Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-05

MIR. wAKKMAN,S JOURNEYINGS

MIR. wAKEMAN's JOURNEYINGs. At Bournemouth, England - Great English Seaside Resorts-Romances of Sudden wealth-Lord Malvern Curious Things About Residence Property in Bournemouth.
 BouRNEMoUTH, England, Aug. 24. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER: Regarded from almost any standpoint, Bournemouth is unique among the great seaside resorts of England. It is truly health giving spot without certifcation. It's scenic outlook is grandly beautiful without appeal to guidebook, which it does Tot possess, or to the imagination, which 1t lovingly prompts. It is rich without being vulgar; aristocratic, though not insufferably so; popular, and yet dreamfully quiet. The omnipresent Ar ", 'Arriet and ''Tommy Atkins" of every other known resort in England are here unknown. And, more noticeable than all else to the American loiterer, it is in Eng land and yet glows with newness and pro gress.
 While it ever recalls the brightness and sunny gaiety of our own best resorts, we have not any one to which it can properly be hkened. Take the almost matchless foreshore of Old Orchard Beach, put be- hind it the picturesque and rugged sur pines from the trackless forests of Maine, give these the tender somnolence of dear old Newport, and then permeate the whole with that breezy spirit of endless unrest which has wrought the magic in such places as Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Denver, Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma, and you will have something like the delicious composite that wins your steadfast affec- tion here.
 There Is something in the very dash and vigor of Bournemouth that lays hold of the American heart. It gives one jingle and glow to know that our hearty western word, "boom," is known and applied here with pride. To find anywhere in England such radiant activities is feast of delight in desert of conservatism, inertia and antiquity. They say that but trifie over fifty years ago the beautiful situation of Bournemouth was still undiscovered, al- though some years before George the Third held his court at Weymouth, but little distance away, and the military band pIayed "God Save the King" whenever his majesty emerged from his bathing ma chine to indulge in a sea bath. It was in 1886 that Sir G. w. Tapps Gervis plunged in the pine forest and made clearing. He built house here and there, leaving the pines with their saffron-colored cones standing between. The interlscing val leys lent themselves to the formation of roads, which were made fr-fringed and pine-lumed. Other builders extended the settlement and dotted their villas among the pines, until a grsndly beautiful and widespread city of nearly fifty thousand inhabitants, the greater portion being members of the English aristocraey and nobility, has been planted in pine forest, sloping down to the "chines" or tiny can ons, which open out to the circling cliffs of sand for the wash of the mighty sea.
 Many romances of sudden wealth have been written in Bournemouth's growing. Sidney Brown, one of the men who helped rebuild Chicago after the flames had swept that city into world-hesrt fame, learned there his lesson of opportunity so well that in building here he is new become one of the millionaires of this Paradise of Pines." The great Durant estate, com prising the entire Bourne valley, three miles long, running through the center of Bournemouth, and covered by its most princely buildings and lovely pleasure gardens, Is owned by one marriageable maiden, Miss Durant. This lady's father came into possession of the property after years of litigation and Encouragement so great that he finally offered his solicitor, one Fox, an attorney at Norwich, three thousand pound to accept his equities in the property, pay the costs and rid him of responsibility. The honest or hesitant Fox refused, but has made in fees and commissions hundred times that amount out of the estate, while the lonely heiress is worth million. The Shelley estate, for merly few hundred acres of sand dunes and pines, now owned by Lady Shelley, widow of the late Baron Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poets son, is valued at mil lion pounds sterling, and is receiving fifty half acre lots It lies between Bourne mouth pier and Christchurch Head, on what is known as East Cliff.
 The present Lord Malvern, one of the Bank of England directors. though always man of great wealth, added millions to his properties through the peculiar inhu- ence he exercised over two old ladies' Lady Talbot and sister-who both died within few months period at above ninety years of age some seven years since. They owned eight hundred acres of this once pine wilderness. Lord Nal vern accommodatingly became their busi ness "adviser"-a sort of financial lady's maid to the eccentric old couple. On their death the community was startled to learn that every iota of the vast estate had been bequeathed to Lord Malvern, who immediately made short shrift of all the old servants and other dependents.
 Pages of similar romances and tragedies in the marvellous increase of values in Bournemouth, though the city's history is brief one, could be related. The practi- cal side of this development is also curi- ous and entertaining. The city has no ''streets." All it's thoroughfares are "roads," "avenues," "crescents" and "quadrants. They are all winding and there are no Squares" The splendid improvements have been almost exclusive ly made by speculative architects and builders. As values advanced parcels or tracts were apportioned them by the agents of various estates, the latter provi- ding improvements in adjoining thorough fares. These sites are all acre or half acre lots, and with the exception of those of one estate they are households of ninety or ninety-nine years duration, on annual ground rentals of from fifty to six hun drsd dollars per lot, payable half yearly, and with what is known here as pepper corn," or free ground rent for the first year, in deference to the builders risk.
 The curious thing about Bournemouth residence property from first to last is. that no sooner is any villa erected and ready for occupancy, whatever its price, than it is already sold to some London gentleman or nobleman. The struggle here is not to sell houses already built, but merely to force building sites from the rich estates. The result must be that with unlimited outlying piney tracts, the city will become one of tremendous area and always city of villas and garden-girdled, palatisl homes. Only one estate sells free hold sites, and these are on conditions which render the word ridiculous misno- mer An equity of redemption is secura- ble on thirty years purchase. To illus trate: If building site is secured at five