315 -
THE ESTATES GAZETTE
February 25, 1899.
©aasimtai Jiotes.
Women, it would seem, are coming to the iescue of the small cultures. It is announced that Agricultural and Horticultural Sub-3ections of the International Council of Women have been formed. We are very glad to hear it, since there is very much that may be done by ladies in this connection. Dairying, bee-keeping and poultry-rearing are all suited admirably to women, and there is room for any amount of development in every one of these directions. Papers on these subjects are to be read at the Congress in the coming summer. Of greater practical moment is it to know that many County Councils are employing lady-lecturers in dairying. As time goes on it is reasonable to suppose, not only that Lady Warwick’s hostel at Reading will do very good work, but that similar institutions will be established in other centres. There is room for indefinite expansion in many agricultural directions, which are very suitable for feminine enterprise, and increased attention to these matters is what we have all been asking for these many years.
Bbickmíking is not a romantic occupa-pation, neither is the working brickmaker a poetical personage. But the transformation of clay into bricks Í3 an operation which provides a good deal of work for the surveyor ; and it was therefore appropriate enough that the management and valuation of brickfields should be discussed by the Surveyors’ Institution. Dealing with brickfields is so special a branch of work, that there must have been much in the paper which Mr. J. L. Crouch read on Monday evening that will be new to most of those who read it. Brickmaking is popularly believed to be highly profitable, and no doubt in these days of brisk building the price is high ; but Mr. Crouch’s figures suggest that if the manufacturer makes money the landowner also doe3 fairly well. A brickfield is usually let at an ordinary surface rent, with a royalty of two shillings or half-a-crown per thousand bricks moulded, less an allowance of 5 per cent, for waste.
An acre of brick earth a foot thick will yield a million bricks to the manufacturer, and £100 in royalties to the owner. That is a highly satisfactory return, when it is borne in mind that the tenant has to remove the surface soil at the beginning of the tenancy, and replace it at the end. Then the land can either be again used for agricultural purposes or for building. But all is not gold that glitters, and not all brick earth can be made to return these considerable profits. The field may be so distant from the market for the bricks that it will not pay any brickmaker to exploit it ; or it may be so closely adjacent to urban outskirts that it may be “injuncted” as a nuisance. Some day, no doubt, we shall devise a method of making bricks which will not cause the intolerable stench which at present commonly attends the operation. Then a brickfield might exist in the midst of houses, and be no greater nuisance than any eyesore is bound to be.
Messes. Chancellor and Sons, of 51, Pali Mall, have just issued a new edition of their register of properties. The publication contains numberless descriptions of properties in various parts of the kingdom, but mainly m the charming south-western suburbs of the metropolis. We observe the particulars of several enviable residences in the picturesque localities of Ascot, Chertsey, Hampton Wick, Richmond Hill, Twickenham, Wimbledon-common, Pu!> ney-heath, etc. The work is exceptionally well printed and beautifully illustrated, and to anyone intending to rent or purchase a house, no safer guide could be recommended.
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS Appears on Page 307.
bodies, and will take over all the local business that is at present vested in two or three, or even more authorities. In Southwark, for instance, as many as seven parishes will be united under one Council, while, as we have !!ready seen, the Westminster City Council will succeed to the powers and jurisdictions of eight separate parishes. It will be an enormous advantage to have a reasonable number of strong Municipalities instead of an infinite variety of small areas, each governed in a pettyfogging parochial way. Short of interfering with the Metropolitan administration, which belongs properly to Spring-gardens, the new municipalities will possess all the powers usually exercised by provincial Town Councils. At the same time certain powers at present vested in the County Council will be retransferred to the local authority.
The advantage of these re-arrangements will be two-fold. The central administration will be relieved of a great deal of that rather minute detail with which it ought never to have been burdened, while the local authorities will be charged with the work which properly belongs to them—work which can be done much better on the spot tiian by a great machine at a distance which has fifcy other interests to deal with. Nor does there seem to be much to which Spring-gardens can take reasonable objection. What the net result of it all may be we can at present only speculate upon, but it is not unreasonable to expect that with a real and dignified system of local government and that reasonable and uniform basis of local taxation which must inevitably be established before very long, the material interests of the people of London will be better cared for than they have been	hitherto. It has been
th9 fashion to ¿say that there is no local patriotism in London, and it has been, to a very great extent, a true criticism. But we could hardly expect to see local patriotism in an area which has never had any real chance of exhibiting it. That chance will now, at last, be afforded. In this matter the interest of the ratepayers at large are identical with the interests of owners of property. Whatever re-acts disadvantageous^ upon the one is inimical to the other. There will be plenty of opposition to the Bill, no doubt, excellent as it seems to be ; but its own merits, added to the important strategical fact that it has been introduced at an early period of the Session, ought to carry it through all its stages with no very serious delay, and without the necessity for any radical amendment.
THE ESTATE MARKET.
The extraordinary amount of business transacted at the Tokenhouse-yard Mart during the past week forms an absolute record for this early period of the year. Indeed, during the last decade the aggregate has only^been exceeded on a few occasions, even in the very height of the season. The most notable feature is that the returns have been made up entirely of freehold and leasehold property, with the exception of a brewery in the county of Bucks, with 80 tied houses, which realised £59,500. Freehold ground rents of an important character were sold at excellent prices, 85 to 40 years’ purchase being obtained, in some instances, for ground rents with the reversion in nearly 70 years. It has been demonstrated that there is a capital demand for good securities, and if a sufficient supply were forthcoming the prospects for the season would be unusually bright. Altogether the returns for the week show a total of £331,137, as compared with £142,072 for the 'corresponding week of last year.
SUN
INSURANCE
OFFICE.
HEAD OFFICE—
63, Threadneedle Street, London, E.C.
!	60, Charing Cross, S.W.
Branch Offices in J 332, Oxford Street, W,
London. 1	40, Chancery Lane, W.C.
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DUBLIN..........11 and 12. TRINITY STREET
Sum insured in 1897 exceeds £425,000,000
Applications for Agencies addressed to any one of the aboye offices will be promptly attended to.
®Ij£ (Estate (gazette
A JOURNAL
Devoted to Land, House Property and Agriculture.
The Oldest Paper Published In the Landed Interests.
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All the. Profits ore Divided amongst the Assured; already divided, £6,400,000
Claims Paid exceed £10.000,000. Invested Funds exceed £5,200,000.
Endowment 4 esurance Policies are issued combining Life* Assurance at minimum cost, ־with, provision for old age The practical effect of these Policies in the Nation ! 1 Provident Institution is that the Members life is assured until he reaches the age agreed unon, and on his reaching that age the whole of the Premiums -paid are returned to him. and a considerable sum in addition, representing a by no means insigni/icant rate of interest on his payments.
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Applications for Agencies invited.
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Please mention this Paner
LONDON, FEBRUARY 25, 1899.
THE LONDON GOVERNMENT BILL.
At present, and so far as time has permitted an examination of its details, we have nothing but praise for the London Municipalities’ Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons by Mr. Balfour on Thursday night. It deals with the whole question of London Municipal boroughs in a broad and dignified way, and, while respecting the position and prerogatives of the County Council, with which nobody, and least of all the Cabinet, was anxious to interfere, places the new Councils in a fair and reasonable position. The City is, of necessity, left untouched. Whatever detractors may say there is no municipal area in the country better administered than the one square mile of the City of London. The space to be governed is small, no doubt, but it is the most difficult and complex area that can well be imagined. We congratulate the Government upon its intention to raise up, side by side with it, the administrative unit of the City of Westminster. The dismembered fragments of that historic district —the Strand, St. Martin’s, St. James’, and St. George’s, Hanover-square—are to be reunited as an organic whole. We shall then have a corporation to which any man might be proud to beloDg. Other clearly defined areas will be Chelsea, Kensington, Islington, St. Pancras, Lambeth, Maryle-bone, Camberwell, and Battersea, and some others. Each will have its own corporation, with mayor, aldermen, and town councillors.
When, however, we reach the outer ring of the metropolis, we find other areas which ire by no means so clearly defined. In those cases it will be necessary to give and take in the matter of boundaries—to subtract a little here and add a little there. There are several reasons for this. Each district must be made as homogeneous as possible, and it is obviously desirable that there should be some rough approach to uniformity in the size of the ireas. The business of regulating this important matter will be left in the hands of the Privy Council, which may be trusted to do the work without any suspicion of bias or partiality. The decision will not be a matter of mere rule of thumb, since there will be in each case a local enquiry before the boundaries are fixed. The new Councils are to be real governing
THE
Shipwrecked Fishermen & Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society
(Short Title, ‘ The Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society’),
With nearly 1,000 Agencies, annually relieves over 10,0)0 persons.
INSTITUTED 1839.
The rescued sailor, fisherman, &c., is instantly cared for on the spot and sent home.
The widow, orphan, &e.. of the drowned immediately sought out and succoured.
The distressed seafarer of every grade at once charitably assisted. _____________________
Patron-HER MAJESTY THE QUEEM.
Secretary—GERALD E. MAUDE, Esq.,
26, Suffolk Street, Pall Mall S.W
Founded 1807.
COUNTY FIRE OFFICE,
Regent Street, W.
AND
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The Premium Income of this Office is derived from Home business only, no foreign risks being undertaken.
The Return System: which has been adopted by this Office since its foundation offers an exceptional advantage.
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Joint (G. W. STEVENS.
Secretaries IB. E. RATLIFFE.
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MB. ALFBED BAPHAEL, 5, Whittington-avenue, Leadenhall-street, London, E C., has FUNDS for INVESTMENTS
On LOANS upon LANDED ESTATES, FREEHOLD, LEASEHOLD, or LICENSED PROPERTIES,
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Established 1682.
Lowest cubbent bates.
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ELECTRIC LIGHTING RULES SUPPLIED.
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SURVEYORS’ INSTITUTION EXAMINATIONS. The Thirteenth Annual Courses of Lectures.
CANDIDATES (London and Country) for the ) Professional Assooiateship, Fellowship, Direot Fellowship, Special Sanitary Soienoe and Preliminary Examinations oan obtain SYLLABUSES with list of prize winners, 22 out of the 36 whioh have been given sinoe 1888 (inoluding all the Fellowship prizes and gold medals yet given). Particulars as to the very successful results at the last and previous Examinations and terms on application to the Secretary, Surveyors’ LeotureB, 2, Pall Mall East, Charing Cross, S.W.