ANCIENT “NEW FOREST”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26631, 29 November 1947, Page 7

ANCIENT “NEW FOREST”

PLANS FOR PROTECTION SURVIVAL FROM PRE-NORMAN ENGLAND N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 9.30 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 28. Plans for protecting the 92,000 acres of the “ New Forest" by declaring it a nature reserve are published in a White Paper issued by the Forestry Commission, which is now the authority responsible for safeguarding the forest. The report describes the forest as a “miraculous survival from pre-Norman England,’’ and says that “it has been described by those with a special knowledge of its natural history as unique in Western Europe. - ’ The report strongly recommends that encroachments upon the forest by Government departments, .which enclosed 8000 acres of it during the war, should immediately be checked. It suggests that steps should be taken to remove or otherwise to control the wanderings of New Forest gypsies, of whom only about 400 now remain. The report states that these people show little of the true Romany strain and describes their educational and living standards as “ a little better than those of the Stone Age.” It recommends that the ancient court of Swainmote, which dates back to Saxon times, should be retained as the judicial authority for the forest.