The sun., 1913-12-28

lSV" I'll Chancellor OF III. ENch, az, =
Lloyd Georges famous budget ard all It
fur,s Swallowed The present land burst
ing campaign should also be borne III
mind
This may sound as il it were a matter
Of politics and party politics at that. 1t
~ not. Even an enthusiastic support.v
of the Chancellor. II he il impartial. must
confess that the present trend in the Gov
ernmc"t's policy toward landowners is
sufficient 10 make vei! wealthy man like
the Duke of Bedford think IL his duty
toward himself and his family TO sell his
estate, when he can do So.
The same argument applies tn the sale
OF the Earl OF Kintorc's estates IN Scot
land, ,h- news OF which has been cabed
10 THE SIN this week Thesc estates are
large. hut are heavily mortgaged. The
Eari Of kintorc gets something out of the
estate. but everything that can POSSIBLY
be spared IL put back into the land or
applied to the paying or OF the mort
cages. so that in course of time the es-
tate would come back into the family
without encumbrances.
In case like this the trustees of tho
estate feel themselves in the same posi-
ton as the wealthy Duk" of Bedford and
decide to sell the estate before legislation
will make it less valuable.
Buyers Hold Different Views.
There is very natural question to
meet here. Why. If such people sell, are
there any buyers? An answer to this is
an answer to the question as to whether
or not the present Governments policy
as regards land is going to benefit the
poorer class occupied on land. whether
rural or urban.
Mr.. Mallaby-Deeley, who has Just bought
4, a,I.n at.NA Af I..,i.
of Bedford. declared that he has no fear
Of any legislation affecting fair dealing
landowners The Duke of Bedford, the
administrator of the Kintore estates and
scores of others who have sold their es-
tates in recent years evidently think
otherwise.
The fact OF the matter is that the Brit
lsh nobility and the old landowners have
never taken a purely commercial view of
their position as landowners. They have
regarded their estates as trusts and them
selves as trustees for those who dwell
thereon.
The Duke OF Bedford case affords a good
illustration of this. He is only a big
example OF many others in this respect.
He has sold since 1909 real estate esti-
mated at more than 100000 His
sales included the famous Thorney estate
in Cambridgeshire. 1t is known thai he
refused to accept 100000 for that es-
tate on previous occasion. and II Is
generally believed that he disposed OF It
after the 1909 budget for about s250.0 900
less.
Present Duke Never Lived There.
Between 1916 and 1908 the Bedford
family spent $9.o76,765 on this property
much OF the expenditure being in re-
fenland. The present Duke
never lived there, never even shot over
the estate. He lost several thousand
dollars a year because the saved fenland
went on decreasing in value from year
to year.
Threatened by the present trend OF
legislation. with n further cost in the ad-
OF the estate. it II little
wonder that the Duke exchanged his
annual loss of thousands Of dollars for
s3,75o,000.
on his Wobern estate. to which the
Duke cllngs, he has return OF only
10, per cent. annually on its value.
Many men have been content with SINH
lar small returns and devoted them
selves to agricultural experiments and
stock breeding This III perhaps merely
a wealthy mans hobby, but the poorer
landlords having been frozen out the
richer ones have evidently concluded that