The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-07 00:00:00

PRICE 4D• STAMPED, 5D

Queen's Counsel, the Hon. and Rev. W. C. Talbot
was elected by the committee, who have just had
to regret the loss of the late T. Booker Blakemore,
Esq., one of the respected members of the county of
Hereford.

The following members of the Executive Com-
mittee retire from office by-rotation, but are eligible
for reelection, namely :—Borlase Hill Adams, Esq.,
the Earl of Bective, M.P. Hon. Robert Bourke,
T. Knox Holmes, Esq., Viscount Ingestre, M.P.,
and Newham Winstanley, Esq., who offer them•
selves for re-election.

The contradictory decisions of the revising bar-
risters this year have again defied all calculations
as to the value of the land conferring a 40s. free•
hold, notwithstanding the clear judgment obtained
by the Society in the Court of Common Pleas.
Although, in the aggregate, the society's claims
have been allowed, yet some of the allottecs on the
Brighton, Reading, and Maldon estates, have been
struck off the lists. The inconsistency of the de-
cisions of the revising barristers will not, it is
hoped, escape the attention of the Legislature
next session. The right of appeal from the Regis-
tration Court to a higher Court should not be
left to the sole discretion of the presiding barrister.
It was at the termination of protracted meetings,
after a most rigid and searching inquiry into the
past transactions, in order to determine the future
course of operations, the executive committee came
to the conclusion that the Conservative Land
Society possessed the essentials of durability, quite
independently of its original political position, and
that by careful and conscientious management in
the formation of a new business, by due exertions
of the members, and by the activity of the general
committee and provincial agents, increased social
advantages might be conferred on all classes of the
community. The past year has been to the board
one of the most anxious periods of the society's
career, inasmuch as after the disappearance of two
wars, and the cessation of an unparalleled commer-
cial crisis, disturbing causes sufficient to account
for the utter stagnation in the building trades, the
committee naturally anticipated that the cheapness
of money would have resuscitated the industrial
interests. The contrary has been the case, and the
period arrived when the committee found that it
was necessary not to rely exclusively on the yearly
sale of land, as an exclusive source of profit. The
new prospectus issued last quarter has been the
result of long and anxious deliberations, and the
reduction of guaran teed interest from 5 to 4 per cent.
per annum, from the 30th of September last, in
completed shares, and shares paid a year in ad-
advance, was the natural and inevitable result of
the variation in the value of money. For the faci-
litating of business, and on grounds both of expe-
diency and economy, it became imperative to con-
centrate the legal and surveying business at the
same offices where the ordinary share enrolment of
members and the selling of land took place. At
Christmas the centralisation will be carried out,
and the beneficial results, it is hoped, will appear
in next year's balance-sheet.
It was in the July report that the acquisition of
the Weymouth estate,.to go through the society's
allotment system, was announced. The plan is in
preparation, and in the spring it is proposed to
offer the first portion through the order of rights.
In addition to this valuable property, it was, after
the late quarterly meeting, the executive com-
mittee in full confidence that a favourable oppor-
tunity only was wanting to carry out the society's
main principle, the buying and selling of land,
purchased the oehampton estate, the property of
the Earl of Bessborough, and the residence of the
late Mr. Robarts, the banker. This estate is a very
large investment, but it is one the great value of
which, for the interests of the society, there has
been but one opinion, as no estate hitherto offered
has presented such a variety of modes in which it
can be turned to a profitable account; and if even-
tually divided, presents building frontages to Rich-
mond Park and Putney Heath of the highest at-
traction. The completion of the purchase only
waits the ie3ult of those legal inquiries which the
society, for the protection of allottees, so carefully
institutes ; the committee in this report have to
congratulate the shareholders on this most valuable
acquisition.
In conclusion, the executive committee cannot
but offer their congratulations to the members, on
Ow improved prospects of the society at this period,
over those which existed at the last annual report,
and by energetic and economical management, they
entertain every expectation to turn to profitable
account the capital already invested, and the future
money which may be invested in the Conservative
Land Society, relying fully on the confidence and
support extended to them in previous years by the
shareholders.

(Signed) RANELAGII, Chairman.
(Countersigned) C. L. GRUSEISEN, Sec.
Offices, 33, Norfolk-street, Strand.
London, Dec. 7th, 1858.

After 50 numbers had been drawn from the
wheel, and 25 added by seniority, for rights of
choice on the society's estates, the proceedings ter-
minated with a vote of thanks to the chairman.