Evening star., 1923-12-26
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENoy.

BY THE MARQUIsE DE FONTENOY.
Gen. the Duke of Atholl. head
Of the historic clan and house Of Muir
ray, who has filed all sorts of great
offices Of the state, including that of
the kings high commissioner to
Scotland and of lord chamberlain OF
his court, is credited with the owner
ship Of more than a quarter of a mil
lion acres Of property in England and
Scotland. which, like his score of
country seats in Scotland and in Eng
land and his ancestral home of Blair
castle in Perthshire, are all entailed,
the only peer Of the realm, In fact,
who has been authorized by the
crown to maintain an armed body
guard composed of near a thousand
ix-foot stalwart clansmen, their COL
ors. presented to them by, the late
Queen Victoria, yet, like other great
territorial magnates, he has been SO
terribly hard hit by the frightfuliy
oncrous taxation, alike of capital and
in particular OF landed property, that
he has been compelled to publ cry
to keep up and occupy any OF his
castles and country seats, which, for
the past two years, have been rented
out to the highest bidder, and is now
living with the duchess in a small
cottage on his Blair castle estate.
X n X
On being asked by heckler at
one of the general election meetings
which returned his wife. the Duchess
Of Atholl. to the house OF commons
as its flrst feminine member of that
rank, what he thought of the cap
ital levy proposed and demanded by
the labor party. which appears des-
tined to assume somewhat of the
government Of the empire next
month, the duke replied tnat he did
not think 1t would relieve either the
increasing problem Of Unemployment.
He explained that people Hike him
self, who are reputed capitalists, have
not really got the capital on which
to levy, as with all his quarter of a
million acres of estate he derived
they were all mortgaged up to the
very hilt. and, moreover, entai.ed,
his possession thereof being mercy
a life interest When further heck
led about the size of the cottage in
wficn he and the duchess have es-
safed the Information. that the prem
ises contained only two spare rooms
for friends, but added, since the
heckler seemed inclined TO invite
himself to stay at the cottage, put
you know I'm particular about my
guests"
The Duke of Northumberland. like
the Duke. Of AthoA. has likewise
shown that taxes have to such an
extent depleted his revenues from
land that although he owns more
than 100000 acres, not In Scotland.
but Id England, yet he. too. Is obliged
10 live. on his capital and can no
longer afford to, keep up his grand
old ancestral home OF Alnwick Castle.
in the county bearing his name, q
astIe even bigger and more stately
Than that OF windsor; ncr yet Syon
House. at Brenttord, in M.ddiesex.
Where Charles II held his gay and
merry. court when driven from Lon
don by the plague. Alnwtck Castle
is shut up and the army OF servants
reduced to minimum, while Syon
House has been in the market for
being entailed, 1t cannot be sold or
converted into casa. When people
here in America groan about taxation
as the result of the war, they have
no conceftion of the burdens to which
British taxpayers are subjected in
oder to pay the debts of the nation
incurred ~ result OF the war,
arnong o&hors to the United States.
IncoaneDnw}e today r4duced 70 . third