The Sun.
London, England, 1830-03-31 00:00:00

Afference of opinion es regarded property in question
the year Del 5 the Commissioners of Woods and Fe-
,,,Teseta addressed a letter to the Lords of the Treasury,
c°7"Pisieed of the uncertain system of valuation adopt-
ed by their eau veyors. There were several striking in-
stances of that uncertainty, out of which he would onle se_
leer a few. the ar 1783, the Black Bear pu l'c -
hrentou • •)a
se, in p
eesle 1 ccadilly, was let on a lease of 30 rows, at a
of
were
the
i. In the course of the improver „ants which
that the eV: in that neighbourhood, it bete ame necessary
Comm'
le: property should be resumed into t' ne hands of the
issioners. The property was ar cordingly valued—
the
.isees' interest was estimated at
~000/., and the sum
Isras ketetelly paid them by the Corr anissioners, when their iie7ase
I were nearly run cert.--.(r_tear, hear.)—The house,
Usarles-street, run cent
I.(!t.tr", the Commissioners upon a
3o
Yvette' lease, at 14.01. a-- :car. Within a month after
tan:Yee°D.rin, Pthieti°a .of
'.ease. the
tpueuc3uelaj.)itiuon.-- tenant let it for 230/.
ue 'elemi-'74 more than cent. per cent. by hie
ereseu're— r, hear.)—ln the same street, the
tve s let by time Commiselenees for 140/
43
late altera-Year and hoctt °ming neceseery, in the course of tie!
ations, to re-purchase it, 7,300!. was paid for it
ees
by
the
Connis,ie .ners. (Hear, bear.)—ln St. Alban's-
str a house w/
.s let for a-vear. The Commissioners
wishing to resur ne the property, offered the lessee 1,7301 ,
Which Was refu set!. Five houses in Castle-street were let
by the, Conenai .ssioners -at 98/. a- veer, and immediately
afterwards we re let by the leesces of the Crown for 3281.
a-year.—(l-le ar, hear.)—Such were the effects of these
surveys and valuations upon oath.—(Hear.)—He now
came to wile at be could not help considering the most sin-
gular case tof all. Sir John Gregory Shaw obtained a
lease of Oise manor of Elthatn, and divers lanai, houses,
'rrttaeree-ses, sets d either buildings, for 28 years and a half,
e're Laie.-tlay, 1811, without the payment of any fine,
at . ayeatiy vett of 3,9281. 19s. Now here was a singular
seeetimoll7 •of the singular accuracy with which these sur-
veys tea olre part of Government were made. As soon as
liislease was perfected, Sir John Gregory Shaw seals-hat the
warious farms of the manor of Eltham by public auction,
:and sold them for premiums amounting tes 25,000/., re-
serving at the same time to himself a yeatly rent payable
eluting the currency of his lease, exceeding the whole re-
*3erved. rent paid by him to the Croveta..—(Loud cries of
Hear.")—On the first cornmenceement of what was
generally called agricultural distrese, the tenants of these
farms applied, through Sir J. G.. Shaw, for some abate-
ment of their tent. The Conemissioners upon that occa-
sion wrote to Sir J. G. Sheet, in a style which, though he
deserved, was rather scrr,rising in them. They stated
that, in their opinion, "the tenants had a strong equitable
claim for relief upon h' im (sir John), but that they (the
Cemmissioners) could . not afford him that relief, as they
had no doubt that b e would find that, at the expiration of
his term, the Cro' wn lease would have been to him a very
beneficial concer n. He would now proceed to show the
value of this lar .d revenue; and in order to do so as clearly
as he could, b
and value of e would first call their attention to the state
the Irish land revenue. The gross rental
arising iron
and rents i crown rents, composition rents, quit rent,
of plus acres in Ireland, was estimated, at the
sue fete
eon in 1796, at 61,340/. IBs. Sad. In the in-
te. oteltb'etween 1797 and 1827, the Commissioners had
4218:5:687/. of it, thus leaving a rental 0f57,6531. 12s. 3d.
IW.ith a view to its sale, he would estimate it, as it arose
isfrnte freehold property, as worth twenty-two years' pur-
sAcse, or at 1,268,379/, 9s. 6d. To that sum he would
eidd 83,8511. 19s. 4d., which they now had in hand, from
teem sale of the 3,6871. of rent, standing in the books of
`the Bank of Ireland, in the name of the Lord High
'.Treasurer or the Commissioners of the Treasury. Tlfb
rack rents amounted to 7,800/., which at twenty-two
:years' purchase, would produce about 156,000/., which,
• added to the former sums lie bad mentioned, would make
• a total of upwards of a million and a-half. The Commis-
esioners stated in their report that there were other pro-
iperties to which the Crown was entitled in Ireland, which
',might be estimated at 500,0001. more : so that the total
available sutn arising from the Crown property in Ireland
in this manner would be at least 2,000,0001. sterling. It
might be asked, what had been the real available amount
of the property. He bail at that moment before him a
statement of all the money which has been received from
this quarter from the year 1793 down to the present year.
It appeared that, from the year 1793 down to the year
1804, the average receipts were 580,000/., and from the
year 1804 to the year 1815, were 608,000/. He would now
tell the House how much had come into the public treasury,
end ichat had been the cost of management. From 1793
to 1804 the total sum . brought to the public account was
10,120/. ; from 1805 to 1815. it was 215,541/. from 1816
to 1826 (during whichperied 2,371,0001. had been received)
it was 8,624/. ; from .1826 to 1829 (during which
1,500,000/. had been'receieed) not a single farthing had
been paid
,into the Explacquer.—(Hear.)—From that cal-
,
eulation it appeared that the sum actually paid into the
Exchequer was 0n1ye234,090/., leaving a balance of
4,849,4261. to beaccounted for. Ile found that out of
that balance there had'heen expended upon the improve-
ments in the Park, the Near Palace, Waterloo-place, the
Royal Mews, the improvement of forests, &c., various
' stuns, amounting altogether to 4,033,7631., leaving a
balance of more than 5001000/. to be still accounted for.
lie would state the amount of expenditure. In 1827
there were expended, in the collection of rents, law ex -
pereees, and other charges. 162,2221. ; in 1828,
1.66,984/. ; in 1829, 177,5551. ; making a total in three
years of 506,791/ , which, was a fraction more than 20
per cent. on the entire collection of the Crown lands.
He now wished to state what appeared to. be the actual
value of the whole of the Crown landa, independently of
the woods and forests, and that portion which might be
considered to belong exclusively to the Royal Person.
Treece were 130 manors worth 1,0001. each ; there were
freehold estates producing an annual rental of 500,000/.,
which, at 25 years' purchase,would produce 12,500,0001.;
there were ground rents in various parts of London pro-
ducing upwards of 50,0001. a-year, which, at 40 years'
purchase, would bring 2,000,000/. ; the rents from houses
lie estimated at 20,0001. annually, which, at 18 years'
purchase, would produce 360,000/. ; the farms were
worth 160,000/. ; the' waste lands in forests be esti-
mated at 86,000 acres, which, at Si. an acre, would
produce 430,000/. ; the allotments under 488 En-
closure Acts, passed within the last forty years, he
estimated at 225,000/. ; the church livings he con-
sidered to be worth 100,0001., which, at twenty
years' purchase, would produce 2,000,0001. ; making
a total of 17,805,0001. He now begged to apologize to
the House for having occupied so large a portion of their
attention. Ile would merely beg further to remark, that
his motion for a committee to inquire into the subject to
which he had directed the attention of the House could
not be met with the objection which had been successfully
urged against other motions for committees made in the
course of the present session, namely, that the inquiry into
which it was proposed to enter was of too general and dis-
cursive a nature. The inquiry which he wished to insti-
- tote was of a precise and limited nature. The inquiry
would present a vast field for improvement, and completely
establish the great end of economy. It would add to the
revenue without increasing the expenditure, which ap-
peaeed to him to be the purest specimen of political eco-
nomy, He concluded with moving, that a select commit..
tee be appointed to take into consideration the present
state and management of the land revenue of the Crown,
and to report upon the most efficient means of rendering
it available to the exigencies of the country.
Sir E. KNATCHBULL begged to be allowed to make
a few observations relative to Sunk Island, to which the
Hon. Member had alluded. He was requested to address
the House upon that point by the present lessee of the
Crown, who perhaps was known to many Members of
that House—he meant the Rev. John Lonsdale. He had
no personal connexion with the Rev. Gentleman, and had
only known him accidentally from his having once been
the rector of the parish in which he resided. From the
inquiries which he (Sir E. Knatchbull) had made on the
subject, it appeared that Sunk Island was granted to the
ancestors of the present lessee by King Charles 11. on
account of their eminent services. Since that period the
lessees had expended upwards of 30,000/. in improving the
s -PraPenYs and now paid a rent of 3,000!. a year. He was
warted from all that he had heard that the existing con-
between the Crown and the lessee was a perfectly
fair and proper one.
I.9rd lENTINCK said, he felt called upon to explain
the real natsire of the transaction in which his Noble
father (the Duke of Portland) was concerned, and which
bad been misrepresented by the Hon. Member. The
Rent hilir •Alember for Liverpool could hear witness that
father wished to dispose of hisinterest in the
I.iring o
or f Blarylebone it was valued by an eminent land-
survey at 46,000/., and not at 40,000/., which was the
lulu
offre paid for it.—(Hear, hear.)—His Noble father was
otter a larger sum thin 40,0001. for it. Not being pre-
Pi‘aireednibertoulailar an attack such as that which the Hon.
of the offeru• trade, he could not state the precise amount.
)._.4.ltabtuutfreit was either 42,0001. or 44,000 i.—
( Hear.
but his father could notcam e from the dissenting interest;t
belongingendure that any of the property to the Protestant Church of England should,.t
for_ the paltry consideration
bad hands, and on that a account 3,000!. or 4,00 W., fallll!n
ness to let Government hare uinttfohrel declaredthan htihselmlarinkge;
price.—(Hear, bear. Right f
• • and closed uriatphacthltey,
e Hon. Member or
Liverpool, acting in his official •
bwa
gin,r governedt buys
the same motives,
d h
the large living of Marylebone was saved from falling into