The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-04 00:00:00

417,973 14 5

Total withdrawals from the formation of the society, on
the 7th September, 1852, to the 30th September, 1859,
£91,883 as. 5d ; total sale of land during the above period,
£228,117 2s. 6d. Tho return of the register of rights is as
follows : Completed, 3,318 ; drawn, 2,993 ; seniority,
1,570 ; total, 7,881; deduct rights exercised on estates,
&c., 5,470; unexercised rights, 2,411. The last share
number on the register by seniority up to the
30th of September was 10,042, and the last share number
issued up to the same date was No. 15,093. It will be seen
from the cash returns. that the last quarter has yielded the
largest receipt during the past financial year, and is also
greater than any quarter's receipt for the previous year,
ending September 30, 1858. It is not merely the excess of
cash which particularly characterises the final quarter of the
year ending in 1859, it is the general aspect of the bisiness
which has been transacted ; amongst the features of which
should be especially mentioned, the increase in the demand
for the unsold portions of the allotted estates, and the evident
anxiety evinced to promote building operations. This last
mentioned progress, it is true, has received a temporary check
by the strike in the building trades ; but this untoward event
cannot, from its very nature, be protracted much longer.
When at an end, the long-anticipated reaction in the de-
velopment of building must prove beneficial to the valuable
estates acquired through the society. The contract for the
roads and drains on the Weymouth Estate has been signed,
and the work has been commenced. The improved appear-
ance of the Round Hill Estate, Brighton, must have at-
tracted the attention of recent visitors. The approaches to
tho Old Shoreham Road have been widened, the entrance
by the side of the " Level" and the Steyne being thus
materially ameliorated. The society's roads are in
good order, and it is intended to open the communi-
cation from the Lewes Road to the Richmond Road on
the upper portion of the estate. Nearly fifty houses have
been built on sites in the Ditchling Road, the Princes
road, the Richmond-road, and the Round Hill-crescent.
Many of these buildings are already in occupation, and the
committee are now in a position either to let or sell villas
and houses, and will likewise engage to complete them for
the accommodation of tenants according to their own taste
and wishes. Of the prospective as well as actual value of
the Round Hill estate, no better proof can be afforded than
the ground rents offered to, and accepted by, various
Brighton builders, ranging as these rents do from £5 to
£l2 10s. per year on., plots of land costing £52 4s. 6d.
each. In one instance ten plots at £37 10s. each were let
for ninety-nine years at £6 per annum each. It is clear,
therefore, that it only requires continuous building to de-
velope thoroughly the Round Hill estate, admitted to be
one of the healthiest localities in and near Brighton. New
plans of the West Malvern and Prestwich (Manchester)
estates have been prepared by the surveyor, and are now
published. The opening of the new railroad between Wor-
cester and Hereford as far as the link at Great Malvern,
affords an easy and rapid access to the society's estate in
the famed Malvern Hills, and a more picturesque site than
the Wtst Malvern property is not to be found within. the
range. On the Prestwich estate the roads and drains have
executivecommittee
elected
William
lhl
iaavme plea-tAhsethu ry
beensure
to
compd.aTill eetuen c
e that they
Esq., and Newnham Winst I E
an ley sq., as their two midi-
tors for the accounts and balance sheets, which will b
submitted at the annuat meeting e
g next December. The
candidates for the two aud't ors Ts to be appointed
by the members at the present I
quarter y meeting are :
the Rev. W. G. Goodchhild, and Mr. Harding. The
executive committee, in their last Midsummer report,
mentioned that they had under consideration the allotment
of the Roehampton Park Estate, through the Register of
Rights. It was the intention to have so submitted the
estate before the close of the financial year 1859 ; but va-
rious negotiations having been entered into for portions of
the estate, the board came to the conclusion that it was
not advisable to proceed hurriedly with so important a pro-
perty. The possession of a reserve fund of the com-
mittee the advantage of not pressing sales. Various
schemes have been suggested for the disposal of the pro-
perty, and the board will duly deliberate on the mode in
which the mansion and park may be turned to the best ad-
vantage for the society. The Conservative Land Society
has now entered on its eighth year; the executive cora-
-1 mittee have served their apprenticeship to a novel sy-tem
of buying and selling land in large and small quantities;
and from being at the original formation exclusively a
means of extending the freehold franchise, other social ad-
vantages of infiaite value and importance have been se-
cured to all classes of the community. The committee look
back at the operations of the seven past years with a full
sense of the confidence reposed in their acts by the mem-
bers; and it was this unanimity of feeling and action which
has enabled the board in most trying times to carry on the
society's affairs with such useful and happy results.
(Signed) RANELAGH, Chairman.
(Countersigned) C. L. GRUNEISEN, Sy:n*4l'y.