259
THE ESTATES GAZETTE
February 18, 1899.
THE AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS ACT.
APPLICATION TO SET ASIDE AN AWARD.
BROWN V. COOKE.
At the Doncaster County Court, on February 9, his Honour Judge Masterman gave his decision in this case. This was an application by Mr. A. J. Brown to set aside an award made by Mr. Lancaster, of Barnsley, on the ground that it was not according to the provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Act, and the object was to get particulars of allowances made both to Mr. Brown, the tenant, and to Sir William Cooke, the owner. The contention on behalf of Sir Wm. Cooke was that this was not an award under the Agricultural Holdings Act, but under a special agreement. The facts were rather exceptional. His Honour's judgment was as follows:—•
On May 6, 1897, Mr. A. Merryweather, the Umpire duly appointed under the provisions of The Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, between Messrs. Jno. Dawson and Sons and Mr. Jno. Waring, the referees, published his award of the valuation of tenant-right on Bentley House Farm, given up by Mr. Andrew J. Brown, the outgoing tenant, to Sir W. H. C. Wemyss Cooke, the owner, as on January 1, 1897, for the land, and May 1, 1897, for the house, outbuildings and croft. The material part of the award was in the following terms : —
For the unexhausted value of purchased manures applied for roots in 1896, costing £351 5s. 9d., allowed £351 5s. 9d.
For the unexhausted value of purchased manures applied for roots in 1895, costing £33 14s., allowed £7 18s. 7d.
For the unexhausted manurial value of purchased cake and other feeding stuffs consumed during the last two years of the tenancy costing £178 Os. 4d., allowed £20 3s. 6d.
Altogether, after deducting for tenant’s repairs required to gates, fences and buildings, produce sold off and taken away, land occupied by potato pies belonging to Mr. Brown in 1897, and for an excessive application of purchased manures in 1896, amounting to the sum of £642 15s. Id. ; add half valuers’ and umpire’s charges, £26 11s. Od., total £669 6s. Id.
On May 12, 1898, I heard and determined an appeal against this award, and I held that the award being for £642 15s. Id., and only giving particulars as to £351 5s. 9d., and in respect of that £351 5s. 9d. improperly making a deduction therefrom on the ground of excessive application of purchased manures to the land in 1896, such deduction not being a deduction authorised by the Act,
That such deduction being (as was admitted) for £40 3s. 6d. (even if properly made), and not specified as required by the said Act,
The appeal must be allowed and the award declared invalid, and I allowed the appellant his costs, taxed at £26 2s. 3d.
I was not asked under section 23 to remit the case to the arbitrator, and according to my recollection a suggestion I made that I should do so was declined by the appellant, and not asked for by the respondent.
On May 25, 1898, the appellant re-appointed Mr. Dawson as his referee, and called on the respondent to appoint his referee in the same matter—the copy of Mr. Dawson’s appointment, and of the notice to the respondent, were produced at the hearing at my last Court.
The respondent replied by appointing Mr. Merryweather, the original umpire, as his referee on June 2.
On August 11, 1898, the appellant applied to me under section 9, sub-section 9, to appoint an umpire, as the referees had failed to agree on one ; this I refused to do on the ground that if the arbitration was proceeding under the original notices Air. Merryweather’s appointment as umpire had not vacated, and if it was not so proceeding, the matter was no longer under the Act, there having been no fresh notice under section 7, which, of course, could not have been given on account of the effluxion of time. On the one hand, Mr. Brown alleges that Mr. Dawson had no authority from him to act outside of the Agricultural Holdings Act, and on the other, the respondent alleges that Mr. Merryweather had no authority to act within it.
Thereupon the newly-appointed referees met, and agreed to the appointment of a Mr. Lancaster as their umpire. He did not go over the land, but heard the referees of the parties. Mr. Dawson laid before Mr. Lancaster copies of the claim and counterclaim originally made under the Act, and on September 23, 1898, Mr. Lancaster published his award as follows : “ The above valuation amounts to £613 14s. Id., and this with half the charges, £23 19s. 9d., amounted in all to £637 13s. lOd.”
The appellant on January 12, 1899, brought this award before me on appeal, on the grounds (1) that it failed to comply with the provisions of the Act, section 19, sub-sections (a) (b) (c),
made to the extent and importance of the trade represented by the organisation, there being upwards of 51,000 hotels and restaurants in the United Kingdom—a body which should be able to withstand vexatious burdens, restrictions, and legislation, that being one of the chief objects of the society. Another was the fostering of a benevolent fund for the relief of indigent and unfortunate members. Mr. J. W. Jarrett, chairman of the society, responded, and other toasts followed.
SALES AT MASONS' HALL TAVERN.
The Grafton Hotel, Bedford.
With three or four sterling properties for sale on Tuesday, the three firms of auctioneers represented at Masons’ Hall Tavern experienced little success. Mr. John B. Fleuret (Messrs. Fleuret, Sons and Adams) submitted the Grafton Hotel, in Midland-road, Bedford, occupying a bold corner position in a growing residential part of the town, not far from the Midland station and adjacent to the new theatre now in course of erection, the stage door of which fronts the house. On one side the frontage is 105ft. and on another 45ft. There are 20 bed chambers in the hotel, and three years ago a large alteration was made in creating public and saloon bars, whilst the elevation is good and the exterior handsome. The receipts average £236 per month. Mr. Fleurei considered the hotel one of the prettiest in Bedford and thought there would be a large accretion of business from the opening of the new theatre after Easter; he said the vendors had been in successful occupation for 11 years, but he had recently the honour of buying for them a large business in London, and they could not do justice to both properties. A start was made at £7,000, but biddings went no higher than £8,410, and Mr. Fleuret withdrew the hotel at £9,000.
A Valuable City Property.
Mr. John Marks (Messrs. J. J. Orgill, Marks and Orgill), in offering two interesting City properties, had before him quite a large crowd. The important and renowned Golden Fleece, Nos. 8 and 9, Queen-street, Cheap-side, and 14 and 15, Well-court, was described as freehold for the greater portion and a small part leasehold, the profit rental derived from letting upper floors being £1,155. Mr. Marks said he felt that the Golden Fleece was so well known and so much appreciated that little was required at his hands, but he might say without fear of contradiction that it was one of the finest properties to be found in the City of London. It was to be sold solely in consequence of the vendor engaging in public work. Queen-street was a thoroughfare of enormous traffic, and the property stood in the centre of some of the largest and best business establishments in the world. He maintained that there was no house better placed to supply the thousands of people brought there for business, and that the high-class trade of the house had not yet reached its zenith. During the last six months the average trade had1 been £893 per month, and it was steadily increasing £40 per month per annum, until he believed £1,000 per month would be taken. In this connection, Mr. Marks alluded to the new railways to be opened in the vicinity, and said the house, although licensed for seven days, only opened six days, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Saturdays closed at 6 p.m. In taking bids from £60,000, Mr. Marks stated that he remembered a few years ago the sale of the same property by a gentleman now his partner arousing tremendous excitement, the competition being very keen. On the present occasion, however, bids for the Golden Fleece were slow up to £62,000, and as this was said to be nothing like the value, the property was withdrawn. For the Horns, in Gutter-lane, City, which was rebuilt a few months ago, Mr. Marks received biddings from £12,000 to £15,800, and withdrew the property at £18,000. Mr. F. E. Glover (Messrs. Wyer, Adams and Glover) also bought in the Princess of Wales, St. George’s-road, Regent’s-park, at £12,000. Mr. J. !Reynolds (Messrs. Reynolds and Eason) succeeded in selling, at the same place, the freehold private house, No. 5, Newcomen-road, Battersea, let at £30 per annum, for £345.
SALES OF PROPERTIES
At Masons’ Hall, London, E.C.
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY H
REYNOLDS and EASON, 43, Bishopsgate-street With-out.
Battersea, 5, Newcomen-road, F., R. £30 p.a. £345
FORTHCOMING RALES AT
MASONS' HALL. LONDON, E.C.
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 21, at One o’clock.
J. J. ORGILL. MARKS an ׳ ORGILL. 21, Hart-street. Coach and Horses, St. John-street-road, F.L.
Prince AHTed, Eleano.-rond, Hackney. L.
Mr. _W. TORRENCE-KNIGHT, 49. Finsbury-pavement Bunch of Grapes, Lane-lane. Bermondsev, F.L. Havelnck Arms, Fnrt-road, Bermondsey, L.
SLEE, SON and CARDEN, 31. Hatton-garden.
Mermaid. 116. Lower Thames-street, F.L.
BARKER, CATS IE and FINCH, 13, Hart-street.
Flm Park Hotel, Elm-park, Brixtnn-hill. L.
Royal Albert. Albert-square, Clapha.m-road, I . Windsor Castle, 199, Southwark-bridge-ioad, L.
of the markets. This is rather a serious item for the Markets Committee, who have had to pay hundreds of pounds in law costs to obtain the license to the Peacock, after it. had been allowed to lapse. The original estimate for the transference of the two shops into the hotel was £450, but by some means or other the cost totted up to £1,100. In this case the Peacock has been a very dear municipal venture.
The Orange Grove Hotel scheme proposed by the Bath Corporation was enquired into by a Local Government Board inspector on Friday. Dr. Blake Odgers, Q.C., in opening for the Corporation, incidentally alluded to the removal of the White Lion Hotel to make room for the Technical Schools, and remarked that in order to make room for the Municipal Buildings two inns were removed, namely, the Cross Iveys and another. That still left plenty of public-houses near the site—the Rummer Tavern and the Beefsteak Tavern on the one side, and the Grove Inn and the Sun Inn on the other. In 1896 plans were prepared by Major Davis for the present scheme. Mr. Holland, at the beginning of 1898 made a most distinct offer to purchase the Orange Grove site, for the purpose of a first-class hotel, to be more or less on the style of the Metropole, an hotel which should invite people to go down to Bath and stay there. There were a great many things which interested visitors from all parts of the world to be found in Bath. American visitors were especially interested in the Roman baths and other antiquities of Bath, but they could not get hotel accommodation in the style they wished, and they hoped that the proposed hotel would bring an additional influx of visitors to Bath. Major Davis’s figures were confirmed by an independent valuer,0 Mr. Wm. Sturge, F.S.I., of Bristol. Mr. Holland was willing to pay £400 a year ground rent for a 99 years’ lease of the site, and he was to erect an hotel costing £35,000.
Mr. W. I. Morris, of Ye Olde Mitre, Ely-place, London, E.C., writes, with reference to a pictorial representation of the Mitre Tavern, and a note in a contemporary that the sketch represents the historic tavern “ not as it appears at the present time, but as it used to be in the good old days of Dr. Johnson.” He observes that the sketch does not and cannot possibly represent the Mitre Tavern in Mitre-court, Fleet-street, as it was in the days of Dr. Johnson, or at any subsequent period, for reasons too obvious to mention to anyone acquainted with the spot; but it is the fact that this sketch does accurately and faithfully in every detail represent Ye Olde Mitre Tavern, in Mitre-court (leading from Hatton-garden into Ely-place), which was built in 1546. Any archseolo-gist or other person interested in old London buildings can easily verify this for himself by a personal inspection.
The Committee of the Leeds Trade Protection Association, in their report for the past year, state that the assessment of public-houses will probably reach a crisis during the present year, although, so far, Leeds has been affected very slightly. They anticipate that the Sunday closing question is almost certain to be raised in a form demanding close attention. “ This question,” continues the report, “ affects the provincial retailers far more than their Metropolitan brethren. It would be a logical impossibility to close licensed drinking houses without at the same time closing the unlicensed ones.”
Dickens’s admirers are regretting the extensive changes near Chancery-lane at the places known as Bishop’s-court and Chichester-rents, which were architecturally remarkable for two fine specimens of early Georgian houses. Both the houses are down now, and the two little streets are almost entirely rebuilt, so that the curious traveller who may desire to look upon what was, till recent years, a famous bit of Dickens’s London—the scene of some of the most beautiful chapters of “ Bleak House ”— will be disappointed. The Sol’s Arms Tavern, where were held the “ harmonic meetings, where the sound of the piano through the partly-opened windows jingled out into the court, and where little Swiils might be heard sentimentally adjuring his friends and patrons to ‘Listen, listen, listen, Tew the wa—ter fall ’ ” ; the house in which Miss Flite must have lived, in the “narrow back street, part of some courts and lanes immediately outside the wall of the inn ” ; the shop “ over which was written ‘ Krook, rag and bottle warehouse,’ ” and where took place that hideous tragedy of spontaneous combustion—all these are gone, and only a few of the old houses are to be seen anywhere in the neighbourhood.
The sixth annual dinner of the Hotel and Restaurant Protection Society was held on Tuesday at the Hotel Cecil, a large gathering I being presided over by Mr. A. Percy Allsopp.
I The toast of the evening was given by the | chairman, “Prosperity to the Hotel and Restaurant Protection Society,” reference being
LICENSED PROPERTY NOTES.
Business at Masons’ Hall Tavern this week has been unsatisfactory, all the properties offered being withdrawn. Mr. J. Marks submitted a valuable property in Queen-street, Cheapside, renowned as the Golden Fleece, which does an average trade of £890 per month, being closed entirely on Sunday and early on weekdavs. This house was withdrawn at £62,000.
It was rather out of the usual order of things to find Masons’ Hall Tavern on Tuesday the scene of a successful sale of private house property in Battersea, by Messrs. Reynolds and Eason. Is this innovation a sign of rivalry to the Mart in Tokenhouse-yard?
The sale of the Lion Brewery at Princes Ris-borough, by public auction, at the London Mart, will take place on February 20. The property includes 80 hotels and public-houses ; the rents exceed £1,000, and the sales represent about £15,000 per annum ; it will be offered in one lot by Messrs. Alfred Thomas Peyer and Miles,
The sale of the ancient Bear Hotel, Devizes, is announced. When, in 1887, the late owner, Mr. Reynolds, took over the house, it was a by-word amongst travellers ; but he has succeeded in transforming the character of this, the principal hotel. The fact that the house is to be taken over by Mr. and Mrs. Tanner, of the Angel Hotel, Salisbury, and that they will be assisted by Miss Blen-cowe, may be regarded as a guarantee that the comfort of the guests will be studied in the future.
One of the best known licensed houses in the fashionable seaside town of Hastings has disappeared, this being the Old Golden Cross, situate just outside the railway station. The house has been pulled down for the purpose of erecting fine new premises to bear the same name. Mr. A. J. Jones, of the Queen’s Head, Cheapside, recently purchased the freehold through the agency of Mr. Newman Ohennells, of Hastings, and has entrusted the contract to the well-known firm of Messrs. Maple and Co., who will probably complete the work before the summer.
A really good country house, with a flourishing, old-established' business attached, only comes into the market occasionally. Such a house is, however, to be submitted to auction, at the George Hotel, Luton, on the 27th inst., by Messrs. H. Holyoak and Son, this being the fully-licensed premises known as the Royal Commercial Hotel and posting house. This excellent old house, which occupies a first-rate position in the busy Bedfordshire town, has a valuable goodwill attached, whilst its reputation extends far and wide on every side. There is extensive stabling for horses, and accommodation for vehicles, together with a large yard.
Mr. Larwood’s “ History of Signboards ” has taught how much there is that is interesting in this subject. For instance, it may be noted that animals of varied colours are much drawn • upon in styling public-lwuses. We find the Black Rabbit in Sussex, the White Bull in Whitehaven, the Great White Horse at Ipswich, made famous in “ Pickwick.” Furthermore, there is the Green Man at Winchester and elsewhere, the Blue Pig at Oxford, the Blue Boar’s Head at King-street, London, the Red Horse (Washington Irving’s inn), at Stratford-on-Avon, the Golden Cock at Darlington, the Brown Bear in Aldersgate, the Grey Bull at Stanhope, the Pied Horse in Moorgate-street, and the Dun Cow at Rugby. The names of animals, birds and fishes unredeemed by any particular colour are also largely employed.
In one of the best positions of the historic town of Leicester is situated the extremely valuable, fully-licensed property, known as the Cricket Ground Hotel, which Messrs. H. and F- Tarratt and Sons will sell by auction at the Midland Auction Mart, Market-street, Leicester, on March 8. The sale will include the highly valuable and important cricket ground adjoining, with bicycle track thereto, now considered to be one of the best in the kingdom; as well as the pavilion, dressing-rooms, refreshmenr room, etc., thereto belonging. The property has two splendid1 building frontages to Grace-road and Milligan-road, a very considerable portion of which could be utilised for the eree■ tion of houses, without interfering with or diminishing the size of the cricket ground or track, as now used, and leaving ample room for the accommodation of the many thousands who yearly visit this place•
The application of the Halifax Corporation to borrow £13,000, which was recently inquired into by the Local Government Board, included an item of £1,100 for the reconstruction of the Peacock Hotel. The Local Government Board, however, declined to sanction the loan relative to the hotel, so that the cost of that alteration will now have to be taken out of the revenue