ITS HISTORY. 15
holders, the trustees of Lord Mornington, for
being deprived of this hereditary trust. They
claimed £1000, and were awarded £300 in the
arbitration.
The use for sporting purposes by the Crown
having all but ceased, and its chief representative
seeking to turn his office to profitable account, it
is not surprising that the Forest laws were laxly
administered, and that the machinery became
rusty. Concurrently the growth of London in-
creased the demand for produce of all kinds,
and, while the supply was artificially limited by
protective laws, induced pressure to extend the
range of cultivated ground, and enhanced the
value of land for building. The term " waste " of
the Forest seemed to imply that it was of no value
to anybody while it remained in that condition,
and tempted those who had the power, or thought
they had, to turn it to account. Naturally
those parts adjacent to the metropolis were the
first to fall into the hands of speculators, and a
glance at the map shows that the southern half of
the Forest, even now that such large restitutions
have been made, presents a sadly tattered ap-
pearance. It was, however, not till compar-
atively recent times that the Forest Courts began
to be generally disregarded and defied. The
tradition of their terrors still remained; and,
though small encroachments were made from
time to time, it was not until the middle of the
present century that wholesale enclosures began
to be effected.
The Office of Woods and Forests was largely
responsible for the mutilation which ensued. In
the case of Hainault Forest, which lay to the east