Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-09-20

by a speech made recently by the Duke of
Portland to his tenants, in which he said
A Dukes Farewell

by speech made recently by the Duke of
Portland to his tenants, in which he said:
A Dukes Farewell
'"The war has entirely altered the outlook
Of myself, as it must have done that Of other
large landowners in this country For CEN
turtles past landed estates have in many in
stances been handed down from generation
to generation in one family, and the land
lords and tenants have grown up together
and have lived as we have done, on terms
of mutual trust and affection
II fear, however, that this state of things
is passing away, for, with the present enor-
nous weight of taxation and the extremely
onerous weight of death duties inheritance
taxes), the future has become uncertain for
all landed proprietors.
with regard to my own case it may or it
may not be possible for me and my family
to reside at Welbeck. But fear that there
can be little Doubt hope I am wrong, but
do not think that l am-that those who
come after me will not be able to do so.
cit is of no use whatever blinking the fact
however disagreeable it may be that
there must, and inevitably will be, wholesale
closing down of the larger country houses;
if not now, at all events when the present
generation has passed away"
Wellbeck Abbey is literally supplied with
ghosts and is particularly famous for it's I'M
derground passages and secret apartments, on
which the Fifth Duke of Portland is said to
have spent 100000 pounds. 1t contains an
underground rlulnS academy, 4UU I6oC long,
106 feet wide and so feet high; beyond that
there is an underground ballroom, 1853 feet
long, So feet wide and 81 feet high, and still
still farther on are subterranean libraries. In
fact, the underground part of the estate is said
to extend for Is miles.
1t is estimated that there are very nearly
| 1000 huge country estates in Great Britain
each requiring SO or more employees to work
them. There are 70 big places each employing
more than 200 workers, while some Of the
largest estates have as many 500 employees
each on their payrolls. Before the war, for
instance, Welbeck Abbey alone employed 20
gardeners. The total operating expenses of
the estate were 1900 pounds. Today the
Abbey has fewer gardeners but its operating
expenses are nearly trebled.
The passing of the great English estate
means the last and final triumph Of the new
industrial age over the preceding agricultural
one. England mourns it on the whole, but
realizes that it is inevitable. Some even feel
| that the change will be beneficial.
''The dukeries scarcely dovetail into the
sentiment of more democratic age," says the
Pail Mall Gazette, for instance, "and while
the picturesqueness of the patriarchal regime
will be missed, it is healthier life that is
beginning to overspread the shires with its
more equal distribution of property and initia-
tive"
None of this, however, sheds any light on
what is to become of the manor ghosts SO
dear to the heart of the Psychical Research
society. 1t is possible that they will follow
the example of other disgruntled Europeans
and emigrate to America.