The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-09-03
PROPERTY IN LONDON
The Vast Possessions OF the NohIity Il
the Hletrouolfs. -


The "city" of London is q mere VII
lage, right in the heart Of a vast wilder
ness of houses, says Mark Twain-lik
the central square of a che ss- board and
as the hordes that inhabit it daily dwell
miles away on the outskirts, it has
ridiculously small population in tn
night compared 10 what il has in tn
day time-S0O, COO in the day and so, ,0O
| It night.
Anybody, a mechanic, or anybod,
/ else, who rents or owns q house, has
/ 'vote-that is to say, a man who pay
rates, or taxes for there is no law her,
which gives a useless idler the priv
lege Of disposing of public money fur
nished by other people. The city
has Its own police, and its own govern
ment. The rest of the metropolis il
composed of a great hive of once separ
ate villages, which still retain their Owl
names-as Charing, Holborn, etc.-but
they are welded together into a com
pact mass of houses now, and no stran
ger can tell when he passes out of onC
of these towns and into another.
The estates of the nobility are strictly
entailed, and cannot be aiienated from
the family. The town property which
these great landlords own is leased fol
long terms-from half century up to
ninety-nine years; in Scotland nine
hundred and ninety-nine years. I was
visiting a house in the West End, the
quarter where dwelling-house property
is the most valuable. Ny host said he
bought the lease of the house he was
living In Ga three-story brick, with base
ment) twenty-five years ago, for seven
thousand five hundred dollars, when it
hoI nj =,
run. Every year he has to pay one hun
dred and fifty dollars ground rent.
But in these days property has so
greatly advanced in value all over Lon
don, and especially at the West End,
that if this lease were for sale now it
would require something like fortune
to buy it, and the ground rent would be
placed at one Thousand dollars a year,
instead of the one hundred and fifty
dollars the present owner will go on
paying for the next twenty years. The
property belongs to the duke of Bed
ford, and when he reflects upon what
that property will have scared to, ten
or fifteen years from now, and still pay
ing him only the trifie of one hundred
and fifty dollars year, he probably
wants to go and dig up his late ancestor
and shake him.
This house is one of seYenty-fve Just
like it that surround beautiful square
containing two or three acres of ground
ornamental grounds, large old trees,
broad, clean-shaven grass-plots, kept
scrupulously swept free from twigs,
fallen leaves, and all other eye-sores.
His grace the duke owns all those sew
enty-hve houses, and he owns the orna-
mental square IN the middle also. To
each house he leaves a key that will
open any of the numerous gates (there
is an iron railing all around) to the
square, and nobody can get In these but
the occupants of the seventy five houses
and such persons as they choose to in
vite. They do deal of croquet. The
seventy-fiye pay a small sum yearly to
keep the square In repair.
1t was q pleasant day, and we walked
along down the street. Every time we
crossed a new street my host said
''This property belongs to the duke
of Bedford also-all these stately blocks
of buildings sides of the street.
By-and-by we came to another orna-
mental square like the. other, and sur
rounded by large dwellings.
Who owns this square and these
houses p"
"The duke of Bedford"
We turned and walked about half q
mile in another direction. Still the
same. All the way it was, "This all
belongs to the duke of Bedford this
ornamental square is his this is the
statue of the late duke; all the smoky
statues we have seen represent dukes of
the line, of former generations. We
are pretty well tired out by this time,
else we might go on till We could show
you the great Covent Garden Market
one of the sights of London.
"Who owns it ?"
'The duke of Bedford"
'' I suspected as much. Does he own
the property around it ?"
He does"
"Does he own any in the country ?"
"Whole counties"
took cab and drove about seven
teen miles, or such a matter, to my
hotel. No candles In my rOom-nO
water-no towels. I said to the land
lord, 60 I have a very serious notion of
complaining to the duke of Bedford
about the way you keep this hotel"
He said, "What has he got to do
with it p
"I said, Z" He probably has a good
deal to do with it suppose he owns
it ?"
"WelI, he don't do anything of the
kind own it myself"
The item was worth something, any
way, and so entered It In my diary:
"London is owned by the duke of
Bedford and one-horse hotel-keeper. "
But found afterward that the duke
of Portland, the marquis of Westmin-
ster, and other noblemeD, own az large
Iy here as Bedford does. Indeed,
Westminster is much the richest peer
in England-perhaps the richest man
in the world. His income is some
twenty thousand dollars a day, count
ing Sundays. But what it will be next
year or the year after, bafaeE arithme-
tic, for the old cheap leases and ground
rents are constantly running out, and
the property being let at more than
quadrupIe prices. The duke of Port
land owns the huge piece of ground on
which the British museum stands.
It is no hardship here to own real
estate, for the taxes on it are trifing, as
they are also on foreign wines and
Injuries which only the well-to-do in
dulge in. The revenues come from the
manifold things which Tom, Dick and
Harry of the great middle and working
classes bave got to have and cannot do
u;khopA