically, to those whose pursuits keep them confined to the
town. Let Epping Forest be preserved for the multitudes who have for
so long enjoyed it rationally. The "recreation and enjoyment of the
public" will thus become possessed of a higher meaning, and the
naturalist, whilst carrying on his studies as heretofore, will be doubly
grateful to those who have secured these time-honoured preserves as a
public space free from all fear of enclosure and destruction. The ideas
which I have attempted to formulate are, I know, entertained by large
numbers not only of working naturalists, but also of the continually
growing class of lovers of the country and of Nature in general. It is
becoming a matter of almost national importance that the surviving
tracts of open country in the neighbourhood of all large towns should be
rigidly preserved, and opinions in accordance with this have from time to
time been forcibly expressed both with respect to our own Forest and all
the common lands in the environs of London.