favour
of the Crown had been still further reduced by the recent fall in the
price of bark and also of timber, owing probably to peculiar difficulties
attending its removal." He observed that large immediate profits could
not be obtained from the oak plantations, which would, however, increase
in value at the rate of about 15,000 pounds a year; and moreover that a
considerable revenue from the sale of timber-props for the mine-works,
&c., might be expected. Mr. Machen also reported an improvement in the
order and conduct of the inhabitants of the Forest generally, the fruit,
it may reasonably be assumed, of the many years of pious labour which the
clergy and Christian teachers of the neighbourhood had bestowed on the
people. The Act of 1841, under which the mines of the Forest were
awarded, had, he said, been found most useful. Before the arrangements
under this Act were effected, much quarrelling and litigation were
continually taking place. The royalty paid by the various mines to the
Crown amounted to 4,000 pounds a year, and was steadily increasing; eight
years ago it was only 700 pounds.

The evidence of Mr. Langham, the Assistant Deputy Surveyor, relates to
the mode in which pit-timber and cordwood for the charcoal burner were
supplied, as well as the method pursued in planting, being that of about
1,300 young oaks to the acre, and the same of larch, four feet apart.
Mr. Nicholson, a tenant of the Park End Colliery, forcibly urged the
construction of branch lines of railway, connecting the different works
in the Forest with the leading lines, to the certain benefit of the
coal-master, the consumer, and the Crown, the existing tramways being
inadequate to their purpose.

Mr. Isaiah Teague took the same view, and further supported the
recommendation that greater facilities should be given, not only to the
mineowners to build cottages for their men, but also that the operatives
themselves should be enabled to buy small plots of land for the purpose,
they being now frequently obliged to live far distant from their places
of work, there being few, if any, houses situated near them. These
witnesses, as well as several others, agreed in stating that it was
inexpedient to have deer in the Forest, as unsettling the habits of the
people, and encouraging poaching. They yet admitted, however, that the
deer were highly ornamental.

It was also stated in evidence that the Forest was now fully planted; and
whereas som