The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-07-31 00:00:00

CORPORATION LEASEHOLDERS.

Pursuant'to advertisement, a meeting of Leaseholders under
the Corporation of Liverpool, was held on Wednesday, at 12
o'clock, in the Large Room of the King's Aims lintel, for the
purpose-of taking' into consideration those clauses in the Muni-
cipal Reform Bill, restricting the Corporation Item granting
leases, as heretofore, fur the period of 75 years with the CUB-
.
tomary fine, open renewal. Tile meeting was numerously at..
tiaidenl by the raost eminer.t and' wealthy of the merchants,
bankers; &c., in the town.
Upon the motion of ADAM HO nG SON, Esq., William Brown,
Esq , wee unanimously called to the chair.
'I be Cit AIRMAN then said that haVing been present at a pub-
lic preparatory meeting, where the disadvantages which ap_
neared likely to arise out of the municipal reform bill had been
clearly shown. he had great pleasure in witnessing the present
meeting, which had been called for the purpose of endeavaur-
lug to prevent the injury which would arise to the leaseholder,
should it'pass in its present form. By the bill, it Was intended,
that leases should be granted for uo longer period than 31 years,
and that the old method of granting leases for 75 years upon
the payment of an equitable fine should be no longer acted upon.
There had, however, been a special clause introduced juts the
bill, which permitted the granting of a 75 years' building lease,
aubjeet to an annual rack-rent instead of tine. Nava if ap-
peared to him, that it would be a great hardship to be pre-
vented renewing leases, which had been taken from the Con po-
ration, with a special understanding'at the time, that they should
be'renewable un certain conditions. At the time a lease of any
property was grantesl by the corporation the lessee was fur-
nished with a card, stating the terms upon which a renewal will
be granted 'at different periods. This, under the new regula-
tion, will not be acted upon, and will weaken the contidence.or
the mortgagee iu his mortgage, and prove highly injurious to
the value of corporation property. It will not there intended to
look at the merits of the municipal reform bra, but merelytri-
pisint ont to tbe legislature the ill effects which would arise in
the town freirf'the (lenses affecting the leaseholders, and scan-eels,
any two legal gentlemen could agree as to the ineauint(of the'
clauses, and at ail• events the legislature must explain whist
they mean. (Cheers.)
Mr. Sasalaz.i. poems caid it was most clear that the clauses'
which were's() objectionable had been introduced into the bill, •
because several small corporations bad been iu the 'of
selling large trasas'of land for present iturpoaes; and-leaving.
their !successors without any income at all. 'This, lthweser, did:
not, and could not apply•to the corporation of Liverpool, for .it
'would be seen by a plan of the town, which he had prepared,
what ant amazing quantity of the town belonged to them, and to
what a serious extent it would be affected by this bill. (Cheers.)
"Here Mr. Hohne exhibited a plan of the town, that part be-
hinging to the corporation being. coloured red, and it appeared
hi us that more than one-half of it was leasehold. The produc-
tion of this-plan appeared to create considerable surprise.) He
would say, that having in his particular business much to do
' with the covering of leasehold land, and being often consulted
upon the subject, he scarcely knew an instance in which the
'certainty of renewal was not the chief inducement of the pur-
, chase. (Hear.) The information he had always given on-per-
sults objecting to purchase leasehold was, that the corporation
had a scale of terms upon which they always granted a re-
newal, awl upon the faith of that well known agreement he had
himself purchased leasehold land to a considerable amount.
Now, as the high road of patriotism was often through the
pocket, ho for one felt sore at any breach of that tacit arrange-
ment which was never disputed, and which now rendered a aub-
equent renewal uncertain and improbable.. Not only would its
be a great impediment to the sale of lend, but it would induce
many timid mortgagees to withdraw their money, and thus uum-
b„i„a individuals would be put to serious inconvenience.
(Hear.) It was, he considered, extremely dangerous to road-
dle with established rights and usages, when large sums
.of
money had been invested upon the faith of ancient engage-
ments.urehi,sed far(Elear.2 He knew cases where property had been
pshort leases, which had perhaps some thirty '
• years to run, and the purchasers in almost every instance had
eirected bhilding* to be put upon it, at as light a cost as pos-
sible, so that they might stand out their lease, having no inte-
rest beyond it. 'lf the meeting would look towards the neigh-
bourhoi'l of A bercrieaby-square, they might satisfy themselves
of the practical working of leaseholds; for there were in that
neighhourhued, even upon 75 }ears' leases, buildings of the
most flimsy sort, arid it was only natural to suppose that, as
hutiniu nature is at present constituted, buildings of an in-
ferior character still would be erected, if the duration of leases'
be shortened. and this bill pass without alteration. (Hear.)
Naiad of encoaragjng this system, they ought rather (looking
wealth of this great town) to eadeavour
for, comparing laiverpoul to Edinburgh
atot tith:p,ionaJotrhters4yeilk;
and other ;rent cities, be thought there was ample room for im-
proveineet' (Hear.) Was it generally known that not lass
than £15,000 per annum was received by the corporation for
tines on renewal? that the scale was, if any thing, rather ad-
but nut unsatisfactory to the
lessee?vsu t ad-
vantageous
was
so
nthutoericoogotrhaati6tan, t their public sales no description
of property eold so high as this, in consequence of the well
amavn fact, that there was an absolute ceaainty of renewal,
and prejudices cannot easily be removed. (Cheers.) That
certainty would, however, by the operation of this bill, be done
away with, and it did riot' even leave thane Pandera's box; for
with all the evils it contained there was not even hope at the
bottom, Re believed that.thero would he very little leasehold
laud gold 1441det die new act, that it would step a cuusiderable.
•