?27
THE ESTATES GAZETTE
Apbii, 1, 1899.
street, £160; two similar ones of £11 6s. 9gd., for 998 years, on Nos. 9 to 27, Matthew-street, and 12, Moncrieffe-street, £310 ; 48 £10 shares (£5 paid) in Crosses and Winkworth, Limited, £13 6s. each ; 35 similar shares, £13 5s. each ; 40 £10 shares (£5 paid) in the Bolton Union Spinning Company, Limited, £7 4s. each ; 40 similar shares, £7 2s. each; fire £10 shares (£7 paid) in the Bolton Beehive Spinning Company, Limited, at £7 5s. each; 20 £5 shares (£2 10s. paid) in the Bolton Finance and Building Company, at £2 10s. each; 20 £5 shares (fully paid) in the Bolton Property and Investment Company, at £5 5s. each; £600 4^per cent, first moitgage debentures in Magee, Marshall and Co., at £104 15s. per £100 ; and £600 consolidated stock “A,” in Farnworth and Kearsley Gas Company, -at £267 per £100. Messrs. Dowling, Cooper and Hamer, of Bolton, were the solicitors concerned. At the same place, on the 23rd ult., Messrs. Lomax, Sons and Mills, also sold the following properties situated at Breightmet: — Three freehold houses, Nos. 1, 3 and 5, Hampson-street, rental £31 17s., for £270; three freehold houses, Nos. 7, 9 and 11, Hampson-street, rental £30 11s., for £280; three freehold houses, N os. 13, 15 and 17, Hampson-street, rental £25 15s. 8d., and three freehold houses, Nos. 19, 21 and 23, Hampson-street, rental £26 17s. 4d., for £370 ; 18 freehold houses in T'omlin-square, gross rental £203 3s. 8d., for £825; Bannister Close Farm, 13 acres, and five plots of freehold building land, for £2,300 ; Roscow Fold Farm, 18 acres, with five plots of freehold building land, for £3,400 ; six freehold houses, Nos. 1 to 6, Ros-cow Fold, rental £49 10s., for £350; 1,210 square yards of building land, for £100 ; Withins Farm, 45 acres, for £4,700 ; Woodside Farm, 30 acres, for £2,550; Woodside Cottage, containing about 1,603 square yards, for £320; a plot of building land, two acres, for £525 ; and Top-o’-th’-Brow Farm, 51 acres, for £3,500. The following ground rents in Breightmet were also sold : —£14 8s. 9d., secured on a plot of land containing about 2,600 square yards, term 900 years, for £410; £1 10s., secured on 182 square yards, term 500 years, for £44 ; £5 9s. 4d., on a plot of land containing 656 square yards, and the four houses erected thereon, term 999 years, for £160 ; £20 2s. 6d., on 2,760 square yards and the 11 houses erected thereon, for £600; £7 16s., secured on 749 square yards and the seven houses thereon, term 999 years, for £220; £10, secured on 960 square yards and eight houses, term 999 years, for £300; £7 12s. 4d., secured on 731 square yards and six houses, term 999 years, for £220 ; £5 8s. 10d., on 653 square yards and six houses, term 900 years, for £165; £3, on 400 square yards and five houses, term 999 years, for £80 ; £3 10s., secured on plot of land of 453¿ square yards and the houses erected thereon, term 999 years, for £93; £2 10s. secured on 302 square yards and one house, term 999 years, for £65; £5 5s., on plot containing 61 square yards, and six houses, term 999 years, for £160; £3 10s., plot containing 445 square yards and three houses, term 999 years, for £95 ; £6 0s. 8d., on a plot of .724 square yards and portions of six houses erected thereon, term 999 years, for 175 ; and £33 10s., secured on two acres and 30 houses, for £950. The total amount realised was £23.227. The solicitors were Messrs. Withington, Petty and Boutflower, Messrs. Gill, Radford and Co., and Messrs. Farrar and Co., all of Manchester.
LINCOLNSHIRE.
At the White Hart Hotel, Spalding, on the 28th ultimo, Messrs. S. and G. Kingston sold a parcel of arable land, containing about one acre, and two parcels of accommodation pasture land of about six acres, at Spalding, for £760 ; a parcel of pasture or building land of about two acres, was withdrawn at £350 ; and a parcel of arable land of about 34 poles, was withdrawn at £65. The solicitors were Messrs. F. and E. H. Jackson, Wisbech ; and Messrs. Johnson and Dowding; and Messrs. S. W. Johnson and Son, London.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.
At the Saracen’s Head Hotel, Southwell, on the 27th ultimo, Messrs. Morris and Place sold a freehold double cottage, Westgate, Southwell, and a field of pasture land in the rear, containing in all about three acres, let at £20, for £625. The solicitors were Messrs. Thorpe and Perry, Nottingham.
SUSSEX.
On the 27th ultimo, at the auction mart, 155, North-street, Brighton, Messrs. Samuel Ridley and Hollis sold a freehold dwelling house, No. 67, Albion-hill, Brighton, let at £15 12s., for £265; a freehold country residence, No. 2, Woodsland-road, Hassocks, let at £26, for £470; a freehold dwelling house, No. Ill, Havelock-road, Preston, let at £23 8s., for £360; a freehold dwelling house, No. 115, Havelock-road, let at £26, for £370 ; a freehold dwelling house, No. 117, Havelock-road, let at £26, for £360 ; a freehold dwelling house, No. 45, Chester-terrace, Preston, let at £26, for £350 ; the adjoining freehold dwelling house, No. 47, Chester-terrace, let at £26, for £350 ; the freehold dwelling house and stabling, No. 7, Hollingdean-place, Brighton, let at £36 J8s.,
acres at £100 per acre, £1,450 ,־ total for south side of the road, £7,400. The total of these items came to £10,775, to which he added 10 per cent, for compulsory sale, £1,077, making £11,852. Sir John said Darland brickfield could be enlarged and utilised for all the brickmaking required within a reasonable period, and it could be done better at Darland and Kepple valley. The plant had been valued by experts, and adding that to his total gave £13,865. Four shillings was nearer the actual profit on bricks than 16s. ; they would all be brickmakers if they knew of the latter ; it would be better than Klondyke. After the whole brick-earth was taken off, the estate would be very dilapidated; he thought the claimant’s building plan not practical.
Mr. Henry Ward, civil engineer, of 110, Cannon-street, member of the London County Council, gave evidence at great length on the machinery, the manner in which the Chatham field had been laid out, and the proposed brick manufacture. His figures for the plant came to £3,135.
Mr. Selves, tenant of the Chatham field, said he was offered in 1895 a 21 years’ lease of the land by Mr. Cobb, surveyor. Nothing iiad been done to the land up to June, 1896. He gave notice to quit in September, 1895.
The case was again adjourned.
Among the experts retained are Mr. Alex. R. Stenning, F.S.I., 121, Cannon-street, E.C. ; Mr. Leslie Yigers, F.S.I., 4, Frederick’s-place, E.C. ; Messrs. Isitt and Co., chartered accountants, and Mr. Peill, brickmaker, Bromley, Kent.
PROVINCIAL
PROPERTY SALES.
The Editor will feel obliged if Auetioneera and Agents will forward a copy of the particulars of sales in which they -are interested MARKED with the prices realised, in order that an accurate record of dealings m Land and House Property may appear in this department. These must reach us by THURSDAY to ensure insertion in the current issue.
BEDFORDSHIRE
At the White Hart Hotel, Ampthill, on the 23rd ultimo, Messrs. Swaffield and Son sold two cottages, at East End, Flitwick, let at a gross rental of £10 8s., for £210; two others, gross rental £11 10s., for £220; four cottages in Station-road, gross rental £26, for £470 ; a dwelling house, known as The Close, with garden and paddock, the whole containing about one acre, apportioned rent £23, for £455 ; a })lot of building land, having a frontage to Station-road of 66ft., apportioned rent £2, for £135; four cottages, gross rental £26, for £470; two cottages, let at £17, for £280 ; a villa residence, known as The Villa, Flitwick, with pleasure grounds, stabling, pad-docks, etc., the whole containing about four acres, for £1,850 ; three })lots of building land, with frontages to the main road of 123gft., for £650 ; a cottage, let at £8, for £140 ; a plot of building land, having a frontage of ()lift, to the Ridgeway, for £75 ; two similar plots adjoining, for £45 and £55 respectively; two cottages, with frontage of 62ft. to the main road, gross rental £12 10s., for £200 ; a cottage, let at £4, for £85 ; and 13 plots of freehold building land, Flitwick, containing in all about three acres, at £229 per acre. The solicitor for the vendors was Mr. F. T. Tanqueray, Ampthill.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE.
At the Rose and Crown Hotel, Wisbech, on March 25, Messrs. J. Carter Jonas and Sons, of Cambridge, offered for sale the Leverington Estate, about half a mile from the town of Wisbech, comprising a residence, peppermint distillery, and about 240 acres of arable and pasture land, a part of which contains brick-earth. The property realised £14,000.
ESSEX.
At the Rose and Crown Hotel, Sudbury, on the 23rd ult., Mr. T. H. Newman sold a freehold fully-licensed and land tax redeemed village inn, known as the Cock and Blackbirds, Bulmer, with yard, stabling, and outbuildings, let at £30, for £1,550. The solicitors were Messrs. Wade, Wix and Wade, Dunmow.
LANCASHIRE.
At the public salerooms, Bolton, on March 22, Messrs. Lomax, Sons and Mills sold the following property:—A perpetual yearly rent charge of £5 4s. 4d., charged on No. 33, Hampden-street, realised £130 ; the shop and dwelling house, No. 87, Weston-street’, ground rent £1, £430 ; three dwelling houses, Nos. 142 to 146, Bury Old-road, gross rental, £42 18s., ground rent, £3 3s., £460 ; two semi-detached villas, Nos. 78 and 80, Bradford-street-, ground rent £10 4s., £1,400 ; two well secured ground rents of £12 and £6 (with the freehold reversions), payable for 4,000 and 3,900 years respectively, £475 ; 11 ground rents of £77 7s., payable for terms of 5,000 years, secured by Nos. 144 to 172, Chorley Old-road, Bolton, chief rent £29 15s. 10d., £1,125 ; indemnified ground rent of £6 10s. 9d., for 998 years, on Nos. 1 to 9, Watt-
be obtained from one acre of brick-earth. He accepted the principle on which the compensation was claimed ; it measured Mr. Batchelor’s loss for the time it would take to work out the brickfield, and dealt with the building !and as it would come into development in the several places during 12 years, and what sums would be expected for bricks and building land. He accepted the opinion of the local surveyors as to the value of the land.
Mr. Franklin G. Homan, F.S.I., of Rochester, Aid. C. E. Skinner and Mr. C. R. Bessant were recalled on one or two points.
Mr. John Tassell, foreman to Mr. Batchelor, said that in 1897 he stumped out the Chatham brickfield under instructions from his employer.
Mr. Balfour Browne said Mr. Elias P. Squarey, P.P.S.I. (Messrs. Rawlence and Squarey, of Salisbury), could not be present that day to give evidence.
Sir Edward Clarke said he should positively object to call any evidence until the claimant’s case was closed.
Mr. Balfour Browne observed that he had now closed his case.
FOR THE WATER COMPANY.
Sir Edward Clarke pointed out that the 20 acres taken, which at the outside would have been purchased at £140 per acre, had been put at the astonishing figure of £77,700, the claim being made on the hypothesis that Mr. Batchelor was carrying on the business of a brickmaker, that the moment they had cleared the land of their last brick then 500 houses were to spring up promptly, and that people were to buy the land at once. lie contended that that would be an unreasonable way of dealing with the case. For the purposes of estimating the value of the land, its capacity for producing bricks, must, of course, be taken into consideration. Mr. Batchelor’s position was that of a person who owned land which had a certain amount of brick-earth in it; the amount which, for the purpose of making bricks, it would let for was at a certain royalty, and land, therefore, from which he could get a revenue by letting to a brickmaker for a certain time, and then afterwards he would have it for the purpose of buildings. The value of the land was not increased in the least degree by the fact that enormous plant was suddenly put upon it; but, of course, the burden upon those who had to take the property was very seriously increased, because he could not deny that the plant being there they must pay compensation for the cost of putting it there. At Darland Mr. Batchelor had an enormous quantity of brick-earth quite as good as in the Chatham field ; there he would carry on his business ; he was not going to be turned out of his business, and he had the place at Darland capable of being increased and extended. His witnesses would deal with the case as a certain area of land, not as merely agricultural land, but having an element of building value, and also a capacity of being used for brickmaking. The claimant’s case, besides being exaggerated at, every point, had the fallacy that it contained over and over again the same element of damage. Besides the land value in the market, Mr. Batchelor was entitled to reasonable compensation for such loss of profit as, having regard to the vicissitudes of trade, the change of circumstances, and all the rest of it, might be expected to arise from his user of the brick-earth upon the property.
Sir John Whittaker Ellis, F.S.I. (Messrs. Farebrother, Ellis and Co., 29, Fleet-street, E.C.), said he had received one claim for compensation of £78,958 in this case. He could not say that the position of the Chatham field commended itself to him for a brickfield at all. It was away from all carriage except by cart, both in and out; it was at the far extremity of the place where building would come on, and there were brickfields surrounding this area which were more contiguous to where building was likely to take place, and to brick-earth that would last for 80 years at the rear, which might be laid out as brickfields if there was any absolute necessity for it. He thought it would be ascertained that there was no possibility of finding a market for the immense number of bricks that would have to be made compared with the whole and sound bricks which could be sold. In Kepple valley 12 or 13 compact stools could be laid out to the best advantage. To establish an enormous brickfield where many millions a year were to be made, and where they had not means to get them away by rail or water, was an entire mistake. He put the Orchard Farm, la. 2r. 26p., at Is. per foot׳; 250ft. frontage on Luton-road, at £2 per foot, £500 ; 250ft. to Nelson-terrace, £1 per foot; together £750 ; plots Nos. 19, and part of 20 and 21, 150ft. frontage to Luton-road, £2 per foot, £300; l¿ acres worth £100 per acre as accommodation land ; and £400 for cottages and land; plots Nos. 22, 23 and 24—2¿ acres at £100 per acre—£225 ; for buildings, £2,000, to allow of erection elsewhere ; plots 25 to 31, 14¿ acres taken as containing six acres of brick-earth, giving 80,000 cubic yards, royalty Is. 6d. to 2s. per thousand, if ever they were made, allow Is., or £4,000, which, deferred at 41, per cent., gives £3,200; buildings, £2,750; 14
After the addresses of counsel and the summing up of the Under-Sheriff, the jury announced their decision as follows: —
Rental value of No. 10, £32 per annum, 20 years’ purchase	..	..	..	..	-•	£640
Rental value of No. 1!, £28 per annum, 20 years' purchase	..	. •	..	• •	- *	560
׳)1,20
Deduct 15 per cent, for repairs, insurance, &c.	..	180
1,02C
Add 10 per cent, for compulsory purchase	..	102
Total ..	.. £1.122
BRICKFIELDS NEAR CHATHAM.
Mr. Daniel Watnev, P.P.S.I. (Messrs. Watney and Sons, 33, Poultry, E.C.), resumed the hearing as Umpire, at the Surveyors’ Institution, on Tuesday and Wednesday, of the case of “Batchelor v. Brompton, Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester Water Company,” which was a claim of £77,743 compensation in respect of the Chatham brickfield, at Luton, near Chatham, and covering an area of 20 acres, for water supply purposes. The case was reported in the Estates Gazette of February 25 and March 18 and 25.
Mr. Graham Harris, C.E. (Messrs. Bramwell and Harris, 5, Great George-street, S.W.), was arbitrator for the claimant; whilst Sir John Whittaker Ellis, F.S.I. (Messrs. Farebrother, Ellis and Co., 29, Fleet-street, E.O.), acted in a similar capacity on behalf of the water company.
Mr. Balfour Browne, Q.C., and Mr. Morton Smith (instructed by Messrs. Haywood and Smith, Rochester) were counsel for the claimant ; and Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., M.P., with whom was Mr. Danckwerts (instructed by Messrs. Prall, Son and Prall, Rochester), for the respondents.
Mr. W. Leonard Grant, surveyor, of Sitting-bourne, Kent, continued his evidence. Last week he calculated that the profits from working the brick-earth and flints would be £31,319. He now estimated the value of the land for building . 507 houses each with 14ft. frontage, at £9,565, including ten per cent, for forced sale. He added the cost of reinstating farm buildings and the capital expended in laying out the Chatham brickfield, proved previously, and went on to give the estimate of damage by severance and injury to the business. Taking 89 million bricks, he considered it would cost the claimant 5s. 10jd. per thousand more, owing to the manufacture taking place elsewhere than on the Chatham field, or £26,174 ; this he discounted for 6j years at 6 per cent., giving £17,529. The additional cost of buying bricks to supply existing contracts, which would have been made on the Chatham field, cost 46s. 9d. per thousand instead of 36s., the present contract price, he brought out at £8,478. He made the total of the claim, £77,743.
. Mr. J. Hubert Oakley, F.S.I. (of Messrs. Daniel Smith, ,Son and Oakley, 10, Waterloo-place), said he originally acted in this claim with his father, the late Mr. Christopher Oakley. His firm had managed six brickfields at Melton, where the annual output was 30 millions. Mr. Grant and witness went down to Mr. Batchelor’s land and took measurements of the trial holes together and worked out the figures. He considered Mr. Batchelor’s land was exceptionally situated for working ; the earth was good and all round him; chalk and earth were in the same fields ; whilst the land was within easy access of Chatham and Rochester, and right on the high road. The claimant had a contract for the supply of ashes, refuse and soil which were of great importance in brickmaking. There was no doubt that the Darland field would not do more than supply the local demand for bricks, and that Mr. Batchelor would have a ready sale for the bricks in both the Chatham and Darland fields. He could not find any new suitable arrangement for berths as a substitute for the present Chatham field. His figures were similar to those of Mr. Grant. On the amount of earth disclosed by the original trial holes, he agreed that the sums given by Mr. Grant in his summary were fair. They wished to be very careful in regard to the earth in the field ; it was a limited area, and they did not go to the usual depth as it was likely to be building land afterwards, and if they had gone too deep it would to some extent deteriorate the value of the building land. That accounted for the difference shown in the trial holes. There was sufficient brick-earth to make the bricks he suggested and a surplus beyond.
Mr. George Langridge, F.S.I. (Messrs. Lang-ridge and Freeman, Tunbridge Wells), said he was conversant with the value of brickfields. He was consulted by Mr. Batchelor early in January, 1898. In his opinion there would be great difficulty in finding suitable sites for brickmaking as a substitute for the Chatham field. It would be a great waste and loss to double the work in the Darland field until the earth there was removed, and bring the earth suitable for the Chatham field and work it in the Darland field. Except the figures as to the depth of the earth, he agreed with the number of bricks to be made from the land and the quantity of bricks to be obtained. It was a generally accepted figure of what could