The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-01 00:00:00

TURNPIKE TRUSTS.

The Marquis of SALISBURY moved that an address
be presented to her Majesty, praying that certain papers
relating to highways and turnpike trusts might be laid
before the House.

After a few words from the Earl of GRANVILLE,
the motion was agreed to.
WOODS AND FORESTS GROUND RENTS.

The Marquis of SALISBURY wished to call the at-
tention of the Noble Lord the Chief Commissioner of
Woods and Forests, to the report of the Committee of
the House of Commons on the Woods and Forests, which
had been published in the papers, and from which it was
made to appear that several noblemen and gentlemen had
obtained houses and grounds in the Green Park upon
almost nominal rents. As far as he was concerned
he begged to state that the amount which appeared in
the return as paid by him was paid solely for the garden
in front of his house, and not for the ground on which
the house stood, and that the rent had been fixed by the
Commissioners of Woods and Forests, and his ancestors
many years back.
Tee Earl of CARLISLE was much obliged to the
Noble Marquis for having afforded him this opportuhity
of entering into explanations on a subject with respect
to which much misapprehension existed. There was
great misapprehension existing as to the ground for
which rent was paid to the Crown by the occupiers of
houses in the Green-park. The sums which appeared
in that return as the sums paid by the occupiers of
those houses to the Crown were paid in respect
of the strips of ground occupied as gardens, which ex-
tended from the fronts of the houses to the boundary of
the park. The Noble Marquis himself appeared in that
return as paying 101. 7s. 7d. a year on a lease of ninety.
nine years, but that was merely for the garden in front
of his house, not for the ground on which his house
was built, which ground did not belong to the Crown.
The houses were built upon land which was not CI own
property. The rents which appeared in the return
varied from 4/. a year to 1151. a year, and were paid for
the gardens merely, which added to the fragrance and
beauty of the park, and from which the public derived
this benefit that they could never be built upon.
—(Hear, hear.) There were but two houses in
that row which paid ground rent to the Craven,
those were the residences of Sir John Lubbock and of
Mr. Ragers. Sir John Lubbock paid 100/. a year for
the ground on which his house stood, and Mr. Rogers
paid 60/. a year ; but it should be remembered that Mr.
Rogers had almost rebuilt his house when the lease was
renewed. Then with regard to the ground-rents in Re-
gent's-park—the land had been grass-land, which had
been let to Mr. Nash for building, and it had always been
the custom in such cases to demand a certain amount of
ground rent for a patch of land, leaving it to the
builder to apportion the different amounts of ground
among the honses built upon the land. This rule had
been followed in the case of Mr. Nash. Augustus-
street and Regent's-park had been grass land when
let to him fur building in 1819. If that
which in 1819 was grass land, the Crown now received
6414 per annum; and in 1857 the Crown would receive
for the same land 1,374/. per annum; and in 1919 the
whole of the buildings erected on this land would be-
come the absolute property of the Crown. This charge of
having let lands at a reduced rate to Mr. Nash had
on a previous occasion brought before the notice of Par-
liament; in investigation had taken place, and the
transaction had been satisfactorily explained.
The next CAMI was that of Mr. Bell, who was stated to
have Jbtained the property of twelve messuagea on a
lease for 99 years, at a rental of 6/. per annum.
The fact, however, was that Mr. Bell held
a quantity of land on lease for 59 years at a
ground rent of 731. per year, but their Lordships must
remember that the houses which Mr. Ball had built on
this land would revert to the Crown at the expiration of
the lease.—(Hear, hear.) Then came the case
of Mr. Benton, the charge against whom was
that he held thirty-one messuages in Chesunt
street for ninety-nine years, at a ground rent of 61. per
annum. The fact was, though, that this gentleman held
a lease from the Crown of certain land, upon which he
had built forty-one substantial dwelling-houses, at a
ground rent of 7111. per annum. There was
only one other class of cases to which it
was necessary to direct the attention of the House, and
one of those cases would illustrate the whole. It was
the case of a lady who held a lease of some land in
Chandos-mews upon which her husband bad expended
during his lifetime 2,5001. in building stables, for which
she had to pay a rental of 11/. per annum, besides the
interest on the 2,5001. already expended in the buildings,
which would revert to the Crown at the termination of
the lease.—(Hear, hear.) Now in the last case but one
which he had mentioned to their Lordships, so far from
Mr. Burton making a profit out of these mismanaged
Crown leads he had actually lost 40,0001.
by tbem.—(Hear, hear.) No doubt these erroneous im-
pressions had gone abroad throngh the party who made
them, having had to collect his information from a volume
consisting of 750 folio pages. Doubtless in relating the
many transactions described in these 750 pages, errors
and miscalculations might be found, but the greatest
care would in future be taken to guard against inacuracies.
With respect to the arrangement of the Crown Lands
there was always room for improvement in the manage-
ment of a large public establishment like the Woods and
Forests, and a Committee was now sitting for
the purpose of discovering and remedying any
existing defects in the department, and in con-
clusion, he would take the opportunity of
declaiming that this Committee would always be ready
to listen to any suggestions that might be made to them
on the subject they were investigating.—(Hear.)
The Earl of ELLESMERE, as one of tho in-
dividuals referred to in these charges, he must
be allowed to say a few words on the statement of the
Noble Lord, which he could assure their Lordships had
taken him somewhat by surprise.—(Hear, hear.) He
was represented to be building a mansion quite unsuited
to his station in society—(Laughtar)—on a piece of
land which he rented from the Crown for 691., but
which ought to yield 500/. per annum. (Hear,
hear.) Now, he did not complain of the
press or newspaper correspondents complaining of
defects in public departments, but before they made
their complaints public it was their duty to ascertain that
they were well founded. These writers seemed to forget
that any such strong moral obligation as that
rested upon them, but, nevertheless it was their duty to
ascertain that these facts were correct and founded on
truth, before they attacked a public institution in a
style and manner which equally reflected upon the
character of private individuals.—(Hear.) Now, with
regard to this charge of his renting from the Crown for
16:19a/d to . per year,
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Ed.l3 FUND BILL.
This Bill was brought up from the Commons, and
read a first time.
Their Lordships then adjourned.