§ MR. AGLIONBYthen moved for leave to bring in a Bill further to amend the Acts to facilitate the Inclosure and Improvement of Commons, by providing that all waste or common lands, allotted by virtue of these Acts, shall be held as freehold, and shall be allotted as such, without reference to the tenure of the ancient lands in respect of which such allotments shall be made. The Commons Inclosure Act, 8 and 9 Vict., cap. 118, gave power to inclose common land, and convert it into freehold allotments; but in the northern parts of England, that statute was comparatively inoperative, under the terms of the 94th section, in consequence of the nature of the tenure in these districts. The Act rendered the expense of a private Bill unnecessary, and saved the difference between 15l. and 600l. to the applicants in all other parts of the country; but the 94th clause prevented its application to the north of England. To amend that clause was the object of his Bill. At present commons inclosure commissioners were precluded from exercising any control over the agreements between the landlords and the allottees in copyhold tenures; it was to remedy this that he brought in the measure. He did not desire to defraud the 1171 landlord of a single right; and he therefore proposed that the commissioners should have the discretionary power of awarding due compensation upon the conversion of copyhold into freehold allotments, in commonage inclosures.
§ Leave given.